Lilies: Lilies, 3 by cathy166

cathy166 wrote:
Donna, you are fortunate that the red lily beetle has not found its way to Illinois as it has in the northeast. It can decimate your lily garden and frits. They love to chew on buds and blooms. If you touch them, they drop to the ground on their backs, and the underside is black, so they are almost invisible. I've learned to put one hand below them where they often drop before trying to take them off the leaf. I am guilty of Lilioceris lilii-cide.

It was really surprising to find a lily beetle on the underside of a peony leaf. Since I only spray lilies, maybe the spray is working. I am quite certain that when a bud or bloom is bitten off that it is deer (they jump fences). Rabbits often take down the bud and half the stem is broken off in my yard.

I just bought a new organic pesticide that should kill lily beetles, but I still think that the applications of bad tasting stuff does the best to deter all the diners.

Marcia