Many of our gardener's have been in this past week with woes of the dreaded Lily Leaf Beetles. These pests can defoliate a lily in a matter of hours. For those lily lovers out there they are a real pain in the ......garden!

Dealing with these pests is not as simple as spraying them with insecticidal soap, nothing seems to kill these guys except one of 2 methods.

1. Squish every single one of the, by hand (I know, I know...yuck! ) It is truly labour intensive but it works!
2. Neem Oil which is a natural product derived from the Neem Tree is another effective method of attack. Here at Gemmell's we have found that only the Neem Oil Concentrate is effective in controlling Lily Beetles. Mixed at a rate of 30 ml ( the instructions say 10ml) to 1 litre of water with 2 drops of dish soap as an emulsifier is the recommended rate. Be sure to coat the undersides of the leaves in order to kill all eggs and larvae and repeat every 3 weeks. Note: this method is most effective on the egg and larvae stages so be proactive and check your lilies weekly.

There is an excellent garden link from Phil Reilly at Reilly's CountryGardens that is very in depth and informative about the Lily Leaf Beetle if you are interested in reading more. We were first given this website by one of our customers here at Gemmell's (thank you!)

Here's the link www.rcgardens.ca/factsheets/factsheets/neem.html