"Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat" wrote in message
...
delurk
Hello there.

From coupla days persusal of this group I have learned much of interest -
not least I have found the answer to a question that had been forming in
my
mind everytime I looked at my lillies in the garden - what was it that red
thing that was eating the hell out of them ? I now discover it is the
dreaded lily beetle. Sigh. Best kiss goodbye to my lillies then.

I see it says on the RHS site that a couple of wasps eat them - any ideas
which ones ? I had a hornet fly down my chimney the other night, and
although I was wary of it (actually I was terrified - an allergic reaction
exists in the family to stings) and had my brave fella trap it in a jar
and
take it off down the road to the woods (hopefully if it was a queen
looking
to nest she'd prefer it there) - perhaps she might have taken care of the
problem for me. ;-)

I have not as yet used any pesticides in my garden (which I have been
building and tending for the last year and a half) and I'm not nuts about
starting it now.


The best thing to do if you spot a lily beetle is to squish it. They fall
off the leaves if you're not careful, so get a bit of kitchen towel, and
catch the beetle in that - it will stop your hands getting all juicy when
you squish the bugs too :-)

It's true that there are a couple of parasitic wasps, but even if you could
get them, they'd be no good unless your lilies were in a greenhouse - the
wasps would just fly away!

Anyway, if you don't like pesticides, check the lilies each day and squish
any beetles you find. I've only found 3 so far, so I hope I've stopped it
in time.

Bob