The last few weeks I've had a lot of small, blackish bugs (about the
size of gnats) on my the water lily pads. I have been rinsing the
leaves off in pond water and they come off, but they come back in a
few hours. My first guess would be aphids but they are a lot smaller
than the aphids I would get on other plants such as roses. I had to
get a magnifying glass to see these guys well. Any ideas as to what
these little bugs are and what to do about them? They seemed to
appear or become more prevalent when the weather turned cool and
cloudy, although that could just be coincidence.

Thanks,
Laura

Zone 9 or 10 - So. Calif

On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 04:30:31 GMT, (Laura )
wrote:

The last few weeks I've had a lot of small, blackish bugs (about the
size of gnats) on my the water lily pads. I have been rinsing the
leaves off in pond water and they come off, but they come back in a
few hours. My first guess would be aphids but they are a lot smaller
than the aphids I would get on other plants such as roses. I had to
get a magnifying glass to see these guys well. Any ideas as to what
these little bugs are and what to do about them? They seemed to
appear or become more prevalent when the weather turned cool and
cloudy, although that could just be coincidence.

Thanks,
Laura

Zone 9 or 10 - So. Calif


On mine, they are aphids. Washing them into the water is probably the
safest thing to do.

zone 8 or 9 or 10 or 11, So. Cal is mixed up.

Sunset 21.


_

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

The last few weeks I've had a lot of small, blackish bugs (about the
size of gnats) on my the water lily pads. I have been rinsing the
leaves off in pond water and they come off, but they come back in a
few hours. My first guess would be aphids but they are a lot smaller
than the aphids I would get on other plants such as roses. I had to
get a magnifying glass to see these guys well. Any ideas as to what
these little bugs are and what to do about them? They seemed to
appear or become more prevalent when the weather turned cool and
cloudy, although that could just be coincidence. Laura Zone 9 or 10 - So. Calif

Yes, they are aphids. As you've found, rinsing them off doesn't help for
long and can spread them to your other pond plants. Ideally, squish them,
and remove any damaged or old pads as weaken plant parts attract them.

We think that the aphids (or other plant bugs) cause the decline, when
actually the plant and/or plant part was already in decline and attracted
the bugs causing a decline we can finally see.

There are various forms of aphids, various sizes and colors, they don't all
like the same plants. One poster claimed that it was the prune & cherry
aphid that migrated to lilies, I don't know. I do know that if you squish
them it does eventually eradicate them. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

Jan wrote or aphids I do know that if you squish
them it does eventually eradicate them.

And it can be a great stress reliever ;-)


k30a

On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 04:47:00 GMT, Charles
wrote:


On mine, they are aphids. Washing them into the water is probably the
safest thing to do.

zone 8 or 9 or 10 or 11, So. Cal is mixed up.

Sunset 21.


_

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

Thanks, Charles and Jan. I'll try a combination of washing off and
then squishing them. Might be hard to squish because they are so
small. I might have to get into the pond to get to reach all the
leaves. Brrr!

Jan, I agree it does seem like the aphids are attracted to the old
dying leaves, I don't see many at all on new leaves.

Laura

"Laura" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Jun 2003 04:47:00 GMT, Charles
wrote:


On mine, they are aphids. Washing them into the water is probably the
safest thing to do.
snip

I remember reading somewhere that the herbal mind plants planted near other
plants will help control aphids. I can't substantiate that though.

BV.

Directions on how to squish aphids on lily pads:

Slip your hand under the pad with stem between 1st & 2nd finger. Using
other hand make it parallel to the pad using all four fingers flat to do
the squishing. Pay particular attention to the end of the slit where the
stem meets the pad, and all outer edges. Do not assume pads without obvious
aphids are free, treat those too, and you will get the eggs off.

One lady here claimed she noticed that flying aphids seemed to be turned
off by aphid slime (or squish aphid guts).

As far as cold water, at some outdoor sporting/misc stores you can get
waders as cheap as $10, you will also need aquasocks or wading shoes. ~ jan


On Wed, 11 Jun 2003 23:21:13 -0700, Laura wrote:

Thanks, Charles and Jan. I'll try a combination of washing off and
then squishing them. Might be hard to squish because they are so
small. I might have to get into the pond to get to reach all the
leaves. Brrr!

Jan, I agree it does seem like the aphids are attracted to the old
dying leaves, I don't see many at all on new leaves.

Laura


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website