I battled lily leaf beetles on my Asiatic lilies last year, and sure enough, they're back again this spring. I also have a couple of dozen calla lily bulbs, which I plant in late May and lift in October. Are calla lilies also tempting to these beetles? In case I can't eradicate all of the pesky red critters, am I tempting fate to plant callas this summer? Thanks for any advice.
SueG Zone 5a
to sueG:
excuse me, i realise this quest is coming quite a bit later than your posting, sue, but if you don't mind....what colour are these beetles?? are they, by some very unhappy chance, khaki coloured, smaller than. uh...let's say...japanese beetles??? and do these rotten beetles also devour roses, most fruit tree leaves, and, of course, their most favourite: Tilia (or Linden tree)?????
if so, you're dealing with the infamous ROSE CHAFTER and the ONLY manner in which to rid your lilies and everything else on their menu list is to MANUALLY pick them off and dump them into a bowl, bottle, or any other type of container in which a mixture of water and liquid dish detergent - (or squish them between your fingers).
although their resemblance to japanese beetles is quite strong, it seems, according to experts, there IS no true relation...and this is why the pherenome bait for JB doesn't work!!
alas, too bad. each year they defoliate my linden tree down from a shade tree to a shadow of a tree; they munch through rose blossoms AND the leaves; they devour ALL my varieties of plum trees; they even dine in on asparagus ferns!!!
i just cannot undersstand WHY noah allowed them to come aboard the ark!!!!!
RAINDEAR wrote in news:C07C5B9D.15263% snipped-for-privacy@macdialup.com:
no, lily beetles are bright red, about 1/4" long & narrow, not rounded like a rose chafer. they only (so far) seem to eat the Asiatic lilies (and not the ditch lilies, which are, of course, a different family).
that's the only way to kill the lily beetles too, but they're smaller & drop to the ground when disturbed, so it's lots harder to hand pick them. my 5 year old likes the challange though :)
you think they resemble Japanese beetles? they look nothing alike... well, the shape is vaguely similar, but size & color is entirely different. you're really lucky if you don't have Oriental beetles (which look more like rose chafers than Japanese beetles do!) or lily beetles. the Oriental beetles are truely nasty. they eat the vegetation during the night & during the day burrow into the soil at the base of the plant & eat the roots... and they multiply faster than rabbits! lee
Not at all, thank you for responding.
The beetles are lipstick-red. They're definitely lily leaf beetles. They attacked each of the four locations of Asiatics lilies in my garden last year. The main bed was a mess after they got through with it.
Yep, been there, done that -- repeatedly.
I read last year that Merit should work if applied to the soil in early spring. I spent a couple of weeks wrangling with our lawn service people about it (yes we can do that, no problem/no we can't, sorry), but they eventually found out that Merit is not permitted to be used on ornamentals here in Canada. They recommended Sevin, a carbaryl insecticide. The first application was last week and has already made a difference. I'll keep at it for the next several weeks just to be sure.
SueG
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