Would something like Neem oil be of use?

IME, yes it would.

How about a couple of tall bamboo stakes with a sewn tube of netting over it, gathered or folded and sewn at the top and bottom? You won't be there to have to look at it, and it should keep the critters at bay. I know that some soft-bodied larvae will succumb to diatomaceous earth, but I don't know about RLBs. Might be worth a try. They also make a Bt formula for potato beetles which have quite similar larvae to RLBs; wonder if that is worth a try. I know from experience that some insects are discouraged by a strong garlic spray - don't know if smelling like a different plant would be enough to discourage the little nasties.

Regardless, my sympathies!

Ah, I am just not present enough to even want to go down that highway (and Floral - you probably have a sniff of this...I really don't want to halt the recovery of a plantation into a really diverse and beautiful natural(ish) woodland). There are buzzards, spotted woodpeckers, little owls and a barn owl hunts in the meadow next to us, as well as a host of songbirds and little mammals (and less lovely wood ants, ticks, muntjac and hornets) In a way, this has crystallised a growing feeling that gardening (as I usually do it) is just not appropriate in this place. The genius loci of my little plantation resists taming...and even ownership...and comfortingly, foxglove season has just hoved into view - gratified to see the persistence of the dozens of albiflora and lutea to counterbalance the red campions...

Plus - I am digging 'em up and bringing them home where I will be doing double duty with net and stomping boots. And getting more hellebores and wood anemones.

Camp, sorry to hear that the red menace even lives in your woods.

A couple of weeks ago I spotted scarlet lily beetles on my 'Uchida' species lilies (L. speciosum var. rubrum) that I planted last year. As also suggested above, I used neem oil spraying them twice by now and have not seen any since. I use neem oil for just about everything (to prevent black spots, mildew, aphids on roses) but didn't have any success until I switched to 100% concentration with azadirachtin listed as active ingredient. Hope it works for you against these beetles as well if you try it.

I'm finding these little fornicators kinda strange. I noticed a few on my frittilarias early in the season, and felt no qualms in applying some good ole fornication spray (they are the one thing in my garden that I use the stuff on). However, now I have normal Asiatic lilies coming up (Lily Kaveri, to be specific) and they are totally non-existent on those. At least for now. And being the urban gardener, as Campanula points out, I would have thought I was a prime target. Or maybe they know that their kind of fornication is not welcome amongst the lilies (now, other kinds....ummm....)

Ho, they are discerning munchers - those fine leaved asiatics will always be overlooked if there is a chance of a lush oriental...or better still, the soft salady leafage of a crown imperial for an early snackeroo...and apparently, the fat whorls of martagons are a choice habitat.

I am OK with horticultural oils...and if the choice is between late blight and no tomatoes, I will use a systemic fungicide, and even targeted herbicides for persistent weeds...but systemic pesticides, with those vile neo-nicotinoid beekillers are never going to be acceptable in ANY of my gardens.

A recent report on the huge push for nurseries to sell 'bee-friendly' plants revealed 27 out of 29 plants were contaminated by long-term systemic pesticides...and far from 'friendly', were in fact, deadly. Worth a check for those of us who do fear for the future of bees (and other insect life).

Gardening is usually promoted as a 'green' activity...but as the report pointed out - driving to a garden centre to buy pesticide soaked plants, in plastic pots grown in peat...is anything but ecologically aware or remotely sustainable. A shout out for seed-saving, dividing, sharing and swapping...and a level of transparency in the horticultural industry, please.

My old fornication spray involved some leftover spray bought like 10 years ago in 'the day' - which goes to show how much I use the stuff. But I am going to make up some new LaLennoxa Creative Thinking Fornication Spray using some of my own fresh grown garlic this season, mixed with some good, West Indian Scotch Bonnet peppers and whatever else I can think of to make those little fornicators implode.

Years ago, I had a lurcher which was a terrible butter thief - would leap on the counter and knock the lid off the butter dish...and when he learned how to open the fridge door (there was collie in the mix as the sight-hounds are notoriously dim), something had to give. Eventually I was so annoyed I carefully hollowed out a 250gm pack and filled the space with several spoonfuls of dried ground chilli and carefully re-positioned it on the kitchen top...the dog bloody loved it. Ate the lot.

LOL I was kinda thinking my concoction of garlic and peppers sounded pretty good myself and why waste it on the fornicators?

LOL Camp.! Cole loves spicy stuff - curry is on his favorites list :-)

I've mostly given up on lilies due to the cursed beetles! The Regale lilies seem to be least bothered by them, but I only have a couple of them. The few surviving lilies of other sorts can get very messy - I do my best to just 'turn a blind eye'/ignore them. The Martagon lily that popped up under the pines and bloomed last summer seemed to escape the beetles - I hope the beetles continue to overlook that one this year too... I'd love be to have more lilies - but I refuse to do the fussing required to control those cursed red beasts and their offspring!

Aww Campanula UK Z8. I am sorry and feel your pain. I was really excited to be able to enjoy my lily blooms this year, I even purchased an extra 40 bulbs.

I have not been able to be around to enjoy my garden in 7 yrs. I cared for my mother around the clock through her illness and passing. The day after the funeral DH got seriously ill and passed 3 yrs later. The only gardens I have seen in the daylight for the last 7 yrs have been hospitals and nursing homes.

I saw all the buds on the Asiatic Lilies last week and was walking around today and noticed there were no buds. The turkeys have ate every last bud off the Asiatics. I will try to put some netting on the orientals. At least I have a few on the patio in pots.

I said a few nasty words too. I am like you I do not understand why.

Oh Marquest - well you put my piffling concerns in perspective - a decade of intensively caring for loved ones is...tough. I expect you are a radically different person than you were at the start of your odyssey...and the greatest kudos for seeing it through with grace...and hoping your garden keeps on providing you with glorious, messy life.

But turkeys! I surely hope at least one of the offenders will be stuffed with chestnuts and eaten at thanksgiving.

I am making a little pond at my allotment and had a spendy visit to a local plant nursery. Buying large, ready to bloom plants is such a change from my laborious and anxiety inducing seed raising (with vast attrition) that the lily fail has already vanished into the mists of the past as I am now smacking my lips in anticipation of heleniums, more geums, carex, sedges, mimulus, ranunculous, zantedeschia and even (for shame) a couple of pots of Empress of India nasturtiums. The dahlias are almost ready to go in the ground too. Short attention spans can be an asset.

Campanula, I do not think my problem is anymore hurtful than your problem. When we plant things and cannot wait to see them bloom it hurts. It is all that work and mother nature just slaps us down.

I cannot wait to see pics of your pond you do such good designs with so little space. I do not know how you manage to get so much and so pretty in the small space and all the problems that are thrown at you.