Red Lily Beetle Battle Time

By Howard Drury

As Easter approaches, it is time to take action against the Red Lily Beetle and the young to prevent damage to your lilies and close family members. You do not need to resort to chemicals, and indeed amateur gardeners no longer have access to chemicals capable of controlling either grubs or adults.

In early spring, it’s easy to forget just how quickly spring actually ‘springs’ up on us, and then all the garden pests get on the move.  The Red Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) is definitely one of these that lily and fritillary growers dread.

Now that chemicals to kill Red Lily Beetle have been taken off the market, a new approach is required as Lily plants are beginning to emerge and attract the attention of these beautiful, but very destructive bright red beetles which eat foliage. Their eggs are laid on the underside of the foliage, and the emerging young cover themselves with their own excreta to protect themselves against possible predators.
 
Currently, there is one product that can give effective control. Grazers can provide an answer, if gardeners take early action to make lilies unattractive to these pests

With a unique combination of calcium solution and plant extracts, the Grazers G4 product upgrades the lily plant’s own natural defence mechanisms, when sprayed in advance on emerging shoots and leaves. This protects your plants, enhances their growth, but makes the plants unattractive to Red Lily Beetles, and they will seek food elsewhere. It does not and cannot poison them, as it is on calcium and plant extract.
 
Easy to apply and safe for everything in our environment, the Grazers G4 Red Lily Beetle ‘Ready-to Use’, or ‘Concentrate’ are the only products on the market that I know will dissuade rampaging Red Lily Beetle from landing on lilies and laying their eggs. Grazers G4 kills nothing, and follows the Grazers' philosophy of ‘Gardening for Wildlife’. Recommended and used by several professional lily growers, I have used this product successfully for many years, the biggest thing is to remember to apply it once the foliage of susceptible plants starts to emerge.

I always recommend buying the ready to use spray first, use this until empty then purchased the concentrate to refill the ready to use hand sprayer, this is very cost-effective and ensures the spray is always in the correctly labelled unit. Buying the concentrate to refill the ready to use not only helps the environment but actually makes a considerable saving on the pocket.

© Howard Drury, 10th April 2022