What Chaz is going through with his bulbs has me a little freaked out about taking all my beauties outdoors this spring... I would hate to lose even one bulb to narcissus fly!

I think building some sort of screening for them is a great idea... I'm currently working on a design that will incorporate screen material with wooden 1" x ? boards or strips, just thick enough to be rigid and strong, and thin enough to weigh less than a ton for ease of moving! I'd like to staple the screening to the boards or lath pieces, after building square framing that will fit over my raised bed. I'd like it to turn out looking rather like a cold-frame cover, only have it made of screen.

How are you thinking of making yours, Lizalily? Will it be flat to just cover the raised bed you're making? Or will it be more like a framed unit that has sides and a top?

I was thinking of making a bamboo frame fastened together with plastic ziplock (Or what ever they are called) ties, and then draping the fabric over the frame and fastening it down with earth staples. I would put a drip system or sprinkler hose down before covering it so I just have to click the garden hose onto it to water. I don't do hammer and nails but I made a great tomato frame with the bamboo and ziplocks last year, and have the peices I can use this way this year. I will use osmocote when I plant them, and a dressing of compost.

I got down on the list for Garden help at our local Garden center and should be able to get the bed done within the next two weeks. Then it won't be long until I can put them out. Last freeze is usually mid April, but with the cement block to hold the suns warmth, and blankets in case of a sudden freeze I may be able to get them out in the sun sooner, which they would really appreciate!

Hippi experts... do you think an 8" deep bed would work or do I need to spring for another pallet of Cement blocks?
That would be a bit deeper then the pots they are in now. I intend to take them out of their pots and pot them in the soil, so how much room do they need between them for optimal summer growth? THey will be in a 3 way mix of compost, sand and steer manure topped with more compost. That is what I grow my veggies in and they do well in it.

I don't know if 8" would be deep enough... although, given the shape of a hippi root system, I wouldn't think they'd need more than 8" to 12" of depth for planting... I'd be sure to allow for some settling of the medium, though... last year, when I filled my veggie beds, I didn't account for settling of the mix, and it did settle! This spring, I have to add a few inches of medium to bring the soil level back up.

I was originally going to leave my raised bed empty and group my hippis inside it in their pots... but now I'm thinking maybe it would be better for the bulbs if I filled the raised bed and planted them directly in it...

The mix in that raised bed would have to be a bit different than the others that I use for veggies... I'd want more sand and other things that would make for better drainage... the bulbs would be at the mercy of any rains, so drainage would have to be excellent and fast... I'd be watering when they needed it, of course...

I don't know... maybe I'll just re-pot the bulbs that require it, and leave it at that, grouping them all together. I sure wish the greenhouse would be up by the time May rolls around, but I know it won't be completed by then.

As for how far apart to plant the bulbs... again, I'm not sure... but I'd leave enough room to allow for growth, and so the leaves aren't too crowded...

You're so lucky to have an extra month of growing time... our frost cut-off date is mid-May... it should be warm way before then, but there's still a small chance that frost could hit until around the 15th of the month.

I'm still debating how I'll handle my bulbs once I get them outside... I have over 40 pots to carry down stairs and out to the garden area... it's quite a hike for someone like me! There must be an easier or better way to handle all this! LOL!

A pulley system out the window? :-)

LOL, ladies I would wind up falling out the window hanging onto the pully! LOL
Just a thought here about the screen/protection construction. Before I knew what these flys were I did notice them, they look like brownish bumble bees, and they are low to the ground flyers. What ever you use make sure the screen is secure on the ground and they can't crawl under it, They crawled around the daff's and hyacinths, I saw them on the ground and they were not easily scared off. Now that I know what they are, they won't be ignored like in the past.

I'm probably going to create my structure like a tall coldframe, built withing a box or brick/cinder frame lined with landscape fabric. I'll have to figure a way to open it and not worry about the flys getting in through the bottom. I also have to worry about the wind here, I'm in a pretty windy area on a hill. Still working out plans, I'll share once I get something firm.

Liza, I'm going to the New England Flower show this weekend. If they've got the gold or red curly willow I'm getting some! I'll let you all know how the show is, there are usually plenty of arrangments in the competitions with hippis in them.

Chaz - As you described the narcissus fly and its habits, and then the tall coldframe you'd need to construct... I can picture what we all need... it's a screenhouse, rather than a greenhouse. It has a bottom "lip" in front of the doorway to keep low-flying insects from flying right in... and it's built temporarily, bolted or clipped together so it can be taken down in fall. Does something like this already exist?

Or... it's built like a coldframe, but a bit taller to accommodate the taller hippi leaves... it has a hinged top that lifts like a car hood so we can work in it, and it could be bolted down to a raised bed or a 2x4 frame on the ground... does something like this exist?

I just keep picturing the old fashioned glass-paned coldframes that had tops that lifted up for ease of working in them. But we'd need the system to be made of screen material.

Just thinking out loud... it seems we all need some type of screen house or screen frame...

You know... instead of a pulley system through a window... what if I used a hay elevator... LOL!

I'm gonna push for a strapping young buck to carry my plants out for me! LOL

I've been thinking about the coldframe type of structure myself. Or..if I get my greenhouse, have it be with removeable panes and screens for the summer!

A word of caution on the green house, screen house. MY bulbs summered inside my plastic greenhouse with screens in the windows and doors but still got the narcissus fly. THe house sits on a plastic sheet with wide flaps that are staked to the ground, but I also tended to leave the zippered screen door open while working. Apparently that was enough for these nasty little buggers to get into my bulbs.

So that is why I am thinking of putting a secure top on it what will be left in place most of the season and certainly through the narcissus season! I will probably cover the bottom edges of the fabric with dirt after fastening them down with earth staples. With the sprinkler inside I see no reason why I would need to open it up for weeks at a time.

Chad, have a wonderful time at the Garden Show! THe willow from my brother looks rather olive green and is not rooted so I planted it in a pot of soil and will try to keep it damp and root it there. I cut it into many peices so if it roots I can send you some. Not sure if it lightens to gold or not...it definitely is not red and I would love some curly red willow!

Next year I should be back at the Big Northwest Garden Show with two good walking legs and have a wonderful time! My pal and I usually get a hotel room for 2 nights and hit about 3 good lectures a day, as well as all the shopping and looking. I really missed it this year, but am just now getting the lilies, daylilies and dahlia tubers potted up from the smaller Tacoma Show we went to a few days before my surgery.

Yes, here it is the time I start my new dahlias in pots so they will be big enough to defeat the enormous banana slugs that come out of the woods! I like to have them up about 18" when I plant them out. Meantime the ducks are doing slug patrol for baby slugs and slug eggs in the cutting garden.

And make sure the young buck who carries your pots outside does not get his antlers stuck in the doorway!

I'm sure I'll end up carrying all my pots downstairs, myself! I'll just take it easy and carry a few out per day... I actually have quite a few that need repotting, so I'll do that as soon as I get them outside to my staging area, which is in front of the garage bay that we reserve for garden implements and such.

Slugs aren't a major problem here... not that I've noticed, anyway... they seem to keep to the Hostas, mostly, and the population isn't that huge. We're lucky to have some very large praying mantises that patrol the gardens, and while I'm not sure if they feast on slugs, they do help with other unwanted insects. The bird population is quite large here, and they keep a lot of the creepy-crawlies out of the garden, as do the spiders. I hate spiders, but I allow them to live outdoors in the gardens because I know they do their share to keep unwanted bugs gone.

How I wish we had local garden shows! There's really nothing to speak of this far south of Chicago... at least, nothing that I'm aware of. Yes, Chaz, do have a wonderful time at the show! Be sure to let us know what plants followed you home!

As for the screening... I think a cold-frame design over my raised bed, with a hinged cover that lifts for easy maintenance, will work out the best... I just hope I can build something decent before it's time to pull everybody outside!

Narcissus bulb flies will easily find their way to enter a greenhouse. How can anyone keep a greenhouse hermetically closed?! A minimum of air exchange is essential in order to remove exccessive humidity - and heat, respectively - when the burning sun is shining during certain spring days. And, not to forget, the plants need fresh air with fresh carbon dioxide.

Well, my cement block bed is being built as I speak! HIred on some garden crew who work for one of the nurseries during summer but hire out to gardeners during the off season. MY bed is 2 blocks high (Little misunderstanding of ENglish here so that determines that! I really thought it should be that deep anyhow but wanted more space. Guess I will be making another order for Cement blocks because I want a regular sized 4' by 60' bed raised 2 blocks high to grow a shade garden in my cutting garden at the edge, so will just order enough more to extend the amie bed to its max. I will fill the other new one with good garden soil and transplant my struggling hydrangeas and hostas, columbines, ferns, and other shade plants there, where they will not have to compete for soil nutrients and water with the brush on the other side of the garden fence. Legs simply will not take me that far at the monent , as I finished cutting the dahlia tops and supervised the pond going in for my fountains we were supposed to pick up today! (Oops!) DH arranged to get them on TUes. I ordered them at a garden show in Feb and they just arrived from the factory. THey will make a lovely splash down in the back garden, that will look like it is coming out of basalt columns! DH leveled the soil beside it so we can sit and let the spray cool us in summer! Dream coming true! IT is gift from us to us for our 40th anniversary on the 23!
DH probably will wonder if he will live that long about tomorrow, LOL. He has not been physically active over the winter. He also trying to clear a space out of wild blackberries and alders for his new garden shed he just bought because the gravel will be delivered for the pad on Tues. THe two projects were not supposed to be done at the same time in my origonal plans!

Here is my new Hippi summer home foundation:{{gwi:392233}}

And here is Howard clearing land for his combo Garden shed/Ham Radio Shack. Gravel for pad arrives tomorrow. He will be up at 6 AM to finish flattening out the root mound in the back corner! {{gwi:392235}}

Very nice, Lizalily! I like your lengthy bulb bed.. it looks very easy to work in! Mine are square, made of wood, and spaced apart with a mulched aisle running between them so I can work in them with ease.

And it looks like Howard has his shed area under control! A little more leveling and there will be a nice foundation area!

Have been reading with great interest all your comments, and I wish all of you the best of luck with your projects. I just did a ton of research on this critter tonight; have never even thought about it before, but just gives me more reason (than I already had) to keep my precious ones inside, especially now that I've invested so much more in them this year. Do have this Sunporch greenhouse that my son and I put up about 10 years ago or so. The windows get replaced with screens for the summer. Gets very hot in there, but the Amis love it. The leaves grew over two feet high on some of them last year. Over the years I've planted thousands of daffodils out in the yard -- just about every color and type there is, Going to have to really check them out for this fly come May. Have never noticed it. Lizalily, nice job on your raised bed. That welded wire fence and I are good friends. It's around everything because of the deer.

Same here! Deer paradise! Now every new garden gets its protective fence . The rest of this garden has my vegetable beds just like the amaryllis one but 4 1/2 cement blocks wide. It is wonderful and makes having a vegetable garden a real pleasure! IT was last years project.

We have lots of deer, too, but they never seem to bother the gardens... perhaps it's that there's a lot of open pasture and fields of corn, hay and soybeans, so they never need to come eat the gardens...

The only fencing we have for gardens is around the raised veggie beds, and that was already there before we put in the beds... it used to be a duck enclosure. There are also fences to keep the dogs in different areas of the yard, and all the gardens are outside the fencing! I think these dogs would do a lot more damage to the gardens than deer would!

Aren't raised beds wonderful?! It makes working in them so much easier than a regular veggie garden!

I, too, have raised beds in my veggie garden. The ground slopes just a bit, so I put down some old, half-rotted landscape ties and made boxes. Have this beautiful black dirt trucked in, and each spring more gets wheeled over and added to the boxes and planting areas. Still waiting for the weather to "break" so the peas can go in.
Please click on the link

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:392232}}

Hey guys, I really don't think screening alone is going to keep your hippis safe : (
While we have not been hit with narcissus fly yet we have every kind of cutworm you can imagine. The moths that produce those worm are much bigger than the narcissus fly & they manage to get in my greenhouse every year.
I finally resorted to systemic pesticides twice a year, as soon as I take them out in the spring and again before I bring them in for cold weather. If you are willing to use pesticides, the multi purpose rose sprays work great & are readily available.
If you do not use the chemicals, try waiting till after the NBF makes it's it's appearance to take your hippis outside. Once their eggs are laid on other plants the danger to the hippis will drop. Lora

Nice garden, Kitty! It looks very "user friendly"! I need to finish filling my beds with soil and compost this spring, too...

Lora - I'm a big believer in systemic insecticides! They are easy to use, and they work great! I try not to use a lot of chemicals in the gardens, but there are times when they do come in handy... my hippis will be sprayed going out, and then again coming in... or, I will sprinkle a bit of systemic granules on their soil... either way, I'll not allow bugs to harm my "crop"!

Screening and the use of a systemic together should keep them pest-free!

I, too, may use a systemic on mine when I put them out, knowing it will break down over the summer and pretty much be out of their systems when I bring them in. I did this with glads one year when they were all infested with thrips. It really goes against the grain but this may be one of the times that it is appropriate to do so.

I just keep thinking of the investment I have in all these bulbs... I'd rather resort to a chemical if it will help keep the bugs at bay!