Lily beetle attacking potato crops, says Apohaqui gardener
Fellow gardeners say it's unusual for the Red Lily Beetle to be eating crops
Petra Cripps's lilies are barely recognizable.
Amidst a lively garden, her lilies are lifeless brown stalks, dotted with Red Lily Beetles.
"This whole plant should be a lush green," said the Apohaqui gardener.
"This is decimated. This is not good."
Red Lily Beetles are known for their voracious appetites, and Cripps said it took only two weeks for them to eat her lilies almost entirely. While it's only her first time dealing with the beetles in her garden, she has just about given up on growing the flower altogether.
"I know I don't sound very optimistic, but if you're overwhelmed by them, you're just going to have to go to another plant that doesn't have such a bug problem," she said.
"You have to be vigilant. You have to keep an eye on your plant everyday. If you want to do it the natural way without toxins, you have to go out and squish them."
Despite eliminating lily bulbs from her garden, Cripps said these hungry beetles have now turned to eating the leaves of her potato plants.
"I'm worried about next year because apparently these things lay a lot of eggs," she said.
Gardening guru Betty Kennett says the beetles arrived in parts of New Brunswick about seven years ago after being imported from Europe and travelling from Quebec and Maine.
Kennett said she has not heard of lily beetles eating potato plants, but she said their appetite could evolve, especially if they're hungry.
"Their tastes change, unfortunately," said Kennett. "The amount of things they eat is alarming, so I'm hoping the lily beetles don't do more than they already do in the way of damage."
Searching for a solution
As for a simple, cheap solution, Kennett recommended spraying the beetles with one teaspoon of dish soap for every litre of water, with higher quantities of dish soap for more "rampant" lots.
However, Bob Osbourne, owner of Corn Hill Nursery, said soaps may not be as effective as pyrethrum, a natural insecticide extract from Chrysanthemum.
"What you're trying to do is mask the odour of the lily itself, which is attractive to the beetle," said Osbourne who found Red Lily Beetles in his flower nursery for the first time this year.
Cripps is still experimenting with home remedies, including an online recommendation of using essential oils. But in an attempt to stay away from toxic chemicals, she has simply been keeping a watchful eye, squashing any Red Lily Beetles she finds.