Blog 9. Lily Beetle

I pray I never see these beetles in my garden, since I have quite a few lilies.

Eeeek! These things appeared in my garden a couple of years ago and I've been finding them ever since. So far, they don't seem to have caused any visible damage to my lillies. I cold-bloodedly murder them whenever I find them and they squeak when you pick them up :-o

We've definitely learned to be a bit more ruthless - with these pests and with vine weevils!

Vine weevils are much more of a pest in my garden I have to say. I know the lilly beetles are there, but I've yet to see any damage done by them. hope I'm not speaking too soon here - this year I bet they'll decimate my lillies just to spite me! Mr and Mrs Sirral the Squirel are more of a nuisance than a pest :-D

I forgot to say earlier what a brillient photo that is! They are quite pretty really...

The red lily beetle has been in my garden and next door for about 7 years now. The first time I saw them pouring out of the soil, I thought that they were something like a lady bug and so did nothing.....boy was that a mistake! They really did a number on my lilies as well as those of my neighbour. Since them we both go out each day all season long to hunt them down, We also remove the black goo that they deposit at one point of the cycle, eggs? Last year we didn't seem to have that many , so our efforts do pay off. People around here are not really familiar with them, but we obviously imported them with a new nursery plant one year.

Sadly lily beetles are spreading across the U.K and were quite prolific last year and in 2006.They are firmly established here in the South West and are heading to other regions ( sorry about the bad news folks!!)
The only way to eradicate them is to pick them off the lily and dispatch them. They will devour a Lily in no time, so check your plants whenever you can.They are clever because they can fall off the plant and roll on to their black undersides where it is difficult to see them.

Caught 7 of these yesterday! If they are disturbed they drop off the lily leaf and onto the ground - upside down and perfectly camouflaged by the soil! A pair of eyebrow tweezers proved very useful!

I hate them with a vengeance! I've had them here for about three years. I go out every morning before work and when I come home, hunting - I am getting really good at ignoring the crunch they make! They disappeared for a couple of week and now they are back. Even when the flowers are gone the red devils keep coming. The black stuff is the grub - it covers itself with it's own poo, apparently....