DL experts, please help! I have an infestation of white bugs on one particular cultivar of DL I have (Dominic). It's easily replaceable, if need be, but it's RIGHT NEXT TO a daylily that might literally be irreplaceable and which is priceless to me. If the bugs move to that plant and kill it, I will be devastated.

I believe the bugs are white flies, but I don't have enough experience with pests to know for sure.



Three or four days ago the plant was sappy/sticky, which was my first clue I likely has a pest problem. Yesterday there were white bugs all over it, so I mixed dish soap (see below) and water and sprayed the bus and stems (the only places I saw bugs) VERY WELL.




Today, I saw a few bugs (nowhere near what I saw yesterday, atleast) and a 1/4"-sized hole in one of my DL buds.

The 'hole':


... I assume it was originally a tiny bite on the baby bud that grew larger as the bud grew, but is that likely?

You can kind of see one or two of the pests in the picture, but I'll describe them briefly: they definitely have legs. They do not appear grub/larvae-like in any way. I cannot tell if they have wings, but they didn't seem to fly away when I was squirting liquid at them, so I'm assuming they can't fly. They are very white, almost a translucent white (not a creamy white like grub/larvae usually are). They are TINY.

Any help you could give on what to do would be appreciated.
*Do you think my soapy spray worked/should work?
*Are these bugs coming up from the leaves, maybe? (I didn't have enough spray left in my bottle to spray the leaves and I didn't visually see bugs on the leaves yesterday.)
* Is it possible what I'm seeing today are dead bugs stuck to the plant by the soap solution? (I can't tell if they are alive... They don't appear to move and the one I keep looking at has been in the same spot since I first saw it yesterday, but they don't necessarily look dead, either. )
*Is it likely they will infest my other daylilies?
*When did the infestation likely occur? (I purchased this cultivar along with probably six or seven other cultivars last year and none of the others seem to have this issue, but it's odd that this is the only DL in my garden showing signs of this problem, so I can't confirm that the infestation originated in my garden.)
* Is this a result of hot, dry conditions, and will extra watering help alleviate the problem? (Someone told me bugs tend to take over when things are hot and dry.)
*Are some cultivars more prone to infestation?
*Are the bugs attracted to the buds and blooms? The whole plant?... The sticky 'sap' started a couple of days before the first bloom, the bugs were visibly apparent the day of or day after the first bloom.

Thank you for any help you can give!

Based on the top picture, they are aphids and the white things are shed skins. Try looking deep down at the bases of the inside leaves. Yes they will spread, yes a soap spray would work on any it touched but not likely all of those deep in the foliage. They may get onto the flowers but are usually down in the foliage. They did not cause the hole in the bud.

Edit: forgot the sticky question, that's "honeydew" secreted by the aphids.

http://garden.org/howtos/index...

Wow, Thanks DND

Dang aphids are a torn in my side , they love my Adeniums

You're welcome! I think your posts (both yours and @sooby 's) will help me save that plant and possibly the one I'm most worried about that's sitting right next to it. (Fortunately, I did some leaf-turning and don't see any spots on the priceless cultivar next to Dominic, let's hope it stays that way! )

DND, I had the same problem earlier in the Spring. I get a heavy infestation pretty much every Spring. I always say I'm going to spray but never do. I just wait a few weeks until the ladybugs come. They came in droves this year! Aphids can really damage susceptible cultivars (cause all the buds to blast) but they can't kill the plants. Even with a heavy infestation 99% of my plants bloom fine after the ladybugs come. Now if you don't have ladybugs or other predators you have no choice but to spray. Not to say your spray is bad! But I hesitate to spray because I figure if I get rid of too many aphids my yard won't be as attractive to ladybugs.

Elena, good to know. We have some ladybugs here, but not many. Not yet, anyway. I took the house to the backs of the leaves of the plant and the two in that area near it. I really rinsed them down well and soaked the base of the leaves, too.

I'm really happy to hear that it doesn't kill the plant--that's a relief. Dominic seems to be doing okay, all of the blooms have been stunning except one. The sap has all but vanished in the last day or two and I don't see any more white shells, so that may be a good sign, too.