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How to Get Rid of Red Lily Bugs

Red lily bugs--also called red lily beetles--are bright red beetles that eat the flowers and leaves of lilies and fritillaries. They winter underground and then emerge in the spring when your lilies and fritillaries begin to grow. Just a couple weeks after the adult red lily bugs arrive, they lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves. If you want your flowers to thrive, you must get rid of the red lily bugs as soon as possible.

Soak the soil with dimethoate, an insecticide available at your local nursery. Liberally apply dimethoate all around the soil of your garden where lilies and fritillaries are located. Apply it anytime, but if you had red lily bugs last year, consider applying it early in the spring just before they reappear.

  • Red lily bugs--also called red lily beetles--are bright red beetles that eat the flowers and leaves of lilies and fritillaries.
  • If you want your flowers to thrive, you must get rid of the red lily bugs as soon as possible.

Kill them manually. Use your hands and squeeze them when you see them, or use a pair of pliers. If you are too squeamish for this, then brush them off into a bucket of soapy water.

Use an insecticidal soap or permethrin to kill red lily bug eggs, larvae, and the red lily bugs themselves if your garden is too infected to kill them manually. Both are available in a spray that must be sprayed directly on the bugs, eggs and larvae.

Rid Of Red Beetle-like Bugs On My Lilies?

Red bugs on lilies (Lilium spp.) An uncontrolled lily beetle infestation can damage and kill lilies within a few days. The beetle attacks a variety of lilies, growing in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 11, and fritillary varieties (Fritillaria spp. ), which grow in USDA zones 3 through 9. Upon emerging, the beetles start looking for food and mates. After a few weeks, new red lily leaf beetles emerge from the florescent orange-colored pupae, and feed on lily stems, leaves and flowers until fall. If you only have a few lilies, you can control the red leaf beetle effectively by hand-picking. Imidacloprid, a component of various insecticides, is effective against the red lily leaf beetle. It comes in sprays, fertilizer spikes or as soil drenches. Other chemical insecticides, such as malathion, kill both beetles and larvae, but also destroy other insects, including beneficial ones.

  • Use your hands and squeeze them when you see them, or use a pair of pliers.
  • Use an insecticidal soap or permethrin to kill red lily bug eggs, larvae, and the red lily bugs themselves if your garden is too infected to kill them manually.

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