Any other suggestions for controlling this horrible pest? Other forums suggest imidacloprid, but I don't think it is available in Canada. Thanks.

I'm usually not a chemical type of person, but I was desperate to get rid of them. These beetles are nasty and will eat through your Asiatic and Oriental lilies in record time. If you're an organic gardener, then your plan of attack will probably include neem oil and the old 'squish & drown' method.

I finally gave up last year & shovel pruned the majority of my lilies. It broke my heart! I left a few, simply because I couldn't bear to part with all of them.

Most of my lillies are in large containers on the patio, I was thinking of putting them in the ground...changed my mind on that now tho. I'll be able to watch over them more easily this way.

I only hope this infestation will "run its' course" and be gone in the future. I hope this compares the ladybugs....they were out in swarms three years ago here in London (they were so dense that entire sides of buildings were covered with them...and they exhibited the non-typical behaviour of biting too!). Last year their numbers had dropped down to near normal, but they were a concern. Not as destructive as these @#@#*&^% lilly beatles. Oh well, I'm prepared to get some neem and a bowl of soap. I love my lillies, what lovley scent!!!!
g.g.t.a., Justine

So far I've been lucky, and I haven't seen any nasty beetles. I know they're in my area, but maybe because I only have a few they haven't bothered me - I hope...

BP

Now don't get me started about Iris borers! AAARGH.

I though these beetles came only in the early season with Asiatics, and cease shortly therafter. I just bought an oriental lily for a friend who gets the red lily beetle something bad on her Asiatics. I bought her an oriental lily in hopes that the beetle's lifespan is over by the time it blooms in August. Please don't say it isn't so :(

Is the red lily beetle still around mid-late August?
Will they attack oriental lilies?

BP

Brodie

Cygon, a systemic pesticide works well for me. 2-4 applications during the summer, I just spray it on the leaves and it works wonders. It's strong stuff and even though I'm fairly neutral on the pesticide topic, I really want to minimize it's use. It gets applied to the one small clump of tiger lily that I've chosen to keep.

Cheers,
MG

But... Things being the way they are - bulbs being shipped all over North America by individuals and companies... It's only a matter of time before the beetles get established in any area that they'll tolerate. So you guys on the west coast might not have them - yet, but if you ever see a pretty red beetle - *KILL IT*.

BP

I haven't seen one red devil since. The lillies all look healthy, with some damage from the early bugs. I'm keeping a close watch on them, but so far, so good.

I used this approach last year and was very successful. This year I have had very few and my lillies are looking there best ever.

What I did when living in Ontario. I put white paper down and shook liliy beetles onto it. Still hadto check under every leaf for eggs though.
Inanda

This year I went on a daily beetle and larva squishing campaign and I have, for now, defeated them. I haven't seen any of the critters for two weeks.

Did anyone try diatomecious earth to see if that helps any?

Brodie

They seem to prefer my oriental Casablanca and Stargazer lilies the best, although they enjoy the asiatics and Orenpets as well. They seem to have less fun on the trumpets for me as well and I agree that the leaves are too thin for them and they are a challenge.

Mary

Cygon isn't available in Canada unless you're a commercial grower of some kind, and then you need permits - it was pulled from store shelves several years ago because it's moderately toxic.

Neem oil should work (some neem oil products are less effective because they're too dilute - it's not an approved pesticide yet and therefore there are no minimum standards of potency)- it probably won't have much effect on the adults, other than to make the leaves unpalatable and force them to go to an untreated plant, but it should interfere with the growth and developement of the larvae. The larvae won't be able to turn into an adult and lay any more eggs. Some plants can take up neem oil through the roots and it then becomes a systemic and can kill that way - I have no idea if lilies have this ability, but it wouldn't hurt to drench the soil around the plants just in case.

I would not recommend mulching - the larvae will drop to the ground when ready to pupate and the mulch will just give them plenty of places to hide in. You might actually want to scrape off the top inch or two of soil around the plant and replace it with fresh soil.

Many people have recommended squishing, and I agree - you can wear disposable latex gloves if the ick factor is too high, or you can wipe the larvae off with a damp cloth. The adults can be knocked off into a dish of soapy water or grabbed with a soapy cloth and sent for a swim - they can fly away so you have to be quick!

BP

My Casablanca and Stargazer lillies have bloomed beautifully this year, and the foliage has sustained minor damage. It was well worth the effort!

I put on a pair of dollar store wool gloves overtop of a pair of dishwashing gloves and soaked the gloves in the neem mix, I coated the underside of every plant leaf with this solution by simply cupping the gloves together with the stem in the middle of my cupped gloved hands, and this gets each underside leaf wet with the solution as well as dislodging any eggs, starting from the bottom/base and moving up the plant in a cupping-like fashion.

I dip the gloves into more solution for each plant, coated the leaves and dripped the excess on the ground near the base of each lily and move on to the next plant.

My lilies were dessimated last year but this year, I've killed about 40 adults and with the wet-glove treatment, manage to elimating the underside of the leaves of eggs. I have maybe 6 leaves with slight damage from the initial adults that I've subsequently squashed and I repeat the neem oil glove trick every two weeks to keep the underside of the leaves 'egg free'.

I may slow down and only do this treatment monthly now as there hasn't been a slug or adult in sight since I started doing this in early May..I have approximately 60 lilies stalks out there so it takes about 1/2 hour to do this 'stem in wet gloved hand' trick. But if it means I'm reducing the overall population and keeping the eggs from developing into slugs - I'm happy and so are my lilies.

So far no lily beetles in my yard. I only saw one adult last year, and just a few larvae and eggs. I'm checking daily, and keeping my fingers crossed. I've got about 30 stalks so I'm not a major target, but still (would have had over 40, but the squirrels had something to say about that)...

BP

This is my first try, but the results seem terrific and the cure is one I have not seen any references to... rotenone is an organic pesticide, reasonably non-toxic (unless you are a fish), fairly inexpensive and easy to use. Wondering if anyone else has tried it and what your results were.

Cheers, Marquisa

I know I can be a bit of a soapbox preacher when it comes to pesticide use, but I believe that there aren't adequate warnings on the labels to educate us to the possible dangers of these things. If you think about it - is killing lily bugs worth that possible risk to your or your children's health?

You can buy neem oil from Richter's. That is a safe (but smelly!) way of controlling many pests, including lily beetles. Or you might have to do as claubill and many others have done - throw in the towel :-(. Populations have been exploding over the last few years, and there's not much to be done about it.

BP

Bonniepunch - you can jump on the soapbox anytime - I really appreciated being able to learn alot about this relatively unknown botanical which is not as safe as the makers may tout it to be. Cheers

I saw a red beatle on one of my Oriental Lily and I didn't think much of it. It was nice looking and I thought it was there to help control aphids and other pests but after reading this thread, it appears it is the pest.

One day, I notice there are holes in leaves of my lily and since I didn't see any other pests around the lily but the red beatle, I knock if off the lily instead of squishing it, thinking nothing more of it. I didn't know it was a beatle that specifically attack Lily, until now.

Guess i'll keep more of a vigilant eye on my lilies from now on. I hope it was a male and not a female that was carrying eggs.

Thanks for the post.

Cheers,

Chi.

Janet's Garden

Fortunately, we moved. Two years ago and not a sign of a lily bug until the other day. When I found four of them on one plant. I cut the plant right down, it had fortunately finished blooming, just. Put it into the can in back I have for burning, and set it and some newspaper etc. on fire
Have not seen anymore. What a dreadful sight it was.

I will keep in mind what you have found successful, Gary.
It was fun, a good laugh and interesting, reading all the comments.
YUK:

Wow, this is the thread that will not die (started in 2005) much like lily beetles.

Neem oil is a plant extract. It is NOT a pesticide. The product was originally used for making your houseplant leaves nice and shiny (sort of like an Armour All for plants). It can help with some bug problems as it can suffocate small bugs and insect eggs. But again it is NOT a pesticide and after many years of experimentation I can tell tell you it NOT a great option for bug control. (Big sigh) I wish it was. I have yet to see a single organic product that actually works (even bigger sigh) decently to kill bugs. I am sure several will challenge me on this and I welcome them to come to my gardens and prove the worth of whatever method / product they are using. No flaming though as I don't use chemical pesticides. I started my green / environmental phase back in the 60's when I was in hippie movement and so had a head start on the vast majority of people here in America. Just stating the 'organic' method of pesticide control has a long way to go before it lives up to the lofty claims people already make.

Cheers,
MG

picking and squishing
picking and squishing

The fact that it is a plant extract has nothing to do with it being a pesticide.

If you use it to spray for bugs - it is a pesticide. This is true by simple definition, but also by the official Ontario definition of a pesticide.

Noticed not as many of the little buggers, this year

Joyce

Posted by joyce51 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 9, 09 at 8:41

Don't get rid of your lillies. I have come up with a good solution to get rid of the beetles, that won't cost the earth.
I went out last Sat. to buy the spray. I noticed on the 1 that 1 ingredient was cooking oil, on the other was soap.
I went to the grocery store and bought veg. cooking oil and
I use Sunlight dish soap. Erwigs do not like Sunlight soap, so I thought why not mix up some cooking oil with my sunlight and spray my plants. It works. I use.
1 cup cooking oil, 1/2 cup sunlight dish soap put in 1 liter
spray bottle fill with water. Shake well and spray all those bugs on your lillies. Within 2 sec. the big beetles were dead. it will also kill the lauva I'm keeping an eye on the eggs to see if it kills them 2. Also I have been spraying the ground around all my lily plants.
Try this and see what you think? It works for me.
Good luck with your lillies. I just love mine and refuse to get rid of them.

I too have a have beetle problem I guess I am one of lucky ones because I have just noticed them the other day. I have never had a problem with them although I have only had my garden for the last 5-6 years and this thread was started back in 2005.

I am in Mississauga, Ontario not sure if this a problem everywhere or just pockets of these nasty little pests. I too am going to try the recipe up above and see if that works.

Won't do much for my lilies this year, they have been chewed right up but maybe next year and I will be more vigilant about keeping an eye out for these little suckers right from the get go! :)