What is eating my Lillies?

[Veronique75]

Hi all,

I have found a weird kind of larvae covered in brown muck eating my Lillies, could anybody tell me what they are?

They are less than a centimetre in length and have a tiny black head and are covered with a brown wet muck! Never seen those before!

Many thanks, Veronique

[dovestail]

Might be lily beetle grubs....good luck.

[Whittler]

Yep, dovestail's right, that'll be lily beetle grubs.... they are covered in their own poo.

See here: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=553

Pick the adult beetles off (they are bright red, easy to spot, but will fall on the ground as a defensive measure so stealth is required) and, errm, dispose of them before they can do more damage. Personally i've abandoned growing lily's as they seemed to get massacred every year, probably due to the fact that i have fritillaries in the garden and they start the season on those then move on....

[Lynne]

I finally eradicated mine through constanct vigilance! You might not have the time for the sort of obsession required. As Whittler said, they're easy to spot. The first few, I just thought "oh , what pretty beetles". Mine got brought in when I bought a tub of lilies from a well-known DIY chain.

[Veronique75]

Thank you all... Will done gloves and get picking ewwww

[singalto]

It helps if you spray the lillies with a mixture of water, washing up liquid and oil! If you find the red adult beetles, crush under foot..

[Ariadne]

I echo singalto's measures,, but maybe add garlic to the water that is sprayed

[Sue]

Lynne Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

As Whittler said,

> they're easy to spot. The first few, I just

> thought "oh , what pretty beetles".

xxxxxxxx

They are very pretty and easy to spot, but in my experience as soon as you try to remove them they often drop off and not always easy to find again to kill them :(

And yeh the grubs are disgusting :(

[mco6215]

try and pick them off early in the season, sometimes you see 2 mating, easy to get them then ! I also find them on my chives, seem to like them too.