Could be a new lily-flu!!! Immediately report to local farming department.

It could be botrytis, which often comes when the pathogen gets splashed up onto the leaves or can enter the leaves if damaged by sunscald, etc. I understand it has been dry down there but how have you been watering them?

Thanks shic and jenny for your input.

We have a pop-up sprinkler system that waters 2 or 3 times a week. The thing that baffles me the most is that the damaged leaves are only on one side. They are brown and wilted. If I had a dog, I'd think he'd been "watering" them. But we have no pets and these lilies are behind a privacy fence so I'm sure no other dogs have been near them. I have been reading about botrytis, but I don't see any oval or circular spots. The entire leaf looks rotted. I also can't see any fuzzy fungus growth. Does anyone have a picture of an infected lily with botrytis? I'd like to compare it with mine.

I'm not an expert by any means, but would cast my vote for botrytis as well.
Had absolutely identical problem last year, when in a patch or 7-8 lilies 2 all of a sudden start showing the same symphtoms.
Cut affected foliage and discard (not in a compost pile).
Better use those plants as a cut flowers as semi-naked they'll look quite ugly.
Next year they'll be perfectly healthy.

ego45-

I am relieved to read your message! I was starting to think I was the only person in the world who had ever had this problem. I'm glad that yours came back healthy. Maybe mine will too, next year. I sprayed all of my lilies today with chlorothalonil, in case it is botrytis. Tomorrow I will take your advice and cut off the infected foliage. So far, the buds look fine and if they look like they'll bloom I'll cut them and take them to my grandmother. Thanks for sharing-
Kathy

katlynnlily, don't feel alone - botrytis (and I'd agree it IS botrytis) is a very common problem with lilies and may be due in part to your warm and humid climate. You are on the right track with the chlorothalonil, but there are other, less obtrusive and more organic methods of controlling botrytis to pursue if you wish.

Here is a link that might be useful: lilies and botrytis

gardengal,
Thanks for the link. Yep...those lilies look just like mine. So I guess the problem is botrytis. Before I used the chlorothalonil I tried the following solution -

1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 tablespoons of baking soda
a few drops of Ivory soap
quart of water (32 oz. spray bottle)

But it didn't seem to work. Does anyone have any other organic suggestions? I hate to use chemicals, but I don't want this to spread to all of my lilies.

kat leave out the oil the oil isnt needed, the rest is ok, though i'd use dishsoap instead of ivory soap as it is overly mild.
spray both sides of the leaves, of course the dried leaves are dead they wont rejuvinate, but it should stop it on the rest of the leaves within a week or so. also as long as you have humidity spray every 2 weeks once the initial bout is overwith to prevent new occurances.

Thanks grumpy,

I think the oil was added to this recipe for insects...like scale and such. Sometimes I add it and sometimes I don't. I can't tell a difference either way.

I do use ivory liquid dish detergent (not the bar soap). Someone told me that Dawn dish liquid was too strong and would kill my plants. So I bought the Ivory. But now I've read other people who say they only use Dawn. So I'm not sure which is best.

I've been spraying and nothing seems to be getting worse. I didn't have this problem last year. And this year we are in the middle of a drought. I can't remember the last time we had rain...months and months ago. I don't know if there's any correlation?

Keeping my fingers crossed, here. I may get blooms despite it all!