Red beetles on lilies
I planted a couple of lilies last year and found that they were being eaten by these bright red beetles. I tried to remove any eggs they laid, but once they'd chomped through the leaves the plants never looked the same. The plants are just showing their heads now, and straight away those little horrors are back! Any advice on keeping them away?
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There's lots of advice and comments on this site, but I suggest checking every day, looking under the leaves as well and stamping on the little blighters. I also spray mine with Provado bug spray. Excellent as it's systemic.ie. gets into the plant tissue and kills the nibblers and lasts for 6 weeks. Be careful when you try to remove the bugs, as if they fall off they fall on their backs showing a brown underneath- almost impossible to see on the soil!
I squashed two today, and sprayed all the lilies with provado. The beetles seem to be early this year. I squashed the first one before the lilies had poked their shoots through.
There is a problem with Provado; it probably affects bees, which as we know are really under pressure and without bees, all our food plants don't get pollinated and then ...well.. we all die of starvation.
Having said that, one year I sprayed the soil before the lilies started to grow and had no lily beetles.
If anyone can tell me more about Provado and bees, would be grateful.
I only spray the lilies early on. It lasts six weeks. It will be about 8 weeks before they flower. That shouldn't affect the bees.
Artjak - here's what the soil association say about it -
http://www.soilassociation.org/wildlife/bees/householdpesticides
lily beetles are so easy to spot and squash,there really is no excuse to spray them.
That excreta - like stuff is actually lily beetle poo. Their defence is to poo and that is very toxic. It makes them very slippy and even slippier when they are on their back ... More poo! Very effective lily beetle defence. I carry a pair of fine nail scissors in my pocket and if I catch sight of one I very quickly snip it in two! Yes.. I am probably classed as a very nasty old lady but my bees flourish, my leaves are sharp and my lilies are, for the best part, intact." Go it wrinklies!" xx
My first post!!
I have lilies in tubs and get these beetles every spring.The above answers seem to answer the original question,though I do tend to prefer manual rather than chemical control but that's just me.Hi everyone...
Thank you Mike for your very warm welcome.I've been looking for a good gardening forum for a while now and it looks like I've found it
Welcome fishy65, I hope you enjoy this forum as much as I do
The problem with spraying Provado on the earth, as I think someone pointed out last year is that it gets into the plant and thus affects the bees later on. So now I don't use it and go out with rubber gloves on and deal with the horrid little things
...and thank you Bamboogie for that link; very useful