Hemerocallis heartbreak!!

Check out your garden for the nasty gall midge that can attack your day lilies.  Today we had a horrible day going round all the hemerocallis in the garden, of which there are over 30, cutting all the buds off!  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and be brave!  Last year we only cut off what seemed to be the infected buds, but it appears you have to be much more ruthless.

According to one article I read it took a gardener over three years of doing this to banish the pest!  Next year we will try spraying Provado in March and April to banish the bug.

Gall midge is a small fly that lays eggs on the developing flower buds.  The larvae inside the buds causes abnormal bud development and infested buds fail to open.  These buds are shorter and much fatter than normal daylily flower buds.  It affects the earlier varieties of Hemerocallis more as they are forming in the egg laying season.  It is worth trying the spray provado ultimate bug killer when the flower spikes are emerging.