sick lily

[Diane Whitehead]

What is wrong with this lily?

[petershaw]

Thrip damage or broad mites in the bud maybe?

[PaulSiskind]

I'm not an expert on lily diseases, but two of the common ones that might cause this are:
1) Botrytis Blight (fungus)
2) Lily Mosaic Virus

To my eye, it looks more like Botrytis than virus.  Here are some resources:
http://www.sasklilysociety.com/lily-blog/the-liliys-most-common-plant-disease
https://plantlilies.com/lily-culture/pests/lilies-botrytis.html
https://ask2.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=134972
https://marlslilies.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/botrytis-in-lilium-in-st-louis/

If it's Botrytis, it could be caused by unusually wet weather and/or other stresses to the plant.  There are various treatments for fungus diseases; see the articles above.  Fungus doesn't infect the bulb, so if that's what it is, you don't need to dig out and destroy the bulb (whereas if it's virus, you do need to do that).

From the photo, it looks like the growth tip is misshapen, which could be from physical damage to the growth tip as it was developing underground or when first sprouting.  (However, fungus can also cause a misshapen growth tip.)  Underground, a critter could nip the growth tip, or you might have nicked it with a shovel. Or if it's a new bulb planted (or moved) last Fall, the growth tip could have been damaged then.  It's also possible that the growth tip could get damaged by freezing temps when the bulb is starting to sprout.  (This happened to a lot of my lilies this year, which started to sprout after a week of 70s in February, followed by a return to freezing temps in March-April.)

[ksayce]

I agree on the damage in bud, as the stem leaves look good. 

[beauharlan]

Agree, looking at the bud, I think it looks more like a fungus than a bug. 2 months ago I also had 2 plants with similar symptoms.