WHAT’S YOUR TACTIC FOR DEALING with lily beetles? The topic resurfaced (as it had a year ago) in the Urgent Garden Question Forum the other day, and member DogRiverVT was thinking of pulling the plants all out. Yikes! Neem oil? Hand-picking the bugs or larvae? Any other ideas? Please come share your pain or better yet, secrets to your lily-beetle victories.
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Good heavens, the lily beetle comments sound like something out of a bad horror
movie. Hope I never see one.
Lily beetles are truly disgusting, they also affect my fritillaria meleagris. I try to knock them off into a container of soapy water but the little devils drop down and disappear under the mulch so one has to be quick. I had read somewhere about spraying them with Windex, apparently it doesn’t harm the plants. Haven’t tried that one yet. I basically don’t grow lillies anymore because it’s so hard to keep on top of these beetles but I’m not quite ready just yet to throw in the towel with the fritillarias!
reminds me….what to do about asparagus beetles??
i have tried picking them off into soapy water but the population does not slow..
Hi, Sharon. Some info on asparagus beetle is here.