On Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:40:25 +0100, Jake
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:39:56 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

. Get those red devils and you can kiss goodby to
growing Madonna lilies and also all Fritillarias as I've found that no
matter how vigilant you are they just get destroyed. Asiatic lilies, even
Regals, seem to stand up to them better giving you time to kill the
beetles/larvae before the whole plant is consumed.

You are very unlucky. I've reduced my lily population this year (one
of those occasional re-design things) but still have about 100 of
various types growing. So far this year I've found 2 red devils. The
cat ate one; I split the other asunder. A daily check does the trick.
If numbers suddenly increase then I resort to Provado Ultimate Bug
Killer for a single spray. That restores the balance and I can carry
on with the fingernail job.

I have never experienced any plant destroyed by lily beetle.

Adding to my last post ... I have not yet even thought about using any
pesticide as I've only found 4 lily beetles up to yesterday. Today,
though, I have found six on different plants. The weird thing is that
they are all dead. I stress, not a single chemical anything has
touched the garden this year. The bodies all look perfectly formed and
undamaged.

I wonder if the unexpected hard frost last night (there was scrapeable
ice on the car's windscreen this morning) did for them.

--
Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where the
showers of April have arrived!