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.
I WATCHED A ZOOM lecture the other day that really put into words a lot of the ways my own deepening understanding of ecology is shaking up the way I practice horticulture—from spring cleanup, right on to the last chore of the active year. The lecturer was Rebecca McMackin, director of horticulture for Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City, where she leads the team that manages 85 acres of diverse parkland with a central focus on habitat creation of woodlands, wetlands, and meadows to build soils and support birds, butterflies, and other organisms.
We talked about the dynamic tactics they use and when and why–a whole different approach to spring cleanup, where the life cycles of animals (from insects on up) dictate what happens when, garden maintenance-wise. Like why some things don’t get cut back, and others that are still seed-laden when they do have their seeds collected and set aside, then returned to the spot after whatever cleanup is needed there.
(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.