Talkback: What's nibbling my Lilies? - Talkback

Gardeners' World Web User

13/07/2007 at 18:47

I wondered if it was one of the many types of Shield Bugs!

Gardeners' World Web User

13/07/2007 at 20:13

I live near Newark in Nottinghamshire and I have seen noticed "new" beetles in my garden this year. Regarding the Lily beetle I have killed about a hundred this year and have had to wipe their disgusting larve off the Lily leaves and squash them, this is even after spraying the plants with the proper spray.

Gardeners' World Web User

14/07/2007 at 12:40

I live in France - outskirts of Paris and have this beetle everywhere in my garden. They particularly like my hollyhocks.

Gardeners' World Web User

14/07/2007 at 20:40

We live in Hungary, where it is hot and dry in Summer. Our soil is very sandy. These bugs are resident here and swarming all over our garden. They do not appear to do any harm.

Gardeners' World Web User

14/07/2007 at 22:07

We have been inundated with the lily beetle here in Ontario, Canada and it is spreading. We have tried spraying with hort. oil as it causes them not to breathe. They are picked off and squashed also, but they are soon back again. It is the larvae they leave that is the problem. This year, like others, I am cutting them right down after flowering, if the buds are not already ruined, and will spray the ground where they live. One lives in hope.

Gardeners' World Web User

15/07/2007 at 14:54

I had this one in my garden, I live in Somerset

Gardeners' World Web User

16/07/2007 at 10:20

I've not come across the black and red bug but last year I lost 50 per cent of my lilies to the red lily beetle rogues. So this year I decided not to have any lilies, which is a real shame although it has given me scope to buy lots of other plants (if I really needed an excuse). Every cloud does have a silver lining!

Gardeners' World Web User

16/07/2007 at 13:25

For the reason Tina gives, I could not face another season of squashing and wiping, I have enough to do chasing slugs and snails around at night! Does anyone know of any lilies that are immune? I see the RHS is conducting some research, which includes looking into biological control if anyone is interested.

Gardeners' World Web User

18/07/2007 at 13:01

I have also had my lillies almost destroyed this year by lily beetles. I have never seen as many before. Global warming to blame?

Gardeners' World Web User

05/08/2007 at 20:45

The beetles on my lillies are plain red. I have never seen them before, they just look like ladybirds but without the spots. They have eaten through all of the flowers, so how do I get rid of them?

Gardeners' World Web User

08/08/2007 at 17:23

We were in France this year for hols & saw these beetles (bugs). I have lillies & did not have one Lily Beetle this year - I seldom do! I live in Croydon.

Gardeners' World Web User

08/08/2007 at 17:54

It's interesting to see so many comments on lily beetles. I remember my excitement when I first saw one on moving to London 25 years ago. It was eating someone else's lilies and at the time I had no idea how ruinous it could be to these plants. This pretty beetle has undergone an astonishing change in Britain in the last 75 years. At the end of the 19th century, it was a very rare insect, an accidental import with horticultural good from the Continent. It remained scarce until the 1940s when it got a firm foothold in the Guildford area of Surrey. It then started to spread until it is now one of the most widely cursed garden pests.

We've been lucky this year and I have not seen a single beetle in the garden, but then we are growing far fewer lilies than a couple of years ago. I did see one earlier this year, but it was in Nunhead Cemetery. It was busy shredding a snakes-head fritillary that had obviously been planted in one of the woodland clearings.

Gardeners' World Web User

20/08/2007 at 14:46

I found several similar insect on my Swiss chard, but they were a dark murkey brown, I promised myself I would try and look it up but never got round to it. My Swiss chard plant has not looked good after that?

Gardeners' World Web User

21/03/2008 at 23:51

I am just reading comments about lily bug whilst surfing looking for reason why my laurel bushes leaves have turned brown. Last summer I killed numerous of these bugs which my children thought were ladybirds who had lost their spots, but taking the advice of the garden centre I use (farmer) he told me after the lilies had died, cut back and remove top layer (depending on size of pot)of compost and replace with new. This hopefully would get rid of larvae. Will post and let you know later this year if it worked

Gardeners' World Web User

23/04/2008 at 08:46

22 April 2008. Newark, Notts. Today I squashed my first two lily beetles of the year, has anyone seen any earlier than this.

Gardeners' World Web User

23/04/2008 at 16:30

We live nr Ledbury in Herefordshire and have just started to find loads of the lily beetle,which my wife diligently picks off each one whenever she sees them. This is the first year that we have seen them. I found a website that said that Provado Ultimate bug killer will kill off the larvae. I don't like insecticides but I like lily's better. Will let you know of our success.

Gardeners' World Web User

05/05/2008 at 19:39

I first spotted this scarlet beetle this morning but I have a few.A very beautiful beetle no spots but not so nice holes in the lillies though.This is the first time i have encountered the lily beetle in Sandown IOW.

Gardeners' World Web User

07/05/2008 at 22:00

I am in Nova Scotia, Canada. Just noticed a few red bugs on my lilies last year. Just checked yesterday and they are full of them. My plants are already half gone and they are barely growing. What a pest!! I am not really good at picking them up or squishing them. I am not sure what pesticides are available in Canada. Looks like a trip to the nearest Garden centre. Anyone know of a good home remedy? Someone mentioned Murphy's Oil Soap and water????

Gardeners' World Web User

12/05/2008 at 16:09

It seems the lily beetle is still spreading. There is a provisional distribution map here, which shows that it is centred on Surrey, but will probably reach all parts of the UK eventually. I found the best way to keep them off my plants was to search for the eggs. A drift of 10 or 20 of them, pale pink, each about 0.5 to 0.7 mm high on the underside of a leaf. Just squish them. I only have half a dozen stems though. I pity anyone trying to keep them off a garden-load of lilies.

Gardeners' World Web User

20/05/2008 at 15:49

I have just been doing some research on the lily beetle as I have noticed in my garden for the past couple of weeks and had never seen it before! I have lived in East London for the past 5 years and this is the only time I have ever seen the damn things. Sure enough it is munching through my lillies as we speak I have been out spraying with Sunflower oil and it seems to do the trick they die pretty much straight away but I pick them off and stamp on them just incase!!