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Red Lily Beetle Alert
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Posted by diene Z4ME (My Page) on Wed, May 14, 08 at 18:13
I have been diligent with picking and squishing and removing the eggs for three years now. I have had to kill eight adults and remove two rows of eggs already this year. Just a warning I have at least sixty different lily plants so I am not really concerned but if I did not catch them now, I would have had a mess quickly.
I had hoped I had eradicated them last year because there were none by the fall but I know that they can travel from neighbors homes on wind and then you start over again.
Be aware.
diene |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| thanks for the alert but the little buggers have COMPLETELY infiltrated my yard. fortunately i don't have too many asiatic lillies. but i havta say i am AMAZED. i'm a beginning gardener and my lillies came in so well this year. it seems like in a blink of an eye, those beetles had shred half the plants! i didn't know to look for them prior and now, i'm left w/ these raggedly, awful lookin' lilly stalks. honestly, i'll think i'm going to just rip all of it out of the garden. they look terrible. and maybe that'll encourage those little buggers to go elsewhere. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| I'm new to the Red Lily Beetle this year, 2011. Bought an Asiatic Lily Plant from Home Depot (first mistake!) August of 2010. This spring I first spotted the little pests eating away all the leaves on my lily. I proceeded to apply Neem Oil for 3 weeks. It appeared to do the trick until this morning when I noticed the darn beetles were back in full force! Today, at dusk I've applied Bayer Rose and Flower Spray. The plant is now in bloom, but looking pretty shaky. By the way... the beetles have not attacked my Tiger Lilies, yet. I find this very interesting. Also sprayed Bayer on them just in case the little pests looking for a new meal! |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| I have had to kill a lot of these this Year already,.I had hoped that I had left the problem behind me when I moved to a new House and started over with new Lilies.I can check in the Morning,find none, and go out in the Afternoon and find at least 2 to 3 of the little Buggers.I guess being diligent is the only way to get them under control.I use Neem Oil,but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the adult Beetles,but I haven't noticed any Eggs yet,so maybe the Neem is doing something. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| Red lily bugs will breed and lay eggs almost nonstop, and any other time, they will be eating so if you start with 1 bug, expect to have thousands in a couple weeks. They really don't have any natural predators so with just the start of an infestation, the lilies are gone for good unless they are sprayed with pesticide every few days. I have lilies and I've seen how destructive these beetles are so I'm likely going to give up on caring for them as it's more rewarding to grow other stuff that doesn't have this pest. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| Once you have Asiatic lilies, the red lily beetle will find them. Becuse they have no predators (they are not native to North America) they can thrive with ease. There are immune to most peticides so the only way to get rid of them is by catching the buggers and squishing them. You may also knock them into a bowl of soapy water if you are squeamish. I grow lots of Asiatic lilies and have never lost a plant to them. I follow a regimen I picked up from a Horticultural College nearby: In the spring, just when the lily buds are coming up, I spray them and the surrounding area with a 10% solution of household ammonia. It does not harm the plants, but I think it kills the eggs which lay dormant in the soil over winter. Then I am very vigilant for any 'visitors'. I catch them and squish them. If I am away and few take hold, I run my hands up the plant and remove the gobs of black stuff which contain their larvae. I also squish them by rubbing my gloved hands together. Some years, I spray in the fall as well. But if you don't have time to inspect daily they will take over. My neighbours, a young couple did a landscaping job with beautiful white trumpets and what an inefestation they had. I used to go over daily and do a little purge but I never got rid of them: they were too far gone. Once the plants bloomed they cut them back and I think they will discard them. This was the first year my trumpets were infested but I got it under control after many days of squishing and scraping. Many gardeners have stopped growing Asiatics because the them. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| I think I've figured out how to eradicate the red lily bugs for at least a few weeks at a time. I sprinkled some of the powder or dust used to kill beetles and after a few hours, all of the beetles along with their larvae were dead. I guess they really can't handle the dust, ingest it and die. As long as it is applied every couple weeks, the asiatic lilies should be fine. Once they are fully mature, they seem to have some resistance to the red beetles. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| They are already having a go at my lilies which are only a few inches out of the ground. Mine are all L regale or regale hybrids. Daily squishing just about keeps them in control because I don't have many plants to patrol. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| Ortho Max Flower Fruit & Vegetable Insect Killer Pull 'N Spray works wonders in eradicating these buggers! I also use the spray on my roses to kill aphids and Japanese beetles. Try it! |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| I have had lilies and lily beetles for as long as I remember, and I have NEVER lost a lily to them. Yes, they have a natural enemy : YOU. They are so easy to detect, you cannot miss to notice them, which makes them an easy prey. Just hold one of your hands under them, as they can just drop off the leaves. If by chance some of the larvae hatch unnoticed, I just put some pressure on my water hose and flush them from beneath the leaves. Once on the ground, they will usually stay there and perish. Last year I observed that some of my house sparrows (nesting under my roof) were eating the larvae, so spreading poison should not be an option. It is absolutely unnecessary. If somebody does not have time to collect some beetles(or is too lazy to do it), then it is better to stop growing lilies. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| And you have to keep alert. I check mine every day. And even then I have found a beetle half an hour after checking and seeing none. The tip about putting your hand under the beetle is absolutely spot on. If they sense you are there they drop upside down to the ground. Underneath they are black and impossible to see on the soil and among other plants. |
RE: Red Lily Beetle Alert
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| I read on another forum that baby talcum powder smothers them. Worth a try. |
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