Never give up ^_^
lily beetles
I agree, don't give up Joy.
Yeah, don't let the little red monsters win!!! :)
I couldn't get the lily beetle link to work for me. Does anyone know a link with pictures? I'd like to know if this fiend has made it's way into my garden!
MollyD
Thanks! We'll be keeping our eyes open for that particular nasty!
MollyD
In the past two days I have destroyed about forty of these little buggers (literally buggers!) that have been mating on my fritts. I got so frustrated today that I cut one area of my fritts down~remove the food source~ and put them in a vase...only to find that they had already laid eggs, hope I got them all. I am going to check all my lilies and fritts every morning noon and night! Watch out Red here I come!
Are you using Neem oil?
maniac,
how deep do you drench your lilies? do you drench the 1 sq ft around them or further?
i've started doing this and so far so good, but i'm not done and of ourse they have arrived while i was on vacation, the little so and so's. LOL anyhoooooooooooooo. i did some research, trying to find a more economical way than the bayer and i did. i am buying the merit 75 wp 2 oz size. it cost me about $60 from an ebay supplier. you need 1 tsp per 10 gallons of water/minimum. in 2 0z of product = 12 tsp per 1 oz. so 24 tsp per 2 oz. this is 240 plus gallons of water. i've been using ~ 1 gallon per sq foot of lily space, they grow so crooked sometimes, and i'm hoping this will be ok.
i don't think i need to use as much as i am. what do you say?
need all the help i can get. :-)
thanks
debi & franklin
I have used Merit myself and I just use a sprinkler can and do the whole bed. But I have lots of lilies in tight quarters. I use the Bayer during the bloom season to get them while they are there. The drench works but they have to eat the plant first. Yes, I am seeing them on the warmer days! A little Merit goes a long ways!
maniac or someone?
can you please be more specific? you said you use 1 sprinkler can for a whole bed.
i have a 2 gal sprinkler can. i've been using the whole thing on 2 - 4 sq feet of ground where the lilies live. now i'm sure that is not a "whole bed". i figure this also reaches about 6 + inches deep. hopefully to the bulb area. too much?????
I also have lilies here and there and everywhere in my garden beds. Lilies are my favorite flower, or i wouldn't be going through all this for them. ^_^
thanks debi z
I have used sevin and found it extremely effective. During the summer of 2006, I had a few red lily beetles but knew nothing about them. Last sumer (2007) I tried smashing the adults and larvae. This is messy, tedious business that needs attending to daily. It works, but it takes too long and is no fun. A weak sevin solution sprayed upward in a fine mist so it sticks to the undersides of the lily leaves stops damage for about 2 weeks. I was surprised at how sensitive the red lily beetle larvae are to sevin. They will probably not remain sensitive in future years. Back in the 70's it used to be easy to control the Colorado Potato beetle with sevin. Now it doesn't do much of anything to them.
I used sevin last year with excellent results so I am using it again this year,I Have a little electric handsprayer.I mix a gallon .The sprayer is good for old arthritic hands.I haven't seen a red lily beetle since.JOY
Any updates on how to deal with these nasties? Mainiac, if you happen to see this, did you ever try the pyola spray? I'm considering getting some. The problem is my lilies are right next to my bird feeders and I hate to use anything toxic because I don't want the birds eating dead bugs that are potentially toxic. Also, with where my lilies are located they are just really difficult to get to and managing the little beasts by hand is not a realistic option.
I also live in RI--I should call down to URI and see if they have any suggestions. If they have any I'll post them here.
I never got around to ordering pyola. I am still sticking with the Bayer product. My last application was nearly a month ago and I am only seeing an occasional beetle here and there. I have heard a lot people are using Sevin. I find I am getting good results with my surrent method so hesitate to change.
I use Sevin, when I saw some beetles earlier in the spring, have not had any problems since
Thanks Mainiac for the reply. I ordered the pyola yesterday and will let everyone know how it works.
Maria--Sevin is not an option for me as my lilies are right next to our bird feeders. :)
Niere, fortunately mine are quite a distance away from the feeder.
It is my understanding that birds don't eat red bugs so don't worry.I sproed with Bug Be Gone once and haven't seen any beetles since.JOY
Why wouldn't they eat red bugs? High Cholesterol? They prefer the other "white" meat? Seriously, why not red bugs? :)
I don't know !!
Just thought I'd let everyone know that I did get the Pyola spray--sprayed everything a few days ago and have found only one lonely lily beetle since and I can't imagine he'll be around much longer. I only have two varieties of lilies in my little lily patch--Lollipops and Casa Blancas--the Lollipops were pretty decimated and I've little hope they'll be back next year. I hope I was able to save the Casa Blancas in time. They are pretty eaten up but they are still kicking. I'll be happy if they come up next year, even if they don't flower. Now that I've got what seems to be an effective way of dealing with them I plan on spraying as soon as I see anything suspicious next year.
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone in this forum and to Mainiac in particular for the info about the Pyola--it really did help. :)
Niere - please tell us who makes Pyola and where you found it. Thanks so much.
Sure pirl--Mainiac had a link further up but I'll repost it down here to make things easy. :D
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8101&bhcd2=1216072686
Thank you, Niere.
I had tons of these punks on my lilies this spring and squashed them by hand..not using any of those pesticides which are outlawed in some states and in general bad for all of us. Anyhoo without getting too preachy I have only seen TWO! beetles this fall, and that was a couple weeks ago...my lilies are thriving again as well. PLEASE get your gloves on and get out there manually to rid these pests instead of spraying poison...our planet, your grandchildren, your pets, the birds and the bees will thank you!
For those of us squeamish about squashing, I just keep a wide-mouthed jar of water around, with a little vegetable oil on top, and if I see a lily beetle I just knock it into the jar with a twig. Luckily there were only about a dozen this year, and I got them before they had a chance to lay eggs.
About birds not eating red bugs, I don't know if it's true or not, but a lot of poisonous animals -certain toads, sea creatures, etc are brightly colored as a warning to predators to stay away, so it could be the case. I don't think I'd want to risk poisoning them though.
Just thought I'd share--I never once saw a lily beetle on my nicotiana alata plants, but I DID find their little disgusting offspring on them! So if you grow lilies and nicotiana alata, keep your eyes open!
Ugh, they are so disgusting (the beetles, not the plants!).
This message was edited Aug 1, 2008 8:23 AM
There are all kinds of bugs this year, never had any on the dahlias nor the columbine nor the coral bells, their leaves look like a drain. Also the annuals are at the mercy of horrid bugs I don't think all of them are the lily beetles but I amy be wrong.