Red Lily Beetles have arrived in my garden! HELP
By Chrispook
Pest county, near Budapest,
Hungary 
I have a lot of nice lilies. They like the climate here in Hungary. We have an invasion of lily beetles for the first time. I started sqashing every one I saw, but soon the leaves became eaten and we found the black slimy bugs on many leaves. I've read abour products containing Imidaclopril being effective. We cannot find any here. We have been sold a preparation containing Cypermetrin by our local farm shop. Interestingly our neighbours and also the folk in the local garden store have not even heard of red beetles on lilies. I hope I have not imported them to Hungary but I do not see how I could possibly have done so. I have never bought lilies as plants, only as pre packed bulbs. The neighbour gave me some plants about 3 years ago but she does not have the problem so I don't know where it came from.
16 May, 2008
Answers
Perhaps you could pay some youngsters 25 cents a head...what about squishing and washing the leaves with a pure soap solution. , (no detergents) I had an infestation of sawfly larvae...I squished but the mugho pine was a sticky stinky mess when I had found them all... So used a spray bottle and made a soapy solution and sprayed the plants...didn't let it dry... just left it on as long as it stayed moist then hosed the plant down with a good firm spray... It removed the mess and I think it may have washed away any unhatched eggs...It worked for me but the worst part was picking and squishing. might be worth googling the beetle to find out how it over-winters... and if there are any intermediate hosts during it's life cycle.
16 May, 2008
I have had visits from these guys already. Squash them. Look under the leafs for eggs, it resembles bird poo. Squash this as well. The beetles will drop to the floor/soil and lay on their backs to make them hard to see. The young will over winter in the soil until they are older. The mature ones will strip a lillie in a couple of days.
At least they are red so they are sort of giving you a chance.
Happy hunting(every day).
16 May, 2008
red lily beetles , heptenophos stops them in their tracks. Be careful it stops most things . midden
19 Oct, 2008
This is an organophosphate insecticide. Organophosphates are all bad news for everyone including humans. Personally I would prefer to leave the beetles alone rather than use this stuff.
19 Oct, 2008
Both of these insecticides are lethal to bees, do be careful especially Imac etc. Even the pollen becomes poisonous to the bees which collect it.
16 May, 2008