The fields at the historic Wetherstons site would be closed to the public for the first time since their re-opening in 2005, Hart's Daffodil Charitable Trust Guardian of the Daffodils Kim Murtagh said.
It was a difficult but necessary decision.
''It's really, really sad for me,'' Ms Murtagh said.
''I have put a lot of my life into it. I love it very, very much.''
The trust had no choice but to close the site after the theft of its first aid kit and fire extinguisher in May and then, due to a lack of volunteer support, the fields' grass remaining uncleared, she said.
Buses and cars were still driving up to the closed, locked gates, so signs would go up advising of the closure this week.
The 10ha of daffodils were planted in 1895. From 1915 to 1918, more than 30,000 blooms were picked and sold, generating 1000 for the Otago and Southland Women's Patriotic Association.
The trust hoped to reopen the site next year.
