A closer photo of the lilies

Flowerlillies: I have seen this before. It appears to be scale. Get several Q-tips and a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol. Pour some of the alcohol into the cap of the bottle. Dip the Q-tip into the alcohol. Now, wherever you see those white, powdery patches on the leaves and stems of your plants, rub the Q-tip on them. Make sure all the white patches are dabbed well. If you've already done this and still need help, you will not like my next suggestion. You most likely have them on the roots of your plants which is why you are seeing deformity. They are literally, slowly, eating the plants alive. What I have done in the past is re-plant any and all plants in the affected plants vicinity. I took no chances. I know this is a pain and labor intensive but being on a balcony actually makes this easier to do.

If you have a lot of container plants, work them in batches. Unplant 3 or 4 of them. Make sure to do it over a box or trash bag to catch any of the possibly infected soil. get another plastic bag and gently wrap the roots of the plant and carry it over to the sink or bathtub. Submerge the entire plant in luke warm water with a mild dish detergent. Use just a capful of detergent. Dunk the entire plant, count to ten then do it again. Do this with the rest of your plants, again, working in batches of 3 or 4 if you have many.

Before you re-plant make sure you use fresh, new soil. Discard any old soil you've had. There is obviously something in there that is attractive to this pest. Also, what I do is take the soil in batches inside a large plastic container and Nuke it in the microwave for at least 1 minute. This will kill nearly anything such as larvae living in the soil. When the soil has come back to a normal temperature, I mix in my fertilizer, perlite and any other additive. But, more importantly, I spray the soil with Neem Oil. Spray liberally and mix it into the new soil. Make sure to wash your containers in hot soapy water. Now you can re-plant. I would spray the plants with Neem oil at least every 7-10 days. Once this infestation is over with, I would still as a preventive measure spray them once a month and lightly spray the top part of the soil as well.

Hope this helps, best of luck- NJC

Flowerlillies! On your 5th picture (the close up of the stem) not only can I see "scale," I see a mealy bug in the middle of the stem! A light grey/whitish color very difficult to spot at first. Scale and Mealy bugs are known for developing a tolerance to pesticides but, what I suggested will work. It has for me. All the best! Don't give up!

Thanks Neil! I'll give it try! I'm about to throw in the towel...so to speak! I have never had problems w/my container gardening until I moved to this apt. I've had to toss many of my beautiful potted lilies that aphids completely destroyed the last 2 yrs. I'm starting to wonder if the green outdoor carpeting (which is on all of the balconies here) is part of the problem of not being able to completely rid my plants of "bad" bugs??

I also saw mold spores of some kind on one of the leaves.