Lily beetles

I noticed that something has been eating my Fritillary meleagris, and yesterday when I was checking around in the garden I noticed one of my orange tiger lilies was covered in pairs of lily beetles! I'm so disheartened...

Yes, I see they have made it all the way to Skowhegan, Maine. Two years ago, they weren't in Norway (Maine) but hit my mother-lin-laws garden with a vegence last summer. I start early and fight them all summer long. But I love lilies and won't let them get the best of me.

What are the lily beetles and how do you fight them?

Oh no! Lily beetles? I never heard of them either.

They are unmistakeable as they are bright scarlet red. They do a good job of hiding in the leaves though. I think it's the larvae which do the most damage, they are nasty, covering themselves in excrement. I went out and squashed some yesterday!

Here is a pic http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ray.hamblett1/nature/natimages/insects/beetle/beetle-1300.jpg

Why do they have to be such a pretty color? Well, I wear garden gloves so I see any, SQUISH!

I use anything and everything I can. If not, they would eat all the foliage down to nothing. If you aren't concerned now, just wait. They started in Massachusetts and making ground every year. I use a product manufactured by Bayer called Rose and Insect Spray (I think). The active ingredient is Immucloprid (I think). I also use a soil drench of Merit. Sevin is supposed to be effective but is pretty toxic. I have also heard the Bug Be Gone is effective also.
The University of Rhode Island is doing research on controlling them.
If you aren't worried now because you are not affected, you should be. It's just a matter of time.

I've heard ''just a matter of time'' before and I've learned to take it serious. I just got the Bayer this spring for iris borers, and I have an old can of Sevin. It's a start. I'm a close enough zone to you too for them to survive. Rats!

More information here:
http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/defoliators/lily_leaf_beetle.html

Good info Mainiac ~ thanks.

Mainiac, I really appreciate the link. I have it bookmarked in my gardening folder.

I have these dratted lily beetles too. Last year I had only about a dozen the year before a couple. I discovered the grubs under the leaves by reaching under and getting this black muck on my hand, after 2 times strange, 3 times very suspicious. They mostly start under the tip of the leaf and munch in towards the stem. You can only see the grub if you take it off, the excrement is all over it. I cut the leaves off with scissors and kept an eye out for more. I was confident I had got them all, but this year I have already squashed 41 beetles, they came out to play on the first really hot day we had in April. I check mostly twice daily, you will see them generally near the top of the plant, either mating in pairs or singles near the stem where a leaf comes out. They don't fly, but must fly to get here, or come in on winds, and are very slow. Instead of trying to pick them off with fingers, which I don't like, I use a garden trowel and manage to scoop them onto it easily, then squish on the ground. If you try to pick them off they can easily drop to the ground and can get lost in the undergrowth or mulch, their underneath is black.

If you fold the leaves upwards you can see if there are eggs, they start bright red in a line of about a dozen, dry darker.

I would be reluctant to use chemicals, for a start it kills off friendly bugs and other problems will be made worse. Also it has been shown from continued use of chemicals a superbug which is resistant to chemicals is often bred. Easy just to scoop them up and squash.

Wallaby1, How many lily leaves could you remove with eggs before you hurt the plant?

Last year I found them before they had eaten too much of the leaves, some leaves I cut right back to the stem but I didn't lose above a third of leaves in total on some, perhaps half on the worst. You would notice your leaves disappearing if you hadn't found the grubs or the beetles first, once they start to eat they do it at speed. I just cut to where the grubs had eaten. The eggs you can just rub them and squash them without removing the leaves. This year I have found only 2 lots of eggs, I got the beetles as they were in the process of producing.

Thanks, I want to be ready if they make it to Iowa! I hope they don't, they sound depressing.

I have 100's of lilies and hundreds of the Red Lily Beetle. I quish the ones I find but I can't always be in attendence. Spraying is the only alternative, unfortunately. I can kill 50 easily in an outing to the garden. Growing lilies in New England is a challenge. Most casual gardners have eliminated from their gardens. But I can't seem to give them up.

Here in Connecticut not far from New York City, my small yard is loaded with lilies, and in 2007 I could not keep up with taking off the beetles and cleaning of the tarry excrement. If they got to a plant and ate the leaves, it destroyed or distorted the bloom. I read in last year's post about using immucloprid and bought it, but was not too happy about using/handling poison. Then I saw a post about something from the pet store that I think is called "bitter almond." It was about $8.95 for 12 ounces and really did the trick. It made the plants and blooms taste terrible to everything, including deer. But it was expensive.

I tooled over to the the pet warehouse and found a gallon container of a product made to do the same thing as bitter almond. Pet owners use it to keep their pets from chewing on body parts so they can heal, so it tastes terrible. I can vouch that it tastes terrible because I neglected to use a mask the first time I applied it, and the mist got on my lips and was indeed awful. Now when I apply, I make sure I keep my lips covered (usually by pulling my t-shirt collar over my mouth). No patience!

The result was no dead animals and nothing eaten by varmints or insects. Applied about every 2-3 weeks, depending on rainfall. Less than $30, including the spray bottle (nothing to mix). Kept the aphids and beetles off the roses, too. I am hooked. Just don't spray on vegetables once they have set fruit.

That's great, Cathy, that it's been working for you. If you find the exact name or ingredient of the "bitter almond" product, I am sure we would all want to know.

One thing about bitter tasting products: be sure to read the ingredients.
Most chemicals (pesticides) also taste horrible. I'm not sure what the norm is now, but they used to use such chemicals as the bitter tasting ingredient to repel animals. Just a cautionary note.

Several years ago the beetles decimated my asiatic lilies and I decided not to grow them anymore. A few years ago, under the mistaken impression that they weren't interested in trumpet lilies and turk's caps, I started planting those. Actually they don't seem to be the first choice of the lily beetle, though they will indulge a bit if asiatics aren't around. I've gradually been increasing the lilies I grow, including asiatics, and the past few years found that if if I'm vigilant, and get rid of every lily beetle I see -and they're very visible - I've been able to get them before they lay their nasty larvae, and last year I only had around 20 beetles.
I keep a wide-mouthed jar of water in my yard, with a bit of vegetable oil in it, and just knock the beetle off of the lily leaf into the jar. I do check the undersides of leaves to make sure there aren't larvae (look like bits of mud - are actually feces covering the larvae, I believe), and remove any that I find - they also go into the jar. So far it's worked - knock on wood, though might not be so effective for those who have hundreds of lilies.

How far heading west have these been found?
I tried to google this info without success.
Looks like they might not be in Pennsylvania, OH, IN or IL yet.
Anyone in those states have them?

As far I I know, they're still only on the East coast. Here's an article http://www.lilies.org/lilybeetle.pdf
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/neweng/2002040522017914.html

I just double checked: the 8 oz spray is Grannick Bitter Apple for Dogs (not bitter almond). As soon as it warms up a little more, I'll post the product that comes in the gallon size.

Hi Cheerpeople and all. Greetings from northeastern Illinois. While we are getting whapped by the Japanese beetle (there were very few until 2 years ago, and last year they exploded) we have not gotten the lily leaf beetle, and I have a few hundred lilies. I have become very wary of trading with anyone, but I think the real factor is, frankly, that lilies are not popular plants in this area. I rarely see them, except in my yard. I live where there are about 400 front and back yards I can see into, and other than a handful of white asiatics there are no lilies. When I belonged to a regional lily society, sales were always very weak. When I return to New England for visits (I went to school there, and just love returning) I am always struck by the lushness of the plantings. This part of the country was originally farmland, so while there are gorgeous treed sections (Lake Forest and other sections of the north shore, and areas like Barrington), a lot of it is treeless and clay laden.

Because there is so much sunlight, orientals can fry in the 90 degree heat. And many people I speak to are under the impression that they are not hardy. So there is not a good buffet for the beetles - of critical mass of food. Is that possibly a factor?

Donna

This message was edited Feb 16, 2009 10:08 AM

Cathy166, thanks for getting the thread going again. The bitter almond product sounds great. I don't know if we have anything like it here. Just the tiny bottle of No Chew to keep the cats from chewing things. Thanks for the product name. I think I'll cry if we get these beetles.

Moby, good link. I also have Solomans Seal and have wanted Frits for a long time. Guess I better wait on them a while longer. A small hand mirror might be a big help in looking under the leaves. As long as I don't blind myself with the sun :o)

Donna, I've always had Japanese beetles in my roses, but not too many. I hate them tho.You are closer to Wisconson than me and farther north. I hope this isn't the year they get here. I don't have a lot of lilies, yet, but I love what I have.

I use the Bayer grub granules for my Iris, that has that ingredient, and I tell my gardening neighbors to use it too. My close neighbor just planted a huge Iris bed last year and I'm looking forward to seeing it bloom!

Hi BP,

I hope you don't get EITHER beetle. I am very happy that the people on these forums who have them and are generous about what is effective. I am normally an organic gardener, but there are limits!

I think that you are doing the right thing by asking your neighbors to use the granules against japanese beetles. I used milky spore in August and September last year, and I am looking into the use of nematodes in late spring. One thing that I read is important is to keep your plants healthy. We have two lindens, and the most robust one bounced back by fall. You would never believe that hundreds and hundreds of them chewed the leaves. They fell off and the tree went into overtime replacing them. We have another linden with structural flaws that make branches snap. It suffered more. Our crabapples and prunus are vigourous too - I'm told the beetles attack them but you couldn't tell. But we have a neighbor who has a linden older than our that has never been cared for - we compost, mulch, dormant oil, and root fertilize in the fall - we love our trees. I've read that the beetles go actively after weak plant material. This is obviously anecdotal, but I think it has some truth in it.

Let's all cross our fingers. Yukky bugs!

Donna

Donna, I too only use the pesticides when it's important. I have bees, so I do try to be careful.

I've used the nemetodes on the spong for iris, but couldn't tell if it did any good. I have to get out so early to catch the borers, so I use the systemic. I just dug and divided them last year, so they all got Bayer then. I have a new bag waiting and will be using it next month.

It's important to try and save trees. They're our lifeline.

Fingers crossed!

Sally

Within the last year or so, I have noticed lily beetle adults and their damage on my Tricyrtis (toad lily) cultivars. I have not seen any references to lily bettle on Tricyrtis on-line, to date, but Tricyrtis is a member of the Lily family. The shape of the plants makes it much easier to catch falling lily bettles, in a cupped hand, with lilies than with toad lilies. I don't use toxic chemicals in my perennial gardens and although toad lilies bloom at a useful time of the year, there are lots of other beautiful late summer/fall perennials available.

Sorry about the repetition. Not aware how it happened, but I'm sure the lily beetles made me do it!

No doubt!

Well they are evil and mischievous . . .

They make me use the kind of language I can't repeat here.

Donna

Moby, Leftwood and Donna - Thank's for the understanding. What's that phrase? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. There must be a lot of friends on this thread!

Those of you fighting the Lily Beetle or those of you who 'want to know' might be interested in this site about the Lily Beetle. Kevin Frey of Estate Perennials in Canada has set this up to discuss, inform, and share about that dreaded pest attacking the lilies.

http://lilybeetle.blogspot.com:80/

I'm not really sure how blogs work, but those of you who are more computer savvy should have no problem.

Thanks Ililyfan,
Useful.
Sunny

This message was edited Mar 9, 2009 1:18 PM

Good to know!

thx lilyfan

I looked at the link. What bothers me is that we don't get as cold as we used to. Barely below zero all winter. That lets more bugs overwinter or move south. I hate this beetle already because I love my lilies. It's also sneaky like the iris borer, hatching in March and April when you aren't ready for it.

Sally,

Are they affected by temperature? I understand that heavy snow cover helps the nasty things, and if so what you say makes sense. More snow cover creates more warmth for them. And warmer temps protect them. AndI think you're right. We used to have a lot more winter days below o in our zone (never thought I'd wish for that!)

Donna

Me either. It's been years since we've had 20* below 0 temps. Every year I have a bug I've never seen before.

I think any insect is governed by temperature. If they're in Conneticut and Maine, they can live here. I don't have a lot of lilies, yet... But I dread the day I see a beetle. I'm going to start checking under leaves this year. I think a small mirror would help.