The red “Lily Leaf Beetle”

I  can remember the first time spotting this little red beetle. It was many years ago and it was perched on the tip of one of the hundreds of hybrid lilies that grace our gardens. I thought wow what a beautiful color, isn’t nature amazing and continued on (those of you who have had experience with this beetle should be cringing at this point). Little did I know the destruction these tiny beetles were capable of.

As the summer flew by I started detecting a ridiculous amount of disgusting slug like creatures on the underside of the lily leaves that were feeding on all the greenery at an incredibly insane rate. I was beside myself and knew full well at this point that no matter what I was to do it was too late. The lilies were infested.  To make matters worse anyone I spoke to at our local garden centers at that time were completely unaware of a beetle that aggressively and specifically attacked hybrid lilies. They  had a look of disbelief and doubting eye as if  I was some crazy lady who had nothing better to do then to conjure up a bug.  So with that, I decided to fight back the best I could so as not to be completely defeated and do the only thing that made sense. I put on rubber gloves, scraped every lily leaf of eggs, larvae (not a fun moment) and crushed every red beetle I encountered (not bad, actually quite satisfying).

 By the time the lilies bloomed they had very few leaves, but at least they bloomed. Controlling these beetles has become just another maintenance task, and anyone who gardens knows that conquering insects is just one of countless battles (I wont even get into weather!) that comes with the dedication and passion of successful gardening.  I start inspecting as soon as the lilies break ground and use an organic spray that I have had good results with and by doing so I eliminate the infestation I will never forget.

 Winters are long in Maine and we look forward with great anticipation to enjoying our gardens, especially the hundreds of dramatic blooms and the intoxicating and exotic fragrance of our Oriental lilies. I have read about a parasitic wasp that is used for biological control in certain European countries has been released in Boston and part of Rhode Island. We’ll see, hopefully in my lifetime, but until then SPLAT!

[nggallery id=6]

Lily leaf beetle
Lily leaf beetle
lily leaf beetle larvae
Lily leaf beetle larvae
Lily leaf beetle eggs
Lily leaf beetle eggs