lily beetles-how do i rid myself of these little red devils

We have large pots with lilies in and we check the plants regularly and dispose (squash) any of the little Red Devils.

One of my GD’s is really good at spotting and catching them and was disappointed when visiting on Sunday not to find any.

When we gave it a bit of thought we realised that since she has been with us the infestation has lessened year on year.

Perhaps we should hire her out 😁

Other years I puffed diatomaceous earth over them (and on soil) with some success. Not 100%.

Unfortunately you do see the talcum powder like dust on the plants which isn't so lovely as they grow but you don't really notice once the blooms open...

This year I've put the diatomaceous earth over the soil and have bought a bugspray for "belt and braces" regarding any I've missed. 🤞

I’ve resorted to spraying now, I’ve had enough of mine being wrecked every year.

Bump

The lily leaf beetle (LLB), also known as the red or scarlet lily beetle, is an invasive insect that originated in Eurasia. It was first discovered in North America in 1943 near Montreal, Canada, and is thought to have been introduced in shipments of plant materials from Europe. In 1992, the LLB was discovered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has since spread throughout much of New England and as far west as Washington state.

And they are fierce flyers.

I gave up on lilies after a couple of years of trying to deal with the red menace. My grannie, who was a heavy smoker and a keen gardener, used to make up a brew with dog ends that she sprayed onto the lilies. She also used exhale smoke onto them.
I don't remember her lilies ever being infected. I think grannie's brew must have been very toxic to have been so effective. No wonder tobacco is so harmful to humans.

petunia

lots of good ideas there fellow lily lovers, rather like the garlic spray. its too late for me to tip the compost out for this summer, but i will have a go later in the year.
what chemical warfare did you use visgirl, i have limited patience with them this year

Sorry for late feed back...

Gardeners' World suggest spraying lilies with sunflower oil at the first signs of attack. Apparently it is more effective on the larvae than the adults, but is a deterrent.

Smell - they are just attracted to lilies and fritillaries I think. They are also very strong fliers.

I think vigilance is the key. I have lilies emerging -so from now onwards I will inspect them daily.

What has always puzzled me is where did the blighters com from?

My garden is a considerable distance away from other gardens, gardens which are smaller than mine and have very few flowers in them. Only one neighbour has lilies and she must be a good 100 - 150 metres away. Nearly all my lilies were grown from bulbs, I rarely buy lily plants. Lily beetles just appeared after a few years.

Can they fly long distances? Do they have acute long distance lily detection sensors? Could they have come in with a bulb? It's a mystery.

I've not grown lilies for a number of years now because of the same problem. When I did grow them and found the beetles on them, I put a lightweight fleece around the plants, over any surrounding ground cover, soil and plants and gave a gentle shake. They fell down onto the fleece and were easy to see even upside down and I could then dispose of them (fleece taken carefully to the patio and a grand stomping dance performed!) I also squashed any larvae (ugh, disgusting things) with my rubber-gloved fingers and then washed the gloves.

lots of good ideas there fellow lily lovers, rather like the garlic spray. its too late for me to tip the compost out for this summer, but i will have a go later in the year.
what chemical warfare did you use visgirl, i have limited patience with them this year

I found ordinary house fly/wasp aerosol spray very effective.

I just squash them between my fingers and wash my hands afterwards.

These flaming little blighters decimated all of my lilies last year, I am undecided as to whether to plant any more.

Whitewavemark2

I can’t possibly kill such beautiful creatures😮

I simply relocate them out of the garden🙂

Can you could kill the larvae, though? They're utterly disgusting...

I'm not keen on killing anything but I make a exception when it comes to lily beetles. I ended up going down the chemical route last summer. It was sort of successful. My lilies were all in pots so, in winter, I tipped out all the compost and left the grubs exposed. A pair of robins had a feast. Fingers crossed for this year.

If you don't want to or can't use poison then lay some white kitchen roll or paper around the plant. This means that if the little beggars use their rolling over technique to hide, you can still see them against the white.

I can’t possibly kill such beautiful creatures😮

I simply relocate them out of the garden🙂

They are hard to pick off

I pick mine off with tweezers if possible. I keep meaning to remember to put some while paper around the plants to catch the fallers...

Make sure you get as many of their offspring as possible to cut down on next year's numbers! They are quite revolting because they cover themselves in their own excreta, but I scrape off as many as I can find into a jar of water, where they drown. You find them on the underside of the leaves, they start off as little black dots and rapidly get bigger.

I hunt and destroy lily beetles and their young obsessively all summer, but I always think it's a real shame that something as beautiful as the red adults are so destructive and have to GO...

I grew glorious Lilies for years and suddenly , one summer the plague of the relentless lily beetles began .
They are hard to pick off .
If you don't want to use chemicals then , crush some garlic cloves up and allow them to steep overnight in water .
Use this water to spray your lilies liberally respraying after rain .
I also put coffee grounds around the base of my lilies .
Apparently , you can spray them with sunflower oil .
I haven't tried it .
Good luck .

Sorry to say but I resulted to chemical warfare.
Tried picking off, insect friendly stuff., nothing worked for me they shread mine in the past.