WHERE HAVE ALL OUR LILIES GONE........

Sorry Dd put a like, force of habit, now that might explain whats happened to one of my pots this year, it should be full but is very sparse and what has come up is looking very sickly, luckily the others are ok, guess I`d better investigate tomorrow as well, thanks for the warning.....

Lincs We do not know whether it was the compost they were in, or just bad luck, hope you fare better than we did.....

that's so bad d.d 1st ur wisteria then ur lilies ugg ........... why do we need the little blighters

Are they more common this year Dotty, lots of comments on here about them? I've been lucky so far...

Its the first year we have had them DD been going out every day picking the bright red blighters off - often in pairs doing you know what. Seem to be doing the trick, there is only the odd few that seem eaten to death.

Trick is to put a cloth (or hand) underneath as otherwise they just drop off when you come close. I have been vigilant this year and fingers crossed the lillies seem a bit better. Previous couple of years it wasnt worth growing them.

i pik em of and drop em in to bowl of hot soapy water and drown the beggers ...................... lol

I have squashed 77 so far this year under my size 8's - cannot bear to do it between my fingers. I will not be beaten. I will not be beaten. lol.

What a shame about your lovely lilies. You must be very disappointed. Better luck with your next lot.

pik em of with tweezers or get oh to do it lol

Me too, Dd. It wasn't new compost that my lilies were in, so the Vine weevils must have arrived this year. I've lost about half of my lilies. Aren't the little grubs simply yukky! :-((

77 Oliveoil well done , you must have had an infestation.
We grew Fritillaria this year and every morning OH found a lily beetle or two, never saw them before.
Mariek thanks, we have been out and bought some drench for the pots.
Stroller this is not a lily beetle this is the Vine Weevil, it eats the roots of the plants, they are black beetles and they lay hundreds of eggs What is vine weevil?

Vine weevil is a beetle that attacks a wide range of plants, both indoors and outdoors, but especially plants grown in containers.

It is one of the most common and devastating garden pests. The adult weevils eat plant leaves during spring and summer, but it is the grubs that cause the most damage over autumn and winter when they feed on plant roots, causing wilting, and often plant death.

Plants growing in pots or other containers, outdoors or under cover, can be severely damaged by vine weevil grubs. Plants growing in the open ground are less susceptible, although the grubs can kill strawberries, primulas, polyanthus, Sedum, Heuchera and young yew plants.

The adult beetles feed on the foliage of many herbaceous plants and shrubs, especially Rhododendron, evergreen Euonymus, Hydrangea, Epimedium, Bergenia, Primula and strawberry.
This was taken from the RHS site.
Barbara sorry to hear you have suffered also from these disgusting little bugs.

Thanks for the info DD

Your very welcome.....

I read about them on the RHS site as well last year when I lost several Fuchsias in hanging baskets to this pest!

sorry about your lilies dotty, mine dont seem very big this year as yet, but iv found alot of my plants are smaller or acting strange, forced into flower to soon with early summer sunshine, like my delphiniums which have flowers before stems, very odd ;o(

Oh dear Balcony it is disappointing to lose plants to this bug........San it is a very strange season to say the least, did you have a good holiday?