When magnificent lilies lose their will to live under the burden of pests, the lily beetle is usually to blame. Read this guide to find out how to accurately identify beetles and larvae. Explore the best natural lily beetle control methods with tried-and-true guides.

Bright red and incredibly hungry - the lily cockerel

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. Lily beetle fact sheet way of life
  3. Fighting lily beetle naturally
  4. Predators versus lily beetle
  5. Prevent lily beetle
  6. frequently asked Questions

    7. the essentials in brief

    • Lily beetle is a lacquer red beetle with 6-9mm long slender body, 2 long antennae, 6 black legs and agile flight.
    • A lily beetle larva is orange-red, 4-8 mm long and encased in a brownish sac of faeces.
    • Biological control agents are: shower off, collect, soap-alcohol spray, tansy decoction, rock flour (€14.13) and algae lime.

    Identify lily beetle - profile and way of life

    If a bright red beetle crawls around on lilies, the alarm bells will ring among hobby gardeners. The lily chicken has arrived with an insatiable appetite for all kinds of lilies, crown imperials, checkered flowers, lilies of the valley and even chives. How to recognize lily beetles and larvae is illustrated in the following profile with facts about their appearance and way of life:

    lily chicken larva
    size 6-9mm 4-8mm
    color on top signal red orange-red to yellowish-brown (without excrement bag)
    color underneath black orange-red to yellowish-brown (without excrement bag)
    legs 6 black legs 6 stub legs in front
    Airworthy? Yes no
    activity start from April 6 days after oviposition
    number of generations 2 to 3
    botanical name Lilioceris lilii

    Have the compact facts aroused your interest in further information? Then please read on. The following sections take a closer look at the appearance and fatal lifestyle of lily beetles:

    Appearance beetle and larva

    The red wings are a trademark of the lily cockerel

    Hallmarks of lily beetle are sealing wax red, rounded elytra, epically long antennae, and a slender build. The glossy elytra have tiny dimples and border a bright scarlet pronotum. As a color contrast, the head, antennae, underside and legs are jet black. A closer look reveals that the long antennae are made up of eleven segments.

    The orange-red body of a lily beetle larva is hidden under a brown covering of feces. Only the head sticks out of the poo bag. In this way, the larvae are excellently protected against predators and the blazing sun, so that they can feed on leaves, shoots and buds without a break. Incidentally, the beetle larvae produce the faecal membrane themselves. For this purpose, the anus is shifted towards the back.

    way of life

    In early April, lily beetles crawl out of their winter quarters in the ground. Starved, the beetles devote themselves to extensive regeneration feeding for a few weeks in order to gather strength for the forthcoming mating season. As if the pests were aware of their signal color, they like to hide under the leaves or in dark leaf axils. When threatened, lily beetles will fall backwards to hide their bright red wings.

    reproduction

    Female lily beetles lay a total of 350 eggs two weeks after mating. The female beetles place the 1 mm small, orange-red eggs in packs with an average of 12 eggs on the underside of the leaves along the midribs. The larvae hatch within 6 days, wrap themselves in their faecal sac and start a feeding frenzy on the host plant. After two to three weeks, the fully fed larvae drop down together with their padded shell to pupate in the ground. The metamorphosis into the finished lily beetle is complete after two weeks and the vicious circle starts all over again. In this way, lily beetles produce up to three generations per year between April and September. The image below illustrates the cycle of spoilage on an imperial crown:

    damage picture

    Because lily beetles are good at hiding and will melt backwards into the ground when threatened, feeding damage is often the only clue to the presence of the pests in the flower bed. Pitting in the leaves and bulging buds that don't open but rot are the first signs. If you lift suspicious plant leaves, you will discover orange-red egg packets or larvae in their brownish droppings.

    digression

    Chicken with six legs

    The lily beetle owes its name to a chirping sound that is reminiscent of roosters crowing. The noise is generated by the striated chitin strips on the abdomen that the lily beetle rubs against the elytra by moving up and down. Experts interpret the unusual "musical instrument" as a defensive weapon against enemies and as a communication aid with conspecifics.

    Fighting lily beetle naturally

    Lily beetles should be dealt with promptly before they cause much damage

    In the near-natural garden, poison and chemical agents have no access to control lily beetles. Anyone who is familiar with their sophisticated, sophisticated way of life puts lily beetles and their brood through the wringer with home remedies. The following table lists biological control methods that destroy beetles, larvae and eggs:

    Manual methods Biological sprays organic powder
    shower off Soap-alcohol solution rock flour
    Shake off Tansy Sud algae lime

    The following instructions explain in detail how to use these home remedies against lily beetle correctly. How to destroy ravenous lily beetles, larvae and eggs without chemical mace:

    shower off

    A strong shower against lily beetles has proven to be a natural remedy from the start. Spray infested plants with the strongest possible jet of water, especially catching voracious larvae that fall to the ground with the sticky sack of excrement. With their short, stubby legs, the beasts cannot find their way back to the food plant and starve to death.

    After the shower, check the leaves on the underside again. If stubborn egg packets can be seen at this point, tear off the sheet or wipe the clutch with kitchen paper.

    Shake off

    Early risers among hobby gardeners have the best chance of killing numerous adult lily beetles that are capable of flying. In the early morning hours you can shake off the cold-resistant pests from the plant leaves. Before doing so, spread out a close-meshed net or an old curtain on the floor. Lily cockerels always fall on their backs. If the black underside points to the sky, the pests are difficult to spot with the naked eye.

    Soap-alcohol solution

    With a biological spray you can get hold of beetles and larvae in one go. You already have the ingredients for the following home remedy in the pantry. How to do it right:

    1. Heat 1 liter of water in a kettle
    2. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of pure curd soap in warm water (do not boil)
    3. Stir in 15-20 ml of spirit or ethanol
    4. Allow the solution to cool and pour into a spray bottle

    Spray plants infested with lily beetles on the underside and top of the leaves, including the shoots and leaf axils. Repeat the application at intervals of 3 to 4 days until no more pests are sighted.

    Important note: Recipes for biological sprays are circulating online with the fatal dosage information of 200 ml spirit, 1 tablespoon soap and 1 l water. Reliably destroy lily chickens AND lilies in one fell swoop with this high-proof concoction.

    Tansy Sud

    Tansy stock is a great home remedy for lily beetles

    In the organic garden, tansy stock is certified to be highly effective against lily beetles. The wild herb can be recognized by its yellow cup-shaped flowers from June to September and has the apt middle name vermin weed. Rainfarn proves its effectiveness against lily beetles as a brew. That is how it goes:

    1. Collect 30-40 grams of herb and flowers
    2. Pour 1 liter of water in a kettle
    3. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 to 30 minutes (please stir from time to time)
    4. Remove the mixture from the stove and let it steep for 24 hours

    Sieve off the plant remains and fill the tansy brew into a spray bottle. Mist infested lilies, crown imperials or chives repeatedly until no more beetles or larvae can be seen. As an extra tip, we recommend drying part of the tansy crop so that you are prepared for another attack next spring by cunning lily beetles that have overwintered in the garden soil.

    organic powder

    If a wafer-thin layer of algae lime or rock dust covers endangered plants, lily beetles turn away as soon as they approach. Existing lily beetle larvae lose their appetite when the fine-grained powder crunches between their teeth. Pollinate potential forage plants of the pests regularly above and below the leaves down to each dark leaf axil. This works perfectly with a powder syringe. To ensure that the organic powder sticks to the underside of the leaves, fill a nylon stocking with algae lime or rock flour and tap the plant tissue.

    The following video presents useful tips & tricks for natural control of lily beetles in the garden:

    youtube

    Predators versus lily beetle

    In the natural garden, the consistent avoidance of pesticides is rewarded with a colorful mix of hard-working beneficial insects. Green dry stone walls, flowering wild fruit hedges and hospitable nesting boxes invite numerous predators of the lily beetle. Where these natural enemies feel at home, insatiable lily beetles and larvae have a bad hand:

    • Hedgehog
    • parasitic wasps
    • predator beetle
    • be crazy
    • shrews
    • birds

    With this large number of busy beneficial insects in the garden, most pests have little chance of developing into a plague.

    tips

    If lilies have the right plant neighbors at their side, voracious lily beetles will give their favorite food plants a wide berth. Picturesque basil varieties or aromatic rosemary, whose intense scent effectively wards off lily beetles, are useful as floral bodyguards.

    Preventing Lily Beetle - Tips & Tricks

    Voracious lily beetles don't just fall from the sky, they crawl out of the ground. Effective methods of prevention are based on this behavior. How to prevent a lily beetle plague with natural means:

    digging up

    Digging in the spring is the end for overwintering lily beetles

    As soon as the garden soil has thawed in the spring, dig the soil two spades deep. On this occasion you not only prepare the soil perfectly for the coming planting season. At the same time, you destroy most of the lily beetles that overwinter in the ground.

    net

    Cover the soil with a close-meshed net. In this way, you stop the approach of lily beetles, which crawl out of the ground and look for food plants. Because the netted garden floor is not easy on the eyes, spread a thin layer of bark mulch or pine bark on the protective net. All lily species love it when they have a layer of mulch at their feet.

    Clearing away autumn clippings

    After pruning the perennials in autumn, please do not leave any clippings in the bed. The dead leaves are a welcome hiding place and winter quarters for lily beetles and numerous other pests.

    Scatter coffee grounds

    Lilies prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH of less than 6.5. From the end of March/beginning of April, regularly sprinkle a thin layer of dried coffee grounds on the root disc to keep the acidity of the soil in balance. For lily beetles leaving their winter quarters or pupa in the ground, a confrontation with coffee does not end well. Even the smallest amounts of caffeine are toxic to the pests.

    Curious lily beetle: Not everything that crows in the garden is a rooster.

    frequently asked Questions

    We discovered lily chickens in the house. What to do?

    Lilies or crown imperials are popular, long-lasting cut flowers for the home. It is not uncommon for a magnificent bouquet of flowers to have a number of bright red lily beetles in their luggage as stowaways. Immediately quarantine infested plants and flowers by isolating the pest victims from other houseplants. Collect or spray the red bugs. Then dust the upper and lower sides of the leaves with rock flour or algae lime. Alternatively, use the soap-alcohol solution or tansy decoction recommended in this guide as a biological spray.

    Are Lily Chickens Poisonous?

    No, lily beetles are not poisonous. However, the voracious larvae wrap themselves in a shell of excrement. This is not only disgusting, but also unhygienic. For this reason, we recommend spraying infested plants with the sharpest possible jet of water. Larvae that have fallen off can no longer find their way back to the host plants and die. You can collect isolated red beetles by hand without hesitation.

    I don't like to touch lily beetles when collecting them. What can I do?

    Take an old newspaper and twist it into a funnel (€5.00). Go to the infested plants in the early morning with an old container. Slide the funnel under a frozen red bug. The lily beetle slides into the collection container like on a slide.

    How to prevent lily beetle infestation?

    Lily beetles usually overwinter as beetles or pupae deep in the ground or under plant leaves. By digging up the bed two spades deep in early spring, you can catch the pests in their winter quarters. If you net the bed soil, beetles crawling out of the ground cannot reach their host plants. A thin layer of bark mulch or pine bark makes the unsightly protective net invisible. We also recommend disposing of plant residue after the autumn perennial pruning on the compost and not leaving it as mulch (€239.00).

    tips

    Gardeners who are close to nature welcome bright red beetles with dots to their green realm. These are beneficial ladybugs, whose larvae happily devour large quantities of aphids. Fatally, ladybugs sometimes fail to display spots and become innocent victims of confusion with lily beetles. However, lily beetles are significantly slimmer than spherical-round ladybirds.

Category:

Animals in the garden