What are these on my flower?

[levas.1]

Can anybody tell me what these things are? Never had a problem like this. Interestingly, ants also like this plant and flowers. haven't noticed any of these on any other plant or flower.

[gnathaniel]

They look like aphids. Better zap 'em soon, they reproduce asexually and can explode in number very quickly.

--Nat

[Daethen]

Aphids are usually light colored or almost clear.

[Eyebabe]

I've seen brown aphids before.
That's my vote.

1600 X-Clude should kill them well.

[Lana]

Originally Posted by Daethen

Aphids are usually light colored or almost clear.

Not necessarily. I've had lots of aphids two years ago, before I got into orchids; they were green or black at different times. I didn't realize how dangerous they were, so I didn't get rid of them right away. Well, they destroyed or severely damaged a lot of my plants, and since then the moment I see one, I kill the thing, and check other plants. For me, spraying with water with a little bit of dish washing liquid does the trick every time.
And yes, these do look like aphids to me.

[silken]

I have seen black aphids. If ants like this flower, it is likely aphids as they milk the aphids for their honeydew secretions.

[littlefrog]

If they are aphids, you can probably do a fair amount of good with just a good smack of water from the hose. They don't hold on well. Next line of defense for me would be a little soapy water, maybe a little rubbing alcohol. No need to break out the big guns for aphids.

Now, when you have aphids you often have ants farming the aphids. That is something to get on top of. Ant bait, tanglefoot, something to keep the ants away from the plants will help you aphid problem greatly.

[RosieC]

Soapy water is good to get rid of aphids. I've done that before and it worked well, I washed the plant, the flowers, and even ran some through the pot. No problem for the plant but the aphids were gone.

The soap causes their cells to absorbe more water than they should or something and it kills them. Something like that, my Mum explained it once, but I just remember that for Aphids there is no point using other chemicals.

[Gin]

Aphids ! I have had them on my lettuce and rose buds soapy water got rid of them .

[Vanda lover]

Aphids can be many colours. I've even seen bright red ones. Soapy water is the best. I always hate them when they attack my water lilies and I have to keep shooting them with the hose, then the fish eat them.