Narcissus pseudonarcissus

HELP someone please...I can’t be the only person in the world whose daffodils get eaten? Any idea what’s doing it?

It was the same with my Amarilys. When everyone had their beautiful flowers, my Amaryllis flowers were eaten before they were born. I do not know if it was a caterpillar ... I also have that doubt. 🤔

@david71, how odd. I haven’t had anyone come up with anything other than pigeons, which is a possibility but I’ve never seen them do it!

I'd say it's likely to be slugs and snails (or caterpillars) because of the serrated edges. I found lots of holes in my dwarf irises where I forgot to put slug pellets down.

@ublaszko Slugs makes sense, we are plagued with huge ones here but I’ve never seen one on or near the daffodils and no slime trail. No amount of deterrent works on them. 😰

You might have to check for them at night or put slug pellets down and see if you catch any. I found that I don't get as many slugs and snails if I remove old leaves and other debris and cut back perennials in late autumn. Less hiding spaces for slug to overwinter. Also, they're less likely to pop up in spaces that are regularly cultivated.

I get through bucket loads of slug pellets sadly (don’t like using them but have to), we live next to the river and we’ve literally hundreds of them about but I’ve never seen them on the daffs @ublaszko

Could it be caterpillars then? It's hard to tell the difference between caterpillar and slug/snail damage. Gosh, that must be very difficult to keep plants alive with all those slugs about 😨 I've just seen my delphiniums are coming up again and I'm dreading to think about snails showing their faces back in my garden. Delphiniums should be called slug food 😅

@ublaszko I really don’t know, I lose so many plants, some disappear without trace, it’s soul destroying 😰

So annoying isn't it 😕

The phantom daffodil muncher is back. Any ideas please, I’m despairing of ever being able to grow something that isn’t eaten!

Oh my! @cyndi @KariSamuel @moore.794 any advice?

Looks like the slugs have left calling cards try a beer trap / gravel or egg shells around the base.

we don't have slugs anywhere that big. chickens eat the critters

We have huge slugs, massive things but haven’t seen any lately. Will they really eat huge chunks like that @cyndi? We don’t have rabbits as we’ve got a pond and river in the garden but I wondered about pigeons. Slugs makes more sense but nothing we do seems to beat them here 😱 @moore.794 @Diane76

do you have groundhogs?

Definitely looks slimed and slug 💩 on the white part in photo. It's amazing how many I've caught in beer traps already even though it's still chilly. Slugs were a huge problem for me last year so I'm out to get them early before they wake properly and feast!

So pleased to see the first of the daffodil fields in Cornwall.

Wow! That's early!

Normal for down here @rachelbrooks, exactly the same week as last year. We've had very mild weather...until now!

I gather it's turned then?! And we don't normally see them til at least the end of February 🌼

Very cold but probably not getting the snow here.