Lilies: Aphrodite Virused, 0 by beaker_ch

beaker_ch wrote:
This spring I planted 3 Asiatic Aphrodite bulbs that I got from The Lily Pad and then prompty forgot about them. Yesterday I noticed a small bloom among my Katheryn Adelle Geraniums and upon closer inspection found a lily stem about 9 inches high, very deformed and the bloom had the classic look of a mosaic virus. I also found an unusual looking beetle that was yellow with black stripes. I dug up the bulb and found it infested with larvae. The other two bulbs did not come up and I have not dug for them yet.

I can't say for sure, but I suspect that these bulbs came infected from the grower. I had some old lawn and garden insect killer in the garage and spayed with that, but I suspect if was too old and watered down to do much good. I'll be stopping by HD today to buy a new supply and will be giving that area a good dousing. All my other stems look nice and healthy, so hopefully it is just these bulbs. I've identified the beetle as a Striped Cucumber Beetle and here is the info I found about it.

Striped Cucumber Beetle (Acalymma vittata): Adults are yellowish with 3 black stripes, 1/5 inch long, and feed on the foliage of cucurbits; this beetle transmits bacterial wilt of cucurbits and the cucumber mosaic virus. Larvae are white, slender, around 1/3 inch long, and feed on roots and underground parts of stems.

I will be adopting Inanda's practice of soaking bulbs in a 10% Clorex solution from now on.