michael_ames, what follows is textbook pest control on a commercial - even international scale; you can apply the principles to your own situation. Prevention. This is under the grower's control - the country of origin, nursery, broker etc. You and I have a little control and we purchase imperfect plants, determined to cure the defects. Exclusion. Here is where we can exercise greatest control. Pretend that your house is a country and the front door is the airport or other port of entry. Establish a DPI and Quarantine facility where you can 'sanitize' plants before they are allowed entry. Eradication. Complete riddance of the peat. The pest has gained a foothold in your house, garden or farm. Depending upon the environment, you can eradicate a pest - in your house; maybe not in your garden; and certainly not in a country or continent! Extirpation. This is eradication over a small area. Here is where we can do our best work to keep things pest free. It can be a single plant on the porch or in the drawing room; the Solanaceae plants in your garden e.g. tomatoes, eggplants and peppers which might need protection from a specific insect or pathogen; or a fruit tree with a known predisposition to a condition e.g. crepe myrtle and powdery mildew. The routine is inspect - identify - control - repeat.

Lourdes, Jodi, and all, Sorry for posting late on this one. I'm so sorry that you're bulbs are destroyed like that. I lost quite a few myself to the NBF as most of you know. I was able to actually save two Aphrodite, by performing surgery! Luckily the maggots were in an area that spared the bulk of the bulb and base. I cut, cleaned, and dusted with cinnamon to act as a fungicide. Then let the bulbs dry a few days and replanted. They fully healed and bloomed for me this past summer, no sign of damage at all. My cybisters and papillio were not so lucky. They suffered major damage and I lost most of them, complete basal plate destruction. One of the paps though had only basal plate remaining with no sign of roots, I cleaned it and planted it and now have 4 mini bulbs happily growing along. It'll be years before I see blooms I'm sure but this was my oldest bulb! Something to keep in mind, the maggot surrounds itself with its feces in the bulb, this has an antibiotic and antifungal quality to it, so it keeps the food source from rotting, most of what you clean out is not rot but feces. Your basal plates may not rot away so cuttage is an option. If I were more than a hobby grower I'd have destroyed the bulbs via fire! But as a budgeted buyer I have to be frugal and save what I can, especially of the costlier bulbs. I believe the NBF was in my area a long time before I was here as there are very few Daffs in gardens except for extremely old stands of them, and these even appear to be disappearing. So sad to see.

The brown stuff on the poppies sure reminds me of tobacco mosaic virus! But it is really hard to tell without handling the plants as I have seen something similar with poppies that appeared to be perfectly normal??? Do your plants die prematurely? The other plant looks like slug damage ?? There are alot of kinds of chewing worms but check out on a warm evening for signs of slugs or insects that is really the best time to spot the critters. I will not recommend pesticides as I avoid them as I prefer organic controls.

The soil should be kept moist and consistently watered. If it's in a larger container that means more soil and root space, so the plant does not require being watered as frequently, and in general will be more robust/resilient. Does the plant have enough light, and are the temperatures it's subjected to too cold (even inside, temperatures can often get too cold for citrus during the Winter). If the plant is being heated inside, humidity is a concern, it can be easy for the leaves to dry out. Pretty much all those are the basics. Then you can move into issues like fertilizer. I will also point out that starting off with the right type of soil is important, specifically how that soil is going to deal with water. Will it retain moisture well? Cheap garden soil may just be finely ground lightweight mulch and not hold water well. But you may also want the soil to be able to drain.