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Lily beetles

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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618

    I spray with provado now. It lasts eight weeks, it has worn off by the time the lilies flower. The only thing it gets is grubs  trying to chew the lily leaves. I have one pot that has some forget me nots in. They will be removed before spraying. I squashed seven the other day and a mating pair this morning.

  • I agree with Tim Burr, although I don't actually kill the beetles when I catch them.  I agree that they are a pest, but surely they must have predators too? I prefer to let nature take it's course to some extent.  We have hedgehogs in our garden and I would hate to think that any chemicals I had used had got into their system and find them dead or suffering after ingesting these dead beetles or any other insects/aphids I had exterminated.

  • jabsyjabsy Posts: 54

    From what I've read, they seems to be a small parasitic wasp that lays its eggs in the lily beetle larva (Tetrastichus setifer) 

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    As an invading species, they have very very few predators in the UK and certainly nowhere near enough to provide any sort of natural balance, GD.  See the right hand side of this page wrt the wasps Jabsy mentioned:

    http://www.rhslilygroup.org/page5.html

    Last edited: 17 April 2017 19:56:56

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • Thanks BobTheGardener - that was an interesting if somewhat disheartening read.  I will try to eradicate them by hand - although it goes against my principles.

  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447

    Just done the morning check and even more leaves nibbled but not a sign of beetles or eggs, keep looking!

  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447

    Found several lines of eggs no sign of parents.

  • a1154a1154 Posts: 1,108

    Never seen one of these, looked it up on google and they are in specific areas, not here. The adults look pretty, (not sure about excrement-coated grubs yak!) They look like they would be easy to spot though? 

  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447

    Found an adult (bright red  a1154)  sunning itself yesterday afternoon which I caught and disposed of, more eggs today.

  • I chucked our lily beetles over the wall into the field - 2 days ago - no sign of them back here yet.........

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