i've been using indoor systemic for years . quote from the spec: Kills tough houseplant pests like fungus. gnats, mealybug, whitefly, thrips and aphids . also scale. Imidacloprid 0.22 percent. - which is a much lower concentration then for outdoors. african violet people use marathon - which is much stronger, but also used indoors. neem oil concentrate can be used to control mites, but not eradicate them here's a link for bonide indoor systemic that i use. http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-Product-951-Systemic-Control/dp/B000BX1HKI This post was edited by petrushka on Tue, Sep 17, 13 at 21:26

There is no real easy method of control for red lily beetle, it is more of an effort to manage the population however best you can and it is very labor-intensive. I've never seen red lily beetles here in OK but some folks may have them if they arrived on mail order lilies or such. The beneficial insects (parasitic wasps) that seem to be having success in controlling red lily beetles are, as far as I know, not available commercially yet in the USA. I believe it is the University of Rhode Island that has been experimenting with some European species of parasistic wasps and they've been releasing them on their own (not selling them to gardeners) and studying their effect on the red lily beetle population in the areas where the wasps have been released. They seem to be having some success, but the availability of those species of parasitic wasps commercially likely is years away still. Have you tried Spinosad? Some folks use it to control the red lily beetles either when they are in the soil or as larvae, using it both as a soil drench and to spray the plants. Other than that, if I had them, I'd hand-pick them and destroy them daily and search for and destroy the eggs as well. I wear disposable medical gloves when hand-picking pests and generally carry a plastic bowl of soapy water with me, dropping the hand-picked pests into the bowl to drown. As far as removing eggs from the undersides of leaves, I like to use a lint roller---I roll it over the underside of the leaf when I find eggs of pest insects and the roller pulls the insects right off the leaves. Then I strip that section of the sticky tape off the link roller, roll it up to enclose the eggs inside, and drop the bundle of sticky tape into the kitchen trash can to ensure the eggs go out with the trash. I know it would get tiresome to hand pick, but these pests are such a problem that it takes that sort of intense dedication to keep them to a manageable level. There's always neem, which works somewhat well on them, and if you get desperate enough, you could use systemic or non-systemic synthetic pesticides. It depends on how much time and effort you want to put into fighting them and I suppose it depends on how many lilies you have. I don't know if you've seen the webpage I'm going to link below, but I think it is a very thorough source of info about what works for red lily beetles, with some folks explaining their success. I'd never heard of using used coffee grounds to repel red lily beetles before, but if it works, why not use it? I noticed some folks have had success with DE. I don't use DE much in my garden any more but I like it when I used it. Many of us do use used coffee ground in our gardens or our compost all the time, so why not try using it to repel or deter the lily beetles? It might help and couldn't hurt. Spinosad, by the way, is available in several formulations---as a spray, as a dust and in some pelleted baits like Slug-Go Plus and in a fire ant bait called Come And Get It. I expect the spray would work best for red lily beetles. Red Lily Beetle Info from B&D Lilies Good luck in your battle with the lily beetles. Dawn

Chili thrips has been the diagnosis for roses here in Hawaii. If buying roses from the big box stores, which are usually supplied by local nurseries who get bare roots from the mainland, one must make sure to isolate their purchased rose and get rid of whatever problems it has (usually chili thrips and spider mites) before introducing to one's garden. Unfortunately our choices on the islands is limited if on a budget. Monterey has a smaller concentration of spinosad and is more readily available and affordable than the more expensive Conserve. I had mixed results with Monterey because I was following a regime of what i now consider chemical overload (imidacloprid, insecticidal soap, fungicide). Eventually split cost of the Conserve but have only resorted to using it once. I am half convinced though that using it plus the severe hot, humid sun and sporadic rain had caused damage to my generally healthy leaves. These past several months, since Feb or March actually, I've resisted spraying insecticide or fungicide at the first sign of trouble to let them get back to their natural state of defense. For me a steady schedule of chemical warfare doesn't make sense anymore so am glad I am off that cycle. If I get severely infested with chili thrips, I'll cut off the infected sections and use the lower concentration Monterey first. I prefer a foliar spray application because the damage is generally on the new growth and buds.

We get them really bad around here in late summer. I bought an expensive bottle of conserve three years ago and it's only down by a quarter bottle, so that's been worth it to me. I haven't used regular pesticides for anything during that time because I wanted to maintain a nice ecosystem in my garden. Spinosad on its own hasn't made any obvious difference to that. I've got bees, butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, lizards, birds, squirrels, frogs like crazy and about two million mosquitoes - urg. I'm really happy with it. Mind you, I am a very laid back gardener. In the spring come the aphids, early summer bring the June bugs (beetle), grasshoppers do their thing as do regular flower thrips. I ignore them and the issues sort themselves out. Except for thrips, who coat each flower in the hundreds and ruin at least one flush. That is annoying, but nothing can be done. I'm not going to run around spraying every flower or add poison to the soil. Doesn't work for these numbers anyway. BTDT. Best to disbud when it gets crazy, usually the second flush. Obviously none of that pertains to chilli thrips who are another beast entirely. I first had them in 2010, a minor epidemic, but didn't know what they were. In 2011, boy I learned quick because they went on a rampage that lasted for months. I had not recognized the early damage, so the numbers were able to swell and absolutely decimate my garden. I lost several plants that year, killed by CT. It happens so fast. Having battled these monsters several years running, I can spot them on peoples roses as I drive past their house. I spray the second I see the first little signs of damage and it knocks them down. They were determined this year and I sprayed three or four times, more than usual, but I had no big pruning to do, and no big epidemic.