Oh no Erin....could it be the narcissus fly? I'm attaching an older post that was started by Chaz (one of our members) that documents the larvae and adult narcissus fly (looks and sounds like a bubble bee); please compare and see if you recognize the adult fly. Your bulb should be fine (given that there aren't anymore larvas within the mother bulb). Dust with captan or any anti-fungal power and allow the bulb to dry/heal before replanting. You may or may not get flowers from this bulb. Good luck! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Chaz's fly infested Papilio

Sure looks like the larva of the dreaded Narcissus fly! My larvae didn't look a thing like this, so brown and fat!
Kristi

erin, sure looks like bulb fly to me! Check the base of the bulb for entry/exit holes. You can try a heat treatment I've read somewhere in this forum that it'll work. In one of my larger bulbs I found two larvae but in all the others there was only one each. I lost about 12 bulbs. Your bulb should be fine, may even flower this year if it's setting buds on the other side. Just let it dry, treat with a fungicide, I use cinnamon powder just avoid getting it on the roots. Good thing you caught this when you did, it could have destroyed your bulb completely. Be sure to check all others. Did you summer your bulbs outdoors?

From all the research I've done, I'd say that's the larvae of the dreaded Narcissus Fly. They seem to have a penchant for Hippeastrum bulbs when left outdoors.

It looks like your bulb has a good chance of survival, if monitored closely. It should heal fine, although I doubt you'll see blooms for at least a year.

So sorry to see this happening!

Thanks for your concern guys. I guess it is the Narcissus fly. I checked all my Daff. bulbs and there were none. Now I know where they were hanging out.

Yah, I put them outside for the summer. Its just so sunny out I can't keep them in.

Ill have to check my other bulbs too. What do I look for? If they aren't showing any rot outside do I just look for some entry holes? Oh, I hope my others are ok.

I'll do the cinnamon tonight. I just sprinkle some on the cut areas and avoid the roots? Just curious, what would happen if it got on the roots?

Ill keep you guys posted on how it fairs this season, now that I know how to post pictures I plan to be on here lots more.

Thanks all!

Cinnamon has good anti-fungal properties, but it tends to retard root growth. If you have a garden/plant anti-fungal, such as Captan, I suggest you use that, instead... but cinnamon can be used if you have nothing else.

I would look for the entry hole of the fly, as suggested by Chaz... they make a hole in the basal plate for entry, so they can lay their eggs inside the bulb.

Summering your bulbs outdoors is the best for growth, but some sort of preventative for insects is best... such as some type of screening or screen cloth over them to keep flying insects off, or adhering to a systemic or spray program.

I hope none of your other bulbs have been infected by this horrible pest! Good luck!

Well, all 6 of my bulbs had a larvae in it. One bulb had 3 larvaes.
I did the best I could to cut out the dead stuff and still keep a part attached to the basal plate.
I'm letting them dry out and then Ill apply some Captan when I have a chance to go buy some.
I guess Ive at least learned a lesson from this: screen them as suggested by Jodi, and since I think I might have contributed by using crappy, dirt, Ill use sterile, clean dirt next time.

On the bright side, one bulb had a baby complete with basal plate and its own tiny root.
Plus, now I can go buy the Joker bulb I was checking out and not feel guilty.

Erin, so sorry about your bulbs. My papillios were devastated by these beasts. It's amazing how a little of the basal plate will make a bulb though. There was a piece of plate I must have missed in an old pot and it is forming a bulb with a leaf. I'm going to wind up with quite a few but it'll be years before they bloom for me. These babes will never see the outdoors unprotected again.
There are a couple of varieties of these damned flys, some look like honey bees, others like bumble bees. I've got to figure a way to net the plants that will completely encase them. There is something particularly attractive about hippis to them, I found some crawiling around the screens of my sunroom trying to find a way in to the hipps in the windows. I have visions of my plants hanging in pantyhose knotted at the tops next summer. I also have visions of the husband freaking out about how the gardens look with 20 or so plants hanging around in panty hose. He won't let me put up an old fasioned clothes line!!!!! I'm so paranoid about them that I don't use the door from the sunroom to the outside and enter and exit it only from within the house now.

Even though I garden organically with all my miriads of other flowers, I use a rose and flower systemic on my amaryllis when outside. I had 100 of them outside this summer and seem to have had complete success, after loosing some to the flies the summer before. I have over $1000 invested in those bulbs and no way I am going to risk them!
Besides, no one will even be trying to eat a petal of these since they are toxic..I have a raised bed cylinder block bed just for the amies in summer, and I covered it with thin garden row cover until the narcissus foliage was long gone. I Figured with these precautions It was worth the risk to get the bulbs some good growing conditions,i.e, natural sun and (a little) rain. MIne spent from 29 April until the end of Aug outside.

I so want to give my bulbs the outdoor time they need, with all that great sunshine and fresh air, but I'm extremely paranoid of losing them to the Narcissus Fly! After seeing all this devastation, I just don't know if it's worth it... if I can find some fine mesh to build a cover with, I may chance a few next year... we'll see how I feel about it then.

By the way, Chaz... that tiny little offset of Papilio you sent my way is going wild! It's got 4 leaves, 3 of them over a foot long, and it's due for a bump in pot size! It just loves it here, I guess! I've got it right next to Minerva, sitting in the east window. :-)

I had a case of paranoia today after Erin confirmed that the narcissus fly wiped out her daffodils and infested 6 of her bulbs. I did see the narcissus fly twice in my garden this spring (I killed the first one) but 90% of the time I'm not in my garden so I never know what could've happened in my absence. I do have lots of daffodils in my garden so my garden has to be a key attraction for these evil bugs. I did put all my hippeastrums outside this season and trust me, the sunlight they receive outside makes a huge difference in growth. I'm praying and hoping that none of my bulbs are infected. I will have to wait till spring to find out I guess, *fingers crossed* that I don't find these flies flying around in my guest room in a few months.

When making a protective place for your bulbs, make sure the flys can't crawl underneath the covering. The ba$tards are pretty persistent and although holding off until the daff foliage is gone sounds like a good idea, I've read were the flys actually look for the holes left by the dead foliage and crawl down to lay their eggs, turning the soil is the only way to stop them from finding the dormant bulbs. I've seen them flying around the garden early spring, then again august - october. Pax, check the bottoms of your bulbs for small holes, you'll have to really clean them to find them if you do, try one of the heat treatments discussed in this forum. I tried injecting neem oil directly into the bulbs, it didn't work. I wouldn't wait till next spring if I had the chance to get things in check now. I lost 100s of daffs my first year in this home. I deal with many pests here in New England, it's a whole new way of gardening for me, narcis flies, red lily beetles, unimaginable varieties of wasps, and various other mammilian vermin. And I live in city limits!
the pantyhose idea actually sounds pretty good if they'll let enough light through!...Chase is gonna kill me :)

Chaz -- I would look under the bulbs but I haven't repotted my bulbs since last season and a lot of my bulbs from previous seasons are already pushing up scapes so I don't think I'll be able to unpot them at the moment. Plus, repotting all my bulbs would take months with the other activities going on in my life. I know we aren't supposed to do this, but would you recommend that I cut off the foilage of the daffodils as soon as they are finished blooming? I usually tie them in a knot to make them look tidy but I don't want my garden to be the disco center of fly attacks because of my daffs. lol good luck fighting the beasts. :)

Hey,
My daffs seemed to be ok when I dug them up. I only checked cuz I read that you should but I didnt know they attack Hippies too.
So when the daff leaves are dead and gone the garden should be safe from these buggers?
I think Ill build a home for them with a cover anyway. I saw pics on here of someones babies that they had built an enclosure around. Ill do something like that. It'll have to look tidy though, I had a hammock draped over my hippies this summer to keep the birds from stealing the babies (like they did to my tiny Jack Pine baby) and my partner wasn't too crazy about the look of it. lol
Sometimes practical gardening isn't pretty.

Pax, I never cut the leaves off my daffs, It'll affect the flowers for next year. Now that you know they are in your area treat the daffs with a systemic insecticide that will handle the grubs, this is one of those cases I don't go organic. I'll never plant daffs again, and I'll miss them dearly. Tying the leaves in a know isn't such a great thing for the bulb either but at least they'll get some food reserve built up. Just treat the base of the leaves with the insecticide, cut when yellowed, then turn the soil to prevent entry to the bulb. The flies lay eggs at the base of the leaves, the tiny maggots crawl down into the bulb and begin their feast. Same with hippis but because we tend to plant them with the base of the bulb closer to the surface there is easier entry for the maggot, these things get huge!

Erin, I've never dug daffs to check before, unfortunately often you won't find an entrance hole as the maggot may have crawled down between the leaves! Just protect your babies next year if you put them out.

BTW, as I've mentioned before...these monsters are active throughout the growing season, they'll attack hyacinth as well! I see them around the garden most of the growing season, you can't ever let your guard down if they are in your area.

Good luck,
Chaz