Hello I'm a Lily Beetle, come and get me!
quercus_rubur
Posts: 334
I don't grow a lot of lillies, but Lily Beetles must count as the worst design for a pest. They're the brightest of red, and what are they a pest of? Plants with green leaves! Though in true QR fashion I can't bring myself to kill them, so as with slugs and snails I plop them in the council green bin so they can have a good feast before they're carted off to the council composter.
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You'll not catch them all & you'll have poor lilies next year. Kill the little devils.
Good design, as soon as you disturb a leaf they drop onto compost, red side down so you can't see them & in my experience they are always in twos, if you catch one you've missed the other.
Fingernails slice them nicely in two...
I use a plant label and jar to scoop them into, then apply pressure until suitably squashed.
I found two today that looked like they were in the throes of passion. Lets hope they were, at least they'll have gone out smiling. Squished. They were the only two I could find though.
There were none first thing this morning, but the heat of the sun appears to have brought them out – well that the the tell-tale sign of chewed leaf edges! I pick them off and crush them. I once made the mistake of placing one on the paving awaiting my boot, but it flew off!
If adults are present then they may have had a chance to lay eggs, so check the underside of leaves for any, and wipe away.
Verdun you're right! All this squishing and slicing
.
I've had a few this last couple of days. All in pairs and they all went in the garden bin.
To go and infest someone else's Lilies! Sorry but if they were a native pest then maybe I would leave them alone and suffer, but since they are an alien invader (like Japanese Knotweed and Policeman's Helmet (Balsam)) they have to be dealt with appropriately.
I don't think teh lid of my bin would keep them in.
Pop them in ... turn your back ... and they'll crawl out!
No, this isn't a native pest so does not have any natural predators. Even the last very cold winter hasn't reduced numbers.
How do you know that they have not crawled up to the lid or the edge of the top , and as you lift the lid they are not flying off to your garden to take their revenge with vengence ???????.
I recycle mine! they are fed to a Carniverous Plant on my windowsil . They eat and kill my lilies , so my Carniverous plants eat and kill THEM for me !