Talkback: Dealing with lily beetle - Page 2

A good blast with bug spray does seem to work - I am never quick enough to catch them before disappear onto the ground!

thanks for all your comments. I had a few on the first lilies I grew last year and I thought they were so beautiful (the beetles)  that I got very upset squashing them. I am squemish enough about squashing vine weevils although I am merciless at doing it as they are endemic in gardens in our area, but the lily beetles were gorgeous. Now I know they are not a native species I will feel much better about disposing of them adn redressing the natural balance a bit. But how am I going to be an organic gardener if I can't even squish a slug without feeling guilty. Normally I scoop them up in a trowel and chuck them in the council brown compost bin so they can go and live somewhere else! Occasionally I am brave enough to flatten one with a spade, but not often enough!!

The idea of dropping them in a jar and killing them en masse is a good one - how do you stop the ones already in there getting away`? They do fly quite well, being beetles.  Not sure I could leave them to cook in a hot jar, but a quick drown should do it too. Still carrying the tea strainer ...............

The little red beetles are easy to spot and catch. The actual destruction of the plants is caused by their lavae. In my garden, these are appearing now (end of June/beginning of July).

The first symptoms are leaves like these...

Simply turning over the leaf, reveals the lavae...

I prefer to remove the lavae from the leaf by carefully wiping with a tissue.

It's worth getting down on hands and knees and inspecting the entire plant, from below. You'll almost certainly find some more...

 
This is what the lavae actually look like....

I've had very little trouble with the little bugg@rs this year so far. the wet weather has made it really difficult for them (the only benifit of the rain).

I will be doing my lily beetle patrols again and picking them off and stamping on them  

but my lilies are pretty confused this year. a lot didn't make it through the winter  The tiger lilies have been decimated by snails, the star gazers are a couple of weeks late, still waiting on the tree lilies to show. Longiflorums only 2 have made an appearance and they are normally nearly over by now and they are only just forming flower buds

A quick spray with insecticide (Provado bug killer) will keep them at bay. I was determined lily beetles weren't going to decimate my lilies this year...and they didn't, I've had a lovely display. They are all in pots on my patio, as they are easier to tend I find.

I use a little jar like the ones you get in hotels with jam in, and just knock the beetle into it, and always have one handy so you never have to let one get away!!