Daylilies dying

[Jefffooz]

A type of insect is eating my daylilies. There are literally swarms of them inhabiting my daylily plants. They ate the leaves and left jagged edges all over them; the most severely eaten plants turned brown and shriveled down to the ground.

I looked up this insect in my gardening book but I could not find it mentioned as a threat to daylilies. It looks like a small beetle, with two yellow stripes running down the length of its body. I tried pyrethrine for a week and it did not work; I tried Spectricide and diatomaceous earth and they also failed. I was so desperate I turned to Ortho's Bug be Gone today and sprayed it on the daylilies, at the recommendation of our local nursery.

I felt so guilty about this because Bug be Gone contains diazinon which is toxic to everything on the planet. What can I use to solve this problem, while minimizing the effect on other insects and birds in my backyard?

Jeff

[Frogleg]

The first thing would be to ID the bug. It sounds as if your local nursery has no clue. Extension agent? Do you have a scanner or digital camera? Pictures might help someone identify the bug. Then you could look up specific controls. I can understand your frustration -- my daylilies are in bloom now and I'd sure hate to see anything happen to them.

[Vox Humana]

That said, the OP should take some comfort in knowing that it is unlikely that the insects will actually kill the plants. I would bet that they will come back just fine. (Except for the most expensive one that you cherish - that one will toast)