Sunday, May 25, 2008

Seeing Red: The Lily Leaf Beetle


Sunday, May 25, 2008
Gail and I have been growing lilies for years and now we have had the misfortune of coming to meet the lily leaf beetle. We are not alone as it has now swept all lily growing lands east of the Rockies and on into Canada including Nova Scotia. I wrote about using dormant oil as a control last year and the article was recently reproduced on the University of Vermont's Hort Farm Newsletter. Here's what I wrote: Lily Bugs!

We've been really busy moving our nursery to a new location but here are some pictures so you know what you are looking for. I took the pictures this afternoon and the maturity of the beetles suggests that they are well established. They have an ability to fly in so it's impossible to say whether the size of the problem is local or the bugs have simply found your lilies. Feel free to reproduce the pictures as you wish and alert other gardeners to the problem.

Note: Satellite problems so will send other pictures soon.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

















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