h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Lily Beetle. - A11889534
Author: Venus. Born free - now i'm expensive! - U218978

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I'd like to submit this please.

I'll give it the once-over in half an hour, Lady.

There are a small number of semi-colons and commas that I wouldn't use, but may be proper form. I'll leave that to the pro's. How-ever, a few typo's ...

"they carry their excrement on thier" ... 'their'

"They overwinter in the ground" ... is overwinter a term? New to me.

"What do i do if i find them on my lilies" ... capitalize the "I's" ?

"If you cannot bring yourelf to touch the beetles" ... 'yourself'

"four species of parasitic insects whic attack the eggs" ... 'which'

In all, a good and concise read.

Yes! Yes! I've got them. Horrible little b*****s. Wasn't prepared to pick them off, but hosed down the lilies every couple of days to get rid of the larvae. Not sure whether it worked; lillies have expired now anyway. Is there nothing else I can do then?

Very good entry by the way .

The typo's have been corrected.

Hello Dave.
There is a chemical available if you're not organic. It is systemic though and will harm bees and other insects. Its Provado and you can get it in any garden centre

Hmm. Might consider that if they come back next year - I don't normally use pesticides but it's only on one plant...

I'm glad to see this in PR finally

Nice, and contains all I'd want to know, but I'm sure the gardeners will arrive and comment soon

Hi B'el, it took me a while to get round to finishing it Hopefully its ok.

Well, I'm not a gradener, so am unlikely to ask the right questions, but here is one:

imported from Europe. The same is thought to have happened in the UK, where the beetle is now thriving

Excuse me when I'm wrong, but I always thought that the UK is part of Europe ? Do you mean it has been imported from the continent/ mainland ? Or from the USA ?

overwinter is perfectly fine with me, btw.
recomended - recommended
untill - until

When they have good results with natural enemies of the larvae in Switzerland and the USA, why then don't they have them in the UK - dio you have an idea ?

Alot of pests and stuff that are in Europe, do not always get here because we are an Island, so it make sense that they travelled from Europe. If I put 'continent' that could mean any country outside or inside of Europe. Does that make sense?

I havent been able to find out why the parasite has'nt been released in this country, it may be that regulations forbid it. The parasitic insects may prey on other insects to, so that could be the reason.

I'll get on to those other typos

That's why I suggested mainland as an alternative. You're not the only one to refer to mainland Europe as Europe, and the UK as the UK, but it always looks oddd to me

I agree B'El, mainland Europe should suffice!

I'm glad I don't grow Lilies. There are some bugs even I can't stand!

Good entry BTW

I just read through it again, my reference to Europe applies to how the beetle arrived in the US and Canada, which sounds right. Then i added the bit about the UK referring to how they travelled here.
Does it make sense now?

Honestly, I still think mainland Europe would be better.

So would I, but I won't insist

I don't think the Americans would see it that way, as they always refer to us as 'Europe'
How about if i put Holland?

I've altered it

Hope that it's correct and you'll not have to re-amend it

Are you saying they were *only* in Holland and then to Canada and US from there and then back again to cover Europe? If you see what I mean

The bulbs most likely came from Holland. The beetles are native of 'mainland europe' and covers most of it. The beetle were then accidently transported to Canada and the US