| Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 19:25:27 -0400 From: [email protected] Subject: Gardener's Q and A [T20000621004YZ52937] To: [email protected] X-MMC-From: [email protected] X-MMC-To: <[email protected]> X-MMC-Subject: Gardener's Q and A Sender : [email protected] Tracking Number : T20000621004YZ52937 Pool : QA Sent to : <[email protected]> Date : 6/21/00 7:27 PM --- Question recieved from: Beckie Nason Laconia, New Hampshire 03246 County: Belknap Country: USA Email: [email protected] Mailing list (nothing means 'no'): Bugs in our lilies. Category: Bulbs We have some pretty disgusting slug-like bugs all over our lilies. They managed to devour an entire plant in about 2 days. Any idea what they are and the best non-chemical warfare? |
| You may have a type of borer attacking your lily. These moth larvae, hatched from eggs laid in old stalks and garden debris in late autumn, emerge in the spring as tiny caterpillars. They bore into new leaves and eat the soft interior tissue, gradually working theirway down into the roots. The borers not only damage the plants with their chewing but carry the bacteria that produce foul-smelling soft rot, one the serious diseases that affect lilies and irises. Clear beds of old leaves and stems, where borers lay their eggs in the fall. You may need to spray young plants with a pesticide in early spring, before the borers enter the leaves. |
