I do not know if you poured too much poison on your lilies. But I know that I have had lily beetles all my life and I have not lost a single lily to them. The beetles are SO CONSPICUOUS that it is nearly impossible not to notice them, and they are very easy to kill. No need to use poisons on them. It is like using a sledgehammer to kill a louse.

I have had Asiatic lilies killed by them that were tucked in out-of-the-way spots. I don't know if there are natural controls for them in Europe or not. However, I have found that oriental-trumpet hybrids seem fairly resistant to them so that's what I plant now since I don't use insecticides.

Misshapen buds sounds like a sucking insect. Do you have photos?

Yes, there are natural controls here in Europe. They are called gardeners. Besides, my local sparrows have learned to eat the larvae, so using poisons is not an option. No lily is resistant (I have all types of lilies,more than 100 of them, it takes 5 minuts to check them and kill the beetles), but Lilium davidii is less prefered(the leaves are perhaps too narrow). I have read several threads on the lily forum. Some people try to whip up the sentiment that it is like a plague of Biblical proportions. IT IS NOT LOCUST that we're talking about.

Most of my lilies have small and distorted flowers this year, and yes, bud count is low.

The reason for it -- it is freeze damage from the numerous freezes we had back in April as the new growth was emerging. Very common when lilies are exposed to freezing temps in the spring.

Perhaps this happened to yours as well.

I have gone out some years and covered them to save them from the one or two nights of freezes, but this year was hopeless. After having a series of days in March where the highs hit the 80s and even 90 two days, we had frosts and freezes probably 2 nights out of 3 in April, capped off by a freeze of around 26 degrees the last weekend in April.

Weather related problem probably. I am having the weird all lilly bloom year. Asiatic, Oriental, LA you name it there is something different, strange, bud abort etc this year more than any years I can remember.

The most important thing to do is to try to give them a good dose of bulb booster and keep them watered so they get strong enough to bloom good next year. The weather this year has stressed the bulbs tremendously.

Europe has parasitic wasps on the lily beetles, which were released in MA and have established, so we may develop natural controls.

Interesting about the cold damage. That's something I've never witnessed, but perhaps it's because we are cold enough that either our ground freezes deeply enough or the snow covers the ground long enough to keep them dormant until we are past frost damage. We often end up with almost no spring, going in a matter of a very few weeks from late winter to full summer.

wieslaw, you might try to be a bit more sympathetic toward those of us across the pond who are battling with the red lily beetle. YOU live in Denmark, we don't have the natural predator contols you do (yet).

'we're plagued by the things. Grrrrrr. Unfortunately, these nasty eating machines have no natural predators in North America, so they're pretty much free to run rampant over our gardens, taking out our lilies and Fritillaria at will. Apparently certain parasitic wasps exist already as controls in Europe.

Biological control using natural lily leaf beetle predators shows the most promise for controlling the spread of this invasive scourge. Although the beetle has no natural predators in North America, the University of Rhode Island Biological Control Laboratory, in collaboration with CABI-Bioscience and colleagues in France, has identified several European insects that parasitize the lily leaf beetle grubs. The ant-sized parasitic wasps lay eggs on the beetle grubs, which subsequently hatch and kill their host. These insects have been released at research sites in all New England states and are proving effective at decreasing the lily leaf beetle populations for at least several miles in the surrounding areas. These controls are not yet commercially available for gardeners, but show long-term promise.'

it's very disheartening to see the damage done to our lilies by this pest. i do not use pesticides normally, but i do resort to one for this situation -- Bayer Rose and Garden Spray in the bright blue bottle. it is the best way to keep these beetles at bay as long as one does not apply in breezy conditions or when beneficial insects/bees are present. as a systemic pesticide, the application works for 4-6 weeks and can then be re-applied to keep the lilies beetle-free.

Roxanna, I am sympathetic, but not to the degree to encourage wide use of various poisons to control the pest. Wasps will not eliminate the beetles. If it was the case, Europeans would be beetles-free, but we are not. We(I) just learned to live with it. The lily beetles feed largely only on lilies and fritilaria. It is not like every garden in USA is surrounded by the vast fields of lilies . I have seen films from America and I know it is not. So population of beetles will never be as large as some people try to depict it.

How many beetles do you squash daily? Honestly?

I agree with all of you. Red lily beetles have not yet reached my area (knock on wood), but I am terrified of their arrival. While we are not surrounded by fields of lilies here, enough of my neighbors grow lilies to provide a vast amount of food for this pest when it arrives.

However, like wieslaw59, I am cautious to employ poisons to control this pest, especially with imidacloprid which is the active ingredient in Bayer. Yes, it does control lily beetles and many other nasty pests, but it will also kill bees and other beneficial insects. Spinosad will also kill beneficials.

To get back to the original topic, I agree with denninmi that the original poster's lily problems are likely weather related. While I was lucky to get no late freezes, quite a few of my lilies aborted their buds due to heat and extremes of moisture. And quite a few more have produced distorted or deformed flowers.

My lilies are kind of strange this year also, and I think its due to the weather. They are blooming earlier than usual, but are shorter, for the most part. My orientals are already in bloom or about to bloom. My Oranias, which are usually almost six feet tall, have blooms ready to pop at three feet.

I also have some misshapen buds too, as well as beetle damage. Other than the darn beetles, I had been attributing the damage to the weather - too hot too early, then colder than usual, then lots of rain, then sustained 90-degree temps for days, etc.

Dee

I think I recall reading somewhere that height of established lilies can depend on soil temperatures during crucial growth periods. If the soil heats up too much when a lily is sprouting and forming stem roots, it will go directly into growth mode at the expense of root production and therefore cannot sustain normal height.

Newly planted lilies, of course, are almost always shorter their first season. Also like the above, this is due to limited root production.

There are bigger fish to fry than folks that occasionally spray their lilies. In the US it is the huge amount of water wasted and chemicals dumped in the name of getting perfect green lawns.

Wieslaw, you have to take into account the fact that not everyone can spend time in the garden chasing down beetles. I know folks on here go after individual japanese beetles. I cannot even imagine having the time to do that.

Miclino, lily beetles is not something you chase. They are not running anywhere. The procedure is : YOU SEE IT YOU SQUASH IT(two nails is enough). It is as simple as that. There is absolutely nothing more in it. No need to rip your clothes to shreds in despair. If somebody has THAT little time , then why grow lilies in the first place? You will have to find time once you have them , or if one is THAT lazy , quit growing lilies

Thank you all so much, I am sure it is the weather now. denninmi , marquest, diggerdee, and ispahan - I agree with you all. We had the same weather in upstate NY - summer in March, 3 hard freezes in April, now drought and broiling conditions. But I'm relieved to know that the damage isn't permanent.