Lily beetle 2022

I have the red beetle again; they have eaten through 2 urns of lily's and now after keeping an eye on my remaining pots over the last 3-5 wks. I wake up to 2 plant pots with only the bare stalks showing - not a leaf in sight!

After 3 yrs. of changing soil and planting the bulbs into fresh medium to get rid of the little buggers; I have now decided to lift up the bulbs and give them to my daughter in the autumn, so at least she will be able to benefit from the wonderful display they give each year.

I will obviously check if the bulbs look healthy before handing them over -BUT is there any other precautions I need to take?

 

I get them every year too @Grandma Sue , I am always vigilant and keep a look out for them and and have squished 100s . I love Lilies and have learnt to put up with them. No doubt most of mine in the borders will get bare stems too. So far I have only found a few on my potted Giant Lilies and I will be very upset if they loose any of their leaves. You can get pesticides for dealing with them but I prefer not to use such chemicals in our garden.

Unfortunately wherever Lilies are so are the red devils too, so I think your daughter will experience the same problem too.

 

Lily beetle / RHS Gardening

 

JWK - I have been picking off the beetles when seeing them, but when they get to the larval stage it gets a bit harder for myself to deal with as I suffer with daily bouts of vertigo.

I have been using Grazers G4 spray ...drenching the leaves thoroughly- and then again if it rains, and still the little buggers keep laying their eggs. "The critters have mapped me out- my garden is now on their radar". LOL
I have had lilies for 8-9 yrs not knowing most of that time that the red beetle ever existed. I did noticed that when dividing the bulbs into new pots last year they weren't as big as usual and this could be down to having all the foliage bitten away.

 

The adults also overwinter in between the scales of the lily bulbs.

 

I discovered that provado vine weevil killer, actually reduces the amount of lily beetles as well.
If I could find a side effect formula that gives slugs and snails a good shoeing, I'd be as happy as a porcine in the smelly stuff

 

@flounder I can say provado works well, although I try not to use it. This year I had no need as I only saw a couple of beetles and they were squished before they could mate up. In previous years I've noticed how darn clever they are, dropping down and playing dead if they think they are being attacked. They do overwinter in soil I think but they also fly in from neighbouring gardens.

 

Found a few so far this year. First time I have ever seen them fly away rather than drop to the floor. Caught them on a Polygonatum near the Lilies.

 

@Palustris See I said they were tricky, using the double bluff of hiding in a different plant

 

I collect the adults and usually just squash them.
As for the larvae, I use the garden hose to spray the lilies from beneath. The larvae usually drop and can't get up to the plant again. If a leaf is full of them, I cut of the whole leaf and just throw it in the bin.