Get those squishing fingers on. The lily leaf beetles are back, and they’re noshing on your Asiatic and Oriental lilies.
In fact, they’re making like the two-backed beast, or beetle, to create the next generations of bright red eating machines. Until they earn their red beetle wings, these will be squishy brown blobs of beetle poo with a hungry, hungry larva inside it. (There’s one here.)
Not a pretty sight, no matter how attractively coloured the adult is.
Go to this post for a look at the beetle eggs, which are likely underneath lily leaves near you. Squashing the eggs is an easy way to control them while they’re immobile. (Follow the other links in that post for more lily leaf beetle info.)
Catching the adults requires strategy, as they drop from the leaf when they feel you coming. The best manoeuvre is a two-handed catch, with one hand under the leaf. Then squish. Foot or gloved hand. The choice is yours.
4 comments
Thats what these little pesky bugs are … Being fairly new to gardening and trying to organize/plant some flower beds on our property out in Caledon ~ I've noticed nibbling has been going on with the leaves of the lilies … and these things were around .. thanks for the info , they will become under gardening boot bugs… Hope you are enjoying the sunshine after this long week of rain.. HHL
LOL! I read your post and decided to check my lilies. Guess what I found? Just one but I decided to let it live. I'm curious to see what the damage will be. It's my first experience with the bug. I might come to regret this decision. I have heard lily beetles are voracious and will eat far more than lilies. Go ahead, tell me I'm a fool!
🙂
irena
Timely and informative. Thanks. Ellen
Very useful post. I have Asiatic Lilies for the first time this year and . . . (shamefacedly) . . . I didn't realise they are 'proper' lilies so I haven't been monitoring them for beetles. I will reform. I had big lilies last year but forgot to water them ready for now so they've er . . . vanished before they started.
You know, I'm not used to this kind of drought. One lot of plants is meant to come up when the previous lot dies down – and my attention has been on seedlings. Watering needs life-long devotion.
Esther