Early pest controle

I thought I posted this yesterday but cant find it so here goes again.
Local news had a segment on exterminaters who were saying pests are out early.They are swamped with calls for ants and wasps mostly that have emerged with the early warm weather,but it made me think of our friend the Red Lily Beetle and if it might be time for carnage in the larve department.
Exterminaters said there will be MORE pests this year because the pests cycle will cause more egg laying cycles in the longer season.

Is anyone treating early for this pest?

Good morning; "pest" is a very kind description of that rotten critter. For the past few years I have followed pirl's advice and did a preemergent spraying with Pyola (I then alternate between Bayer advanced and pyola once a month). The preemergent spraying truly helps. This year is so odd - everything has already emerged and I haven't even finished my spring clean up yet. This week is supposed to be 60 - 70 so I WILL clean-up & spray. I haven't (hope I'm not jinxing myself) seen any of the critters yet. If anyone knows of a better critter management process please share, they are so destructive. The weather is beautifull here, hope it is where you are also. Have a great day.

I need to wait until I see the lilies. I have a lot of them and did a compost of the garden last fall. Lilies need an extra inch or two before they appear.

I also love Lilies, and I think we have some of the same Lilies. I recieved Lilies from Licolnitis ( the absolute highlights of my gardens) and I think -from posts a long time ago - that you did also. Aren't they spectacular! :)

Whoops, sorry for the misspelling Lincolnitess. :(

I had to make a table and list mine. I had no idea there were over 100 different varieties.
No wonder I am not thrilled to hand pick beetles off of them.

Nowhere near that # here - wish there were. The hand picking is nasty, I use duct tape to snag them. I do regret planting a few Lilies in one of my side gardens. That area has a steep slope (gets steeper w/passing years) and it's dificult to balance and catch critters.

Ohhh daiseycat!!! everything here slopes away from the house. I know what you are talking about. There are places I cant garden because the incline is so steep. I learned my lesson first year here. Its important to be sideways when digging in plants. I tossed myself when I raised my leg to the top of the spade and lost balance..

Another warm night.I ill check for lilies.There are a few putting up single leaves from the bulbletts. I need more Bayer Tree and Shrub.I wish I had bought some Thursday. Sat.at the gardencenters in Lowes and HD are too busy.

This afternoon we unearthed some soil to plant our newest Itoh peony. In so doing, I found some lily bulbs that have already started this year's growth. And yes, I killed a full sized red lily beetle. Never before seen this early. Obviously they are hatching ahead of time, and I'll have to start spraying extra early. Ugh!

Thanks for the news. I will start lily spraying.

I hope I'm not to late I sprayed last week after finding them on my lilies. I will say that I also get great pleasure killing them with my fingers. They cause to much damage.

go for it.

I must say that these beetles do not like cold. It was 43 degrees this a.m., and they are obviously in hiding, so we all have a reprieve. They have already made dinner of one of my lilies. That one must have been missed by the spray.

The other day I sprayed an organic, Captain Jack's spinosad. It promptly rained, so I guess I need to reapply. Has anyone else had experience with this pesticide on lily beetles?

The newest and most reliable info is to treat the soil as soon as possible with spinosad so that the larvae do not hatch. I can hardly wait to see if it works!

Marcia

The only thing that works for me is insecticides.Sevin and Bayer Tree and Shrub spray.
I drench emerging lilies in early spring I also drench iris at that tim,e too.
I was fooled in 2012 with the early warm spell in March and did see some red beetles but no mass destruction.
I will probably drench in April this year.

I have seen the red beetle in my garden already in late March.

SPRAY

This weekend.

I'm getting the spinosad ready to get after the larvae inground.

Controle doesnt exactly mean erradicate. Wish that was true.
I will spray BAYER on monday.

Picked off a whole bunch yesterday. Sprayed like crazy and sprayed the soil where new lilies are emerging. Used the concentrate and hope it is not too strong. According to directions it is 2 ounces to a gallon of water. I used a quart bottle and guessed at it. I'm putting it into the soil of all the bulbs I'm planting.

I like the idea of using a bacterial spray over a poison.

Have been vigilant about spraying with spinosad. Started by picking off the dining beetles and spraying those plants. Then went around to all the emerging plants, going after the pips and the soil. It was a bit tiring/uncomfortable, so I purchased an inexpensive 56-ounce power sprayer that made it easier. We are having the best lily crop in four years. It rained today for the first time in a couple of weeks, so I guess we need a new layer of beetlecide. The payoff is worth it.

I have lots of lilies and spray with a 1 and 1/2 gallon tank. It is tireing and you are right cathy166 The pay off is worth it.

This is the first year I have had this bug in my garden. At first I thought they were ladybugs on my lilies in early Spring. The next day my lilies were perforated with holes. I've been trying to get rid of them ever since. I inspect my lilies daily, pluck the adults and squish them, get rid of the eggs, and squash the many larvae (yuck!) especially near the base of lilies. Never had these critters before and I've had lilies for many many years. They are a NASTY NASTY creature and I hope to be finally rid of them!

Ohhhh yessssss Gooooood Luuuuuck
vigilance wins

First year my lilies have not been chewed to death. Since we've had so much rain, I have to spray again, and I think the secret is spraying the soil before they come through. I spray the plants as well.

Surprisingly, some of the lilies have striated leaves, which I think may be the result of the spinosad. It is only on a few of the oriental lilies, but fairly noticeable.

The 56 ounce sprayer bought this year at Lowe's has a pump on top. Just large enough to hold a good amount, yet light enough to handle.

Sabra, you will always have to be vigilant once they are in the garden. Picking them off does get rid of only part of the problem. They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaf, covering it with tarry excrement, so take a good look. They also lay their eggs in the soil, so the spinosad kills the larvae before they can develop. They have become pretty rampant in New England and have spread into New York state. These tricky critters don't seem to fly much. You may have noticed that when you touch them, they drop on their backs and have black undersides and are therefore more easily camouflaged. However, I am a murderer with experience.
Marcia

Sabra, how are your lilies doing?

Some are just beginning to bloom. Haven't seen any pests in a while. Next year I'm spraying early before the "red menace" makes it's presence known!

Sabra, they are beautiful.

http://umaine.edu/publications/2450e/

I was trolling around for information about red lily beetle and I found this article from Maine Extension service. It was interesting that they name three lilies that seem to be fairly resistant.

Thank you, Rosemary. Of the three, I think I may have Black Beauty, which I think is dark red. I assumed it was an early bloomer, and I was just lucky. We have some inground lilies and more than a dozen containers, so picking them off wasn't much of an option. Assuming you've had as much precipitation as we have, you and Sabra probably are plagued with insects as well. I could swear I have mealy bug, based on the white patches on many of the plants.

I know I am getting older, but it really is getting difficult to keep up with the heat, the weeds and the buggies.
Marcia

Great link Rosemary.The insectasides they mention Merit and the other one are mostly used by commercial growers I think.
Iminecloprid is found in Bayer products,Tree and Shrub is the one I use.
Too many lilies here to hand pick adults and larva.
I also do the early spring drench.It keeps the beetle in check here.

Glad if the info was useful.

Amazingly not all of my small lily collection saw any RLB infestation, which is what got me looking. White stargazers took a beating, but they are in the shade of a magnolia. Last year I found on the UMass site that there were some local field trials of the wasps that are mentioned in the article above. I probably only saw two RLB's all last year and counted myself lucky. Mostly gone this late in the season, but lots of tight black webs on the leaf joints of some lilies now.

We're having some mildew on susceptible plants and the woolly adelgids on my hemlocks have been the major worry here as well as the main cause for drenches and spraying. It has been beyond me this year, even with paper bags and pizza boxes, to keep up with the weeds although I try not to let them conquer the garden when I have a vacation day like today, and the major investment is in mulch. A few volunteers--queen ann's lace and yellow mullein got a reprieve. In general, I want to replace anything that gets overly attacked by pests,and find natural solutions if possible, since I believe we'll continue to see nature getting more out of balance.

i am just now finding them on my lilies!!! NOOOOO!!!! :( now what? i like to keep things organic around here, any suggestions?

I think the question becomes one of where the compromises can be made. Plenty of people treat Neem oil as a fairly natural first attempt to get rid of pests if it's not practical to pick them off. Personally, I am not willing to breathe that much of it or use in in my back yard, as I constantly spray my hemlocks in the front yard. I consider the hemlock trees more valuable in the long run.

I find the little buggers are really tricky to catch in my fingers, but much easier to kill if they are busy mounting one another and I have caught them in the act.

Rosemary: No peeking or peaking whil peaking.nudg nudg wink wink.
I have too much invested in lilies to just let it all go to the beetles. Each to his own as Rosemary said.

Well, I am starting with a new garden. I literally have two asiatic lilies? A stargazer, and a NOID. But I have a toad Lilly and blackberry lily too. These pics are of the stargazer. :( I have so few I just cut the whole top off the plant put it directly in a plastic bag and then douses the ground with warm soapy water.... :-/ we'll see what happens. I am trying to build my collection now, and I am now aware that the cute little red beetle that showed up on my NOID that I bought on clearance at lowes....was not a pretty pollinator.... Lol live and learn. :(