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Lily beetles
Grajean
Posts: 447
My lilies are growing rapidly and I have found one with the leaves chewed away and am hoping its a snail or slug and not the dreaded lily beetle. My plants were infested last year, daily checks destroying grubs and beetles. Is there a spray available yet for these pests or any hints to stop the devils?
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It is a pity, they are such beautiful beetles. But the toilet habits of the grubs are quite disgusting .
I pick them by hand and drop them in a jar of soapy water and start this as soon as you see them .
There is a chemical solution if you so choose.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
You can use a systemic weedkiller like Pravado and that will stop Lily Beetle in its tracks. The only thing is though that any beneficial insects that want to feed on the nectar will equally be affected by Pravado so by killing the one thing you want to get rid of, you could inadvertently kill the good things. I stopped using Pravado a few years ago for exactly that reason. Lily Beetle catching is now a fun game to play on a Sunday afternoon!
I grow lots of fritillaries and lilies and I hate these pests. I agree with Tim, pesticides are easier but will kill everything. Vigilance will pay off and they are active at the moment. I recently caught several amorous pairs of lily beetles and dispatched them immediately (at least they died happy). It's also worth checking for their eggs on the underside of lily leaves. A long line of orangey-red eggs that you can scrape off cackling with glee.
One trick I learned is to use a spring loaded tea strainer, which you can use to capture the beasties and when they try to leap out of the way, they get caught. You can buy them on Amazon...£1.10 with free delivery. Perfect for catching Lily Beetles.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/p5u/Stainless-Tea-Leaves-Infuser-Filter-Squeeze-Strainer/B00IQ4VIU8/ref=sr_1_15?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1492428422&sr=1-15
Hi Folks,
I use a spray of diluted neem oil .... it is totally organic ... and don't have any problems growing lilies or fritillaries.
See this link for further info.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
and this one for how to make it.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html
I use it as soon as growth starts in April and I drench the foliage. Any spare solution goes onto the soil below as the earthworms are supposed to love it. I repeat spray every few weeks.
Neem is best used preventatively .... but will work on pests that have already arrived. It does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. However, you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so I tend to spray late evening to be safe.
It does stink a bit ... but is easy to mix up and apply.
I got mine off ebay .... wasn't expensive for a big bottle which will last ages. At room temperature it is solid, but goes liquid again within a couple of hours in the airing cupboard.
Worth a try .... also seems to work well for gooseberry sawfly and aphids.
Bee
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Top tip Bee! I think I've also heard that it keeps off mossies? My gooseberries were massacred by sawfly last year so I'll definitely be giving that a go.
*Ginglygangly* are you sure spraying than won't affect the flavour of the gooseberries?
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
Thank you everyone I will try to buy Neem oil, is it available here in France? Otherwise vigilance!
good point lamweedy but hopefully won't affect the berries as I'd only spray the leaves. I took about 200 sawfly caterpillar off my gooseberry bush last summer. Sadly only noticed them when they had munched most of the leaves. No fruit for my gooseberry jam! The plant has survived but I want jam this year!
Gooseberry Jam is worth picking sawfly caterpillers for. All my favourite jams are the ones you have to make yourself. I have just made rhubarb and ginger jam but I need another few batches of rhubarb to get enough to keep me going. I must get a plant in my garden. I nearly bought one last week.
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'