Red Lily Leaf Beetles

These awfuol pests have found their way to our town. I have a huge garden and literally hundreds of lilies, so picking them off is an exercise in futility and spraying the larvae with Neem Oil is not effeftive on the adults who just go forth and multiply again.

I read that Bayer Advanced Garden Rose and Flower Insect Killer kiils on contact and seems to be the only effective approach. I practice IPM and try to use organic approaches whenever possible, but will resort to the big guns if my back is against the wall.

I read in another garden forum that watering with a 10% ammonia/water solution is an effective method of control. I'm not inclined to feed that to my garden unless I hear from someone who has done it and found it safe and effective in their garden.

I'd appreciate any assistance in finding ways to effectively rid myself of these horrid pests using nature friendly methods if possible. In the meantime, I've sent DH in search of the Bayer product before I don't have a lily left.

here is something interesting i found concerning this beetle and neem and other facts. http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/growing-lilies.html

Hi there and thanks for the link. Some of the sources I checked commented that rose dust was effective and the older formulations for rose dust did contain rotenone.

Rotenone use is now licensed by the EPA under strct gidelines, it's deadly to fish (and we have a koi ppond) and it has been implicated in Parkinson's disease.

NEEM oil gets raves for its effectiveness against the larvae but pretty much everyone says that Mama and Daddy Beetle thumb their scrawny little noses at it.

I hope others weigh in with their experiences. We are applying the Bayer product early tomorrow so it has time to dry before the bees are up and about.

Thanks for adding to the dialogue!
Cathy

my pleasure. it's probably one of the most beautiful bugs i've ever seen. until this thread, i didn't know it existed. such a shame that it is so destructive. i wish you the best of luck with your lilies. it sounds like you're going to need it. debi

You're not just kidding lol - with 80-plus lilies, I could just scream. We did apply the Bayer to the front with a lot of success. It didn't really kill on contact, but it killed eventually and at least after we sprayed, it didn't take long for those little rascals to pack it up and head off to that big lily patch in the sky.

However.... a friend told me this morning that they're eating her hollyhocks. GROAN (Translation: I have a lot of those too, and when I went to check, I found one beetle there (he's there no more...) They are getting the treatment later tonight. She said she uses Raid beetle spray and it works well and the plants seem fine. I may try that too. I have to be so careful regardless of what we use as we have a koi pond.

I still like the idea of ammonia and would love for that to work but not kill anything.

Thanks again for the info,
Cathy