Grew lilies for 50 years and never saw one. Sorry you've got them, Floral.

I almost gave up growing Lilies due to the beetles. We did have a university in New England that developed a predator for the beetle and I saw a marked reduction after that. But, I have seen them again a little bit every year. I'll keep my eyes open. My lilies are not even out of the ground yet.

Same here, prairie -- lilies aren't emerging yet in central Massachusetts. But it's good that floral mentioned being vigilant!

Has anyone ever heard of planting hardy geraniums around lilies? A gardener on facebook mentioned that since she’s been doing this, she stopped seeing beetles.

First I've heard that Maz. Cranesbill? Well they do have a pretty distinct odor. I have plenty of those and haven't tried that.

@prairie: I thought of their odor too. I will try it this year for sure.

Maz, come to think of it, I have three patches of lilies and you know how Monarda spreads, so I have one patch that has infiltrated the Lilies near it and now that I think of it I haven't seen a lily with a beetle in that area for awhile. Monarda have an odor, no? I'll try to move some geranium to the base of the other two patches. Worth a try I guess.

Mine have plenty of smelly Geranium macrorrhizum all around them - the beetles are oblivious.

Thanks for that report, Floral, just saved me some work. [g]

Thanks floral! I asked the gardener in question if she knew the variety. She did not but posted this picture:

Managed to eliminate lily beetles (and slugs and snails) by consistent (and ruthless) removal...but this is very doable in a small garden. Less so at the allotment where I eventually gave up growing asparagus because the pervasive beetle was just too tricky to hand-pick and crush...unlike the highly visible lily beetles. (which have not had a presence in my garden for the last 5 years or so. They are much keener on the fine leaved asiatics, ime...and less likely to colonise the broader leaved orientals (although the martagons were clearly delicious and made perfect incubators). I have transferred a lot of the really tall orienpet types to the allotment (because 8 foot lilies looked ridiculous in my tiny garden) so we will have to see how had picking pans out.

That Geranium is G sanguineum or cultivar thereof. Not particularly smelly.

I hand pick til I'm blue in the face but have not eradicated SLB or gastropods. But regarding the latter I think my west country climate and stone walls are probably more conducive than E Anglia.

P.s. I enjoy 8 foot lilies in my little garden. 😉

I DID stop growing lilies because of the red lily leaf beetle. :(

I used to grow them for market, and then when I stopped selling, I stopped buying new bulbs. I still have a few that get pretty much decimated every year.

In addition to a handful of asiatics scattered throughout the garden, have a patch of about 10 oriental lily plants left that I think are Stargazers or something similar. I can't believe they are still there considering the damage done every year. I try to handpick some of the beetles but I just don't have time.

A friend of mine has a patch of lilies in her yard. They are pristine. When I marveled at the perfect condition of the foliage, she informed me that her retired husband vigilantly handpicks the beetles. Yep, guess that's what you need lol. A person with lots of time to do that eternal handpicking!

I keep waiting for that parasitic wasp to make its way down to CT but it's either taking it's sweet time, or it is not as effective as they had hoped.

:)

Dee

Dee, I got rid of a good number of lilies last year, the beetles are relentless, they are awaiting the shoots even before they emerge and immediately are laying their eggs, actually had seen some of the buggers already a few weeks ago sniffing around wondering when the lilies might be poking up! Last summer, as my buddy David and I walked about my gardens, he exclaimed "I can't believe how badly infested some of your lilies are!" I replied "David, it would take me half an hour each day to walk around to keep them clean, I just can't get to it all!" ... he said "Well, I WOULD!" ... mmmm, a different thing for him having a postage sized city lot compared to my very large acreage yard! I will keep but a few lilies, 'Red Velvet' would be difficult to go without and shall attempt to maintain the Orientals and some similar hybrids.

'I enjoy 8ft lilies in my little garden'

I might also if they were not already in a 3foot high raised bed...I practically need binoculars to see the flowers.

Glad we don’t have these

Those are glorious, floral

This is the closest I have come: Black Beauty lily about 6’

All of my lilies were completely ruined by the lily beetle until I started using a systemic pesticide that contains imidacloprid. Sprinkle it around the base of the plants and scratch it in a bit when they first show above the ground in the spring. I haven't seen a lily beetle for the last five years and my lilies are thriving -

Thanks Jeb, I will do just so as well, I'm okay with having gotten rid of some my lilies, though the best remain and I DO have some systemic on hand! :)

Imidacloprid is banned over here and throughout Europe. It's a neonicotinoid which is highly toxic to birds, insects and aquatic life. I only have a few lilies in a tiny garden and diligent hand picking works for me.

I am growing about 40 or so lilies from bulbs this year. They are in pots in the greenhouse now, just starting to emerge. I have a few in the garden and have never seen any damage nor the beetle. Maybe we don't have them in P. Northwest? Hopefully growing more lilies doesn't attract them to my garden. I have enough with gall midge, sawfly and slugs to deal with.

Yep, handpicking works for me...although I do (rarely) use a trichlopyr/glyphosate mash-up, along with copper based fungicides, I have struggled to find sufficient reasons to use any of the bug-killer pesticides available...and as for bio-controls... not entirely convinced here either, since mollusc controls using nematodes are not remotely more humane than the sole of my boot..

Irrational, probably, but ain't that the human condition?

I hate red lily beetles! Only a few of my Asiatic lilies have survived them and they require constant monitoring all through the growing season.

Same trouble here. I have not seen any SLB this spring yet, but even after years of handpicking they are still around. I have given up on lilies, and by now they have just about killed all my fritillarias. I don’t have much hope that parasitic wasp will make it to Canada in my life time… I do have some imidacloprid, but I refuse to use it in the garden. It is only for succulents inside the house, where there are no pollinators around.