Same here, I squished a few over the weekend.

I spotted my first red menace back in March, Easter weekend to be precise & have been squishing ever since. Has anyone used one of these sprays which is supposed to keep them away for a few weeks? I think they are supposed to unpallitable after you spray. ?

I've had to give up on my lilies. They got so badly attacked that they lost all their glory and dignity. I hardly ever managed to catch the culprits in flagranti, so not sure if it was just lily beetles or slugs as well.
I've dug the lilies up and (don't laugh) replaced them with onions.

I may well give up on my lilies next year - I can't be bothered with plants that I have to guard all the time! However, I am having a little experiment. I have moved some lilies which are in a large pot next to lemon balm, since it occurs to me that the strong scent may give out confusing signals to the beetle and it may overlook the lilies. I have no idea whether it will work, and it probably won't, but you never know.

Spent the weekend squishing them and removed some clusters of eggs. Will have to keep checking back...

I checked. The asiatics are clean. The orientals have some holes in the leaves and one munched growth tip, but I'm pretty sure its just slugs and snails.

Oh no. What with the vine weevils at the roots and lily beetle at the shoots it hardly seems worth carrying on. Sigh.
I notice you all seem to be down South. Has lily beetle penetrated the Midlands yet?

I have noticed, and reported here last year, that the worst affected are L regale in open situations. The regale behind shrubs and under trees don't seem so badly affected and L henryii doesn't get them at all. My garden is tiny and for the pleasure they give when in flower beside my bench I will continue to squish.

I've since been out and found 6 of them canoodling on my lilies. Well, they ain't no more! (Evil cackle) One thing I will say for them, they're easy to spot, unlike the dreary vine weevil. Several of the lilies are also looking virus-y. Why do we bother, eh?

Just saw on television a short while ago that lilies ( some or all ?) are very poisonous to cats.

I planted 5 "Lillium Pink Perfection" Bulbs (The very big lillies that can grow to 6ft tall) in late march that i bought from Crocus. It said that they are better to be planted in autum but they can be planted in the spring. But they have not grown at all yet! Does anyone know if they should of by now? Apparently they flower in July. They are in a full sun position in well drained soil and planted just how crocus advised.

Tina

Is it possible to grow lilies indoors? I'm more concerned about the cat issue than the beetles. I have a couple of stargazers and the rest are asiatics.

Remember to check your fritillaries too, the lily beetles seem to like them just as much if not more than lilies.

Tina, if you planted in spring, they will be late. You could maybe have a dig at one, although you may set it back further. It is possible that it rotted.

Lori, wouldn't it be safer to put the plants outside than in? Indoors, a cat with the munchies has a very limited choice. Outdoors, they will nibble on something safe.

The program I saw on TV said that cats can brush against Lilies and get pollen or whatever on their fur. When they clean their fur they ingest the particles and this affects their kidneys. As I do not have either a cat or lilies I was only half paying attention. Might be worth a bit or research, as it may not be all types of lily.

Having said that I have just looked in Google. Search on LILIES CATS POISON or some such.

I had lily beetles on my snake head fritillaries quite a few weeks ago here in the NORTH MIDLANDS so that answers one question. I have hand picked but I still got the disgusting grubs last year( they cover themselves in their own crap) so I resorted to the chemical. It does work and Marley_Farley I am not sure whether it makes them unpallitable - I just have never fancied them as a food item!!!!
The lily beetles seem to prefer my orange tiger liliies to my asiatics.
The cat issue - An article I read mentioned Stargazer cut liliies as being the cause of death for a particular cat. So Lori watch your feline. They think the pollen was spread on the fur as it rubbed against the new flowers and then ingestede by licking. The article said a single leaf would kill a cat, but that is unlikely as cats, being carnivores, don't generally chomp leaves, so its the pollen that does them in.

Ohhh ok shrubs n bulbs, i hope they havent rotted, i'll dig one up.

Cheers

Tina

NOt wishing to tempt fate...I've seen hide nor hair of the red devils on the Asiatic lillies I bought and planted about 2 months ago. They're growing fine...and I check them regularly. Nothing. Not even greenfly, which manage to scoff everything else in the garden! Do they not go for Asiatic lillies?

Alcina

Probably cause they know the vine weevils will get there first!
Seriously though I wonder whether it is just preference ie. eating tiger lillies but would eat asiatics if nothing else available.
I did wonder if they were colour co -ordianted at one time ie. they were munching my orange crown fritillary but not my yellow and later on munching my orange tiger lilies but not the yellow form...but thats just being silly????

They seem to like my asiatics as much as the orientals. One advantage of having long fingernails is that I can pick them off and scrunch them to death. No time to be squeamish when your lilies are in peril. It's much harder to pick them up with gardening gloves on and they often manage to escape (either by falling to the ground or by flying away).

Yes, Ornata, I find if they land upside down on the compost, the little b*ggers are camouflaged extremely well. On the vine weevil front, I notice that they are beginning to pupate, turning the gross-out factor up a notch, if that is possible with the hideous white maggot.So if I do decide to blast my suburban Eden with beetle poison, would now be the best time to do it, before they hatch out and start laying trillions of eggs everywhere?

I am so pleased - I just came back from a week away and both asiatics and stargazers haven't been nibbled. In fact the asiatics have not been touched at all since they were planted up. It does make me wonder if they are slightly less attractive to the beetles if there are other types in the vicinity.

Thanks for the suggestions about cats, I no longer have a cat but was a bit concerned about the neighbour's cat who is quite useful, he thinks it's his garden and keeps the others out! I've propped the container grown asiastics ones up on another upturned pot so they're a bit less obviously accessible to curious cats.

I've given up on lilies. The beetles are so prolific round here I just don't have the time to control them. They were out very early this year, munching my fritillaries, and I'm sure they had a nibble at my primroses.

I had a lily beetle blitz around Easter - I was squashing one or two a day for a couple of weeks and then, nothing since. My daughter noticed the same - a bit of vigilance early on and the lilies seem to remain beetle free for a good while. Same thing with snails - after an enthusiastic season of snail murder, snails were almost a rarity the following year.

I spoke too soon...they're here :( I squished three of them yesterday and some red eggs which I presume were theirs. I have to say they're not terribly well disguised with their bright red overcoats! :)

I too have had fewer problems with snails and slugs this year after last year's anti-slimey ones efforts. However, it could also be something to do with the incredibly dry weather we've had for the last 6 months.

Alcina

They're here too :(

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden gallery beetles

Came across this website as I was trying to find answers on why my little 10 month old kitten has been at the Pet Hospital on a trip for nearly a week. I nearly lost him and I'm still waiting for an all clear on the blood tests. His Kidney is shot and it's most likely that it'll never be fully functioning again. So going forward he'll get to know the Vets very well as he has to go and be flushed with a drip on a regular basis. I think somebody might have mentioned this on the website already but I can't stress it enough..... please don't plant Lillies. I've just dug up all of mine. I know they're lovely but seeing a tiny creature in such pain really doesn't make it worth it! Please and thank you!

I had a number of lily beetle in the spring and squished up to 10 a day during May and June, removing visible eggs also. Since then, I have seen nothing and the lilies have been fine, so a little effort early on has paid dividends.

The neighbour's cat is also still alive and well.

I see Garden Nerd asked whether they've reached the Midlands yet. Well, they have - the Midlands of Finland that is! We get lying snow for four months of the year, and night temperatures down to -35C; but it doesn't deter them.