I've never seen it before. Not only is it on the buds but there is some on the stems and a bit on some leaves, but it's concentrated on the buds and seems to be doing damage to only some of them.




Zoom in...


Yesterday's seemingly healthy FFO for the season....


Today's blooms...


The underside...




It is on every daylily in this border bed along the driveway.


When walking between this bed and the car, I have to gently move the taller scapes away from me to get by without doing damage. So I'm concerned about getting this stuff on me and spreading it to other daylilies and beds.🤷

So any idea what this is, and what to do about it?

A bunch of us were just chatting about these bugs over on the Porch Swing thread, I think. Seems they are exploding everywhere.

I have bugs terrible this year, and we had a colder and drier than usual winter. It is frustrating. I think that looks like aphids ? but I don't know for sure.

I am thinking aphids also, but I have green aphids then then white skins, those look like white living aphids?

You have an aphid infestation . You can see them clearly in photo 1 between the buds, like pale green rice with legs.

The white bits are discarded exoskeletons (skins, sort of) which they shed as they grow. The shedded skins are stuck to the honeydew, the sweet sticky substance that aphids secrete that coats plants and attracts ants as well as sooty mold.

There are some aphids that look white. Whiteflies also look similar when they are in the earlier instar stages. Eventually, though, you would see wings. All aphids have sort of a "tailpipe" sticking out behind them, and I think I'm seeing that in the photos. I can't make the picture big enough to say for sure.

Insecticidal soap is a suggested remedy....

https://daylilies.org/daylily-....

I have these every year but they are particularly bad this year. And my seedling bed is extremely heavy on the nitrogen. Filled with a lot of dead leaves etc. And Milorganite.

Shed aphid skins (exoskeletons). At least you can get at the live ones better on the buds than way down deep in the leaf bases where they commonly hang out. Maybe it depends on the aphid species, it's not always the specific daylily aphid. They reproduce very fast, often don't even waste time laying and hatching eggs, they just give birth to live baby aphids. As SummerBee indicated, they especially love plants with lots of nitrogen!

sooby said: . . . They reproduce very fast, often don't even waste time laying and hatching eggs, they just give birth to live baby aphids. . . .

Even worse, they lay live females that are already pregnant!

Oh boy Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your help. I'll get on it.

Sounds like they're the bunny rabbits of the bug community

This is the very first year I have tried Milorganite.
Now I see a connection .
Although I read a few months back that spider mites also love high nitrogen, too. I battled those indoors. But no annoying "webs" outdoors so it must be the aphids.

Doubly annoying as I actually have a lower than normal ant population this year (I usually sprinkle ant killer early spring), and ants are the ones farming aphids. Maybe they decided to be free-range.

I have been doing Milorganite on the lawn and blood meal in the beds. Had the soil tested, and it came back with super high P and very high K. The recommendation was to add a fair bit of nitrogen to compensate. Didn't know about the nitrogen connection to aphids, either. At least I'm not seeing them everywhere...the wasps must be dining lavishly, as I haven't sprayed anything except the lisianthus and the asparagus. Aphids caused witches broom on the asparagus last year, and the lisianthus was forming a lot of rosettes. I rather suspected mites were the cause, rather than the cultural conditions. The lisianthus got overwintered in the grow room from last year, rather than starting from seed this year. Not seeing any problems now, so something is working.

I do use Milorganite

Lisianthus is coming out of its funk...FFO for the season:)


Milorganite isn't very high in nitrogen, so I sure wouldn't stop using it on account of aphids. Landscaper friends are all about the Milo. They want you to put it down on the lawn every major holiday during the growing season.

Milorganite 6-4-0, I have lots of bulbs throughout my lawn, I try to keep the N low.

RJ, I HAVE to add nitrogen because my P and K are way too high here. Even where my bulbs are, as the flowers need it to process the phosphorus. (I probably should just use the bloodmeal everywhere, but that would get expensive!) Had to send my dirt up your way to find that out. Iowa State University no longer tests soil for people, so the one and only use I had for that place no longer exists.

hawkeye_daddy said: Lisianthus is coming out of its funk...FFO for the season:)


Milorganite isn't very high in nitrogen, so I sure wouldn't stop using it on account of aphids. Landscaper friends are all about the Milo. They want you to put it down on the lawn every major holiday during the growing season.

Shows you how much I know. I did not inherit Dad's chemist super power. I bow to you guys who do.

Dad was not a landscaper. He was a Chem Engineer for Goodyear, but he had the kind of lawn that felt so good to walk on in bare feet. We all got copies of his lawn care regimen when we discovered written instructions after he passed, but I lost mine.

I'll be mixing and using the insecticidal soap momentarily. A slight chance of rain and thunderstorms are predicted between 3 and 5 so reapplication is expected. Also rain in the forecast through Wednesday. I think I'll be getting to know the spray bottle a bit too much this season.

For perspective, compare Milorganite at 6% nitrogen to other nitrogen sources, say something like urea at 46% N, or ammonium nitrate at around 34% N. Of course it's not just the analysis but also the amount you apply.

I think lawn people who like Milorganite do so because of the large amount of iron in it, something like 2.5% which is huge for a micronutrient. It makes the grass a darker green.

Thanks Sue