Revisiting our gardens of 2011

Is there anything that you do regularly to deter them. Would early and intermittent applications of Neem Oil help?

Yes, I use applications in the spring BEFORE the lily even pokes out of the ground. I think that may be part of the problem, some only treat the plant but the beetles lives in the dirt. They "sleep" all winter under the soil just waiting to come out in spring and munch on your beauties!

Since I have been picking stuff off my lilies, and until now didn't have many lilies, you are encouraging me to check the extension service about pests. I wonder if they've gotten to my section of town in any numbers yet.

Oh yes, Rosemary, they are all over. I tried to grow an assortment of lilies again & they appeared out of nowhere. I have given up on them.

I now have to grow my lilies as annuals.....I spray constantly, but the rain keeps washing the spray off....last summer it rained all the time! The only lily that seems to be able to escape major damage from the beetle is my Conca d'or lilies,,,the leaves and stalk are so thick, the beetles don't make much headway.....they try, though.

i just stopped growing them.....

Can't ....love them too much!

I stopped as well unless one pops up in the spring.

Gee, that means as the lilies get stronger, so too will the beetle infestation.

Do you think that since conca d'or is an orienpet, maybe all the orienpets would stand a better chance against them?

Oh, please be true!

Do they attack Calla Lilies also?

I have been told by a lily grower in Denmark that the eat many plants, but only lay their eggs on the true lillies & fritallaria. there is where the fight is.

No, I've had other Orienpets that were totally destroyed, but they weren't as old as the clump of Conca d'ors that I have....it seems the beetles start on the Orientals first, then any other lily that's around.....they didn't seem to bother a large clump of Asiatics that I had against the house.......well, not as much,,,,,& this is with spraying & picking!

I wonder if location in the garden is any factor.

Maybe, Iris....the lilies planted in the perennial beds fare the worst.....

Good article about fighting the Red Lily Beetles:

http://lilybulb.com/redlilybeetle.html

Thanks for the article! Maybe now I won't be so annoyed with the wasp population around where I live. Seems I've been blaming the slugs too much for damage to the hostas, too.

You can catch the beetles but they are very quick movers. For slugs I am in favor of grit around the base of the plant.

Iris, is that diatomaceous earth? I wonder what about it works. I tried something new this year, because I'm building up my peonies and my yard was once farmland, probably for a couple of hundred years. I spread much of a 50 lb bag of Azomite last fall to give some volcanic minerals back to the soil. The company claims that the minerals give the plants more vigor to fight of pests and disease. Maybe a wacky ideas, but there's no harm trying.

Thanks, Roses, for the article....I have tried all.....there's no way I can keep 30-40 lilies beetle-free, especially when it rains every other day.....the only optimistic note is the parasitic wasp, which hasn't made it here yet....I will continue to spray, and pick off the beetles, but realistically, at least in my garden, those controls sadly do not work very effectively.....

Sorry to hear that, Robin. Hope the wasps get there soon!

I'd love to see more of everyone's 2011 gardens.

re garden grit--any will do. Does not have to be special.

Here's a clump of Jade Star DLs after the town ripped apart the road.....hope they return this year....

This message was edited Jan 21, 2012 2:07 PM

They should Robin, if not let me know...I have that one. :)

humm.... Its January. Yesterday a friend asked if I was going to do 89 tomatoe plants again. I said NO

LOL! 79 this year? :)

he he What part of NO do you all not understand?

keeping my irises in my mind, especially since we have had a bit of snow. Not much which is nice after our constant snowstorms of last winter.

The picture is of my MTB iris, 'Elfin Shadows'.

Lovely! How tall is it?

I think 19 to 20" DH & I go for the median iris plants.

Love that height! They never need staking but not so short you have to walk up on them to see them. :)

Flower should be no more than 3" X 3". They are the unkown iris plants. It's too bad.

Sounds nice. :)

I'm looking forward to creating more Phlox & Lily combos this summer.

We have the small spreading pholx 'Peppermint Twist'.

Speaking of PHLOX, anyone interested in buying annual phlox this spring? I want to see if I can get a FLAT of "BLUEBERRY & ICE BLUE"

"Ice Blue" or "Blue Star", I've even seen it called "Dolly Blue"

No room in the sun.

Thanks, Pixie for offering the Jade Star....I'll let you know....I bought seed already to grow my own phlox, but those blue phlox are gorgeous! Iris, I really like elfin Shadows...very delicate!