Red Lily Beetle

[Strugglingtodomybest]

My Asiatic lilies are crawling with Red Lily Beetles. They finished flowering a while ago and the beetles are now eating the leaves.

My question is, does it matter? I don't want to kill them if I don't have to.

Yes they will lay eggs that next year will eat more Lilies and kill yours!
The best and as far as I know way to remove them is by hand and crush them!
Apologies to those who think that’s cruel. They will fall underside up into the soil and hide from you. You could but the whole plant into a plastic bag, shake off the soil and beetles and then remove the bulbs to dry and store for next year. Making sure no snot like substance is on them because this contains the eggs.
Then tie up the bag and bin it, leaving the beetles to their own devices!

They are beautiful but deadly. Will also go for fritillaries as well so look out for them next spring.

Gosh I had this problem and it was difficult to resolve. They appeared one year and the next nearly decimated my lilies. The eco-friendly way of dealing with them is to pick them off. I finally resorted to Bug Clear which did the trick.

Your lilies' leaves are supposed to be making food from daylight to feed the bulbs for next year. If they can't do this very well because lily beetles are eating the leaves to nothing, the plants' performance next year will be affected. It's up to you whether you leave them to destroy your lilies. If you're fine feeding a bunch of invasive non-native beetles that are spreading rapidly across the UK, you could leave them to it.

Being eaten to death isn't really in your plants' best interests, so frankly I would get rid of the rotten pests.

Lily beetles are orange on top and black underneath. When disturbed they drop off the plant and aim to land upside down, as they are harder to see against the soil than right way up. I hold a sheet of kitchen roll underneath so they drop onto that. Also, the juveniles cover themselves with their own poo so they look just like a splodge of crap, which birds or other predators don't want to touch. Eggs are clusters of orange pustules, often on the underside of the leaves.

Thanks for all the advice, it is very helpful. I ended up flicking them off and stepping on them.