On Jun 2, 9:48*am, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 01/06/2011 19:15, john ryan wrote:



Our Lillies are being eaten by masses of these critter:

Grubs

http://tinypic.com/r/rvzy89/7

and Beetles

http://tinypic.com/r/238wsl/7

Dont know if these two types of critters are related.

Any advice on best how to deal with them please. *Especially if it does not
involve expensive and poisonous chemicals. * Thanks.

Jake's advice is spot on, but IMO you will get nowhere in the end - just
spend time and money on a pest you cannot win against as it has no
natural enemies in this country.

Either grow your lilies under glass where the pest cannot get at them,
or simply give up growing lilies (and many other members of the
Liliaceae such as Fritillarias), and grow something else.

Oooh, I wouldn't put it so harshly. I've been on the find and squish
regime for the last few years now and have found it sucessful. I
usually have around 5 or 6 big pots and don't find it too arduous.
Not for the squeamish of course, but compared to squelching a big fat
slug underfoot, not much bother.

This year I've had none so far, which either means I was so thorough
last year that I wiped them out and there are no more in the vicinity,
or the cold winter killed off the adults. I have also moved from an
area of dense housing to one with larger gardens, which may also limit
their spread from plant to plant.

I'm in Manchester, btw.

Andrew