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LILY BEETLES
lindapalmara
Posts: 40
in Talkback
I have talked about this before but it still bugging mr ( excuse the pun)! I have some lovely lilies which take pride of place in my raised bed. After many years of fantastic flowers the last couple of years they have been stripped of their leaves. I brought them in the Conservatory half way through last summer but they still carried on deteriorated. I cleaned all the bulbs and have planted them in pots and left them in the greenhouse. Can I treat them with anything? Big guns needed so I can put them out once again. Any ideas? I have tried painstakingly picking them off, sunflower oil spray etc.
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I inspect mine whenever I'm in the garden and squidge the beetles when I see them. I also use tissue or kitchen roll to wipe the underside of the leaves to remove the larvae which are what do the damage. So far I manage to get away without too much damage.
Good luck
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I use provado ultimate bug killer as soon as I see the first lily beetle on them. This is systemic and will work for six weeks. Usually by that time the bulb will have flowers on. I dont spray later on in the season. That way I hope to get the larvae which chew the leaves, but leave the pollinating insects. I squash every last lily beetle I see. They have no natural predators in this country.
Thanks to you both. Pravado it is then.
I don't usually use really powerful chemicals but lily beetle is an exception. I truly, truly hate them. Provado every time, use as it says on the can and do it regularly. If you spray really early - before you see any beetles or damage - you can nip it in the bud (another bad pun). I only use it on the lilies, though, so try to avoid too much collateral damage...
Thanks Rosie!
I agree with dovefromabove , regular inspection , personally I knock them into a jar of white spirit but for the last couple of years I have been cleaning the larvae off and the number of beetles have dropped considerably
best of luck everybody
I have dozens of lilies in my garden - including many tree Lillie's. I am anti any form of chemicals in my garden and, at the end of the day, if a bug is determined to eat something and I can't prevent it then I let nature take its course. With my lilies, as soon as I see any nibbles, I just check under the leaves and deal with them by hand. There are few bugs I squash with relish but lily beetles and vine weevils are public enemies numbers 1 and 2 in my opinion!! Blighters!
incidentally, I am not a lady of leisure with nothing better to do.... I have a full time job and a hectic life, it just takes a few minutes to go round checking for critters every now and then. Where possible, I try to encourage other, predatory, creatures in to help me out!
Sorry..... I wipe the underside of the leaves with tissue - as Dove does - to squash the larvae its gross but I find it very effective.
I spent one summer trying to wipe off larvae. I always manage to miss one, and by the time I looked again, they were stripped. I sprayed once last year,in around May time, and that kept the whole plant pristine.
I try to encourage predators, but there is nothing in a UK garden that eats them.