Lily beetle. I have one damaged and one untouched lily.

[pud1]

I have got lily beetle. It has badly effected an oriental lily. It looks beyond help but I also have a calla lily that I love and it's really healthy. Am I best to bin the damaged lily to get rid of them or will they just turn their affections to my calla lily? Or should I just let them feast on the damaged lily so they leave the other alone. They are both in pots

Can you not check the lilies regularly and remove the lily beetles? They are easy to spot.

I am checking my good one but I only found out they existed last night when I watched GW on catch up. The dames one is covered in leave so other than getting rid of it I am stuck. Every leaf is effected.

Oh, I'm having an absolute war with lily beetles. I have a single lily plant. Had it a few years but this year I'm forever picking off pairs of mating lily beetles. I place them about 20 metres away so not sure if it's the same ones coming back or new ones. Might have to resort to some spray unfortunately.

Just squash them belly

Weirdly, I saw one single beetle on my lily this year, when one stem was about 6" tall. I squished it, but from then to now, as the final flowers have just gone over, not one more!

Aphids everywhere else, mind.....

Yep I think squishing may be necessary. I just feel so guilty!

I balance the squishing of Lily beetles with leaving greenfly on my roses so I don't feel so guilty. Ladybirds and hover flies have got rid of the greenfly amazingly successfully this year.

I doubt if they would go for the calla lily - it's a different family, Arum not Liliaceae, so it should be safe.

Agree lily beetle affect true lilies (Liliaceae) and Fritillaria and are inlikely to move to the Canna.

You could just accept that the lily will lose all its leaves, but it will come back next year, albeit a bit weaker because it won't have been able to build up its underground storage so well. Then you'll have to be even more vigilant next year because you'll have built up the stock of overwintering beetles.

Or you could hold a bowl under the lily and knock off all the beetles in to it, then tip it on a hard surface and stamp on them. Then pull each leaf between finger and thumb so you squash any eggs and larvae.

Or you could put the entire lily into your garden waste bin (not your own compost heap) and resolve next year to keep an eye open earlier in the season so you can remove beetles as soon as they fly in.

Or you could never grow lilies again.

Thank you. That’s reassuring. I wondered why it hadn’t affected the calls and was hoping that would be the case. I think I am going to go for the bin option and not bother with lilys again.

They love my tiger lilies but have no interest in the callas.

Oriental lilies are poisonous to bees....

i think I am going to go for the bin option and not bother with lilys again

Good. The bees will thank you.
As will the cats who can get fatal organ failure from licking off lily pollen.

I just remove and squash them, put up with a certain amount of damage. But also have to check the leaves for the pupa or whatever the young are - they are like squishy black shits, quite disgusting, usually lurking on the underside of the leaves. I'm someone who has happily set up habitats for snails and woodlice in my kitchen, lily beetles are one of the few insects I really detest.