The Great Lily Extinction

Would you like to know the bane of my existence?  Japanese Red Lily Beetles.  I hate them.

These horrible bugs start attacking my lilies in the early spring when the lily shoots sprout from the ground.  The adult beetles over-winter in the soil at the base of the lily plants and then emerge in the spring.  Japanese Red Lily Beetles have lots and lots of sex with each other.

The female beetles then lay little red eggs on the underside of the lily leaves in the signature pattern below.

These eggs hatch into larvae that then feast on the young lily's leaves and defecate disgusting piles of poop all over the poor plant.

The larvae then turn into the adult lily beetle (that also eats the lily leaves and petals) and the whole cycle begins again.  These bugs seem to breed like nobody's business and they absolutely destroy the lily plants on which they live.  They eat every last leaf to the point that the plant sometimes can't even bloom because it can't photosynthesize properly without any leaves.  Below is what is left of my (hypothetically) beautiful lilies.

Seriously...just a stem.  No leaves, no blossoms.

As far as I know there is no pesticide that kills these horrible bugs; garden stores sell traps for them but seasoned gardeners swear the only way to get rid of lily beetles is to pick the adults off by hand and then scrape and squish all the eggs before they hatch.  This is a ridiculous amount of face time for a few lily plants but I hate to let things die when intervention is possible, so for four long years I have picked these beetles off my lilies.  Well, I've had it.  No more.  I admit defeat.  My lilies have to go.

I have dug up all my lilies and thrown the sad looking plants and all the bulbs into the compost.  I will no longer be a slave to the Japanese Red Lily Beetle.  Life will have to continue on Gael Glen Farm without lilies.