So far, I have no female flowers. I tied some of the plant up off the ground, back to the trellis this morning.While I did that, I inspected a lot of the flowers again. I understand Pyrethrin alright, what I meant from not being a poison, is that it can be washed off and does not soak into the fruit. I am not afraid to get any on my hands, and I wash them soon after. Most anything I can put on my plants should not be consumed by humans, but neem oil might be an exception. Some people do ingest Neem oil for various ailments. Consuming Pyrethrin will cause all sorts of things to go wrong, though there is one that surprised me. I hope to see female flowers soon, the males are all getting anxiousness. :)

Yes, it will damage the lilies because they need to keep their leaves/stalks until they die back naturally to feed the bulb for next year. Here is what I did the other day for aphids, got the recipe on the antique roses forum. Also you can jet them off with the hose, that might ruin the blooms (you didn't say which part of the plant they were on). Mix one teaspoon of liquid dishsoap with one quart of water in a regular spray bottle and give it to them good. They should turn black and die in a week (don't know about flying ones). I didn't know about that when they were bothering a few roses in late spring so blasted them off with the jet on the hose and hand picked the rest. But I sprayed my phlox just about 5 days ago where they've appeared (must be low on ladybugs around here because they're supposed to take care of aphids when they come in early summer) with the solution, and they have disappeared. Didn't have to repeat but you can daily. I'm surprised Sevin didn't zap them. Did you use 2 fluid ounces per gallon? Also Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer says on the label it's for aphids. HD was out of it so I ordered a bunch online because it works on Japanese Beetles. But here is the caveat. It kills bees. Now I haven't seen any bees in my lily blooms, just flies and occasional Jap beetle. The product contains imidacloprid and has a residual effect that lasts up to possibly 30 days. That will disorient and incapacitate bees days later. So be careful if you decide to try that, comes in a 24 oz ready mixed bottle, don't forget to shake. I forgot to shake my Sevin concentrate. I'd try the soapy water first, then if they are still creeping you out, try the Bayer. You could cut off the blooms but don't cut them down except as a last resort. My Bayer is insurance if the JB's swarm here shortly, and I only intend to spray plants that aren't blooming (cut the buds and blooms all off my roses until the beetles are done).

...wondering if I use a pesticide if it will kill the good guys too? Likely. The good guys have to have something to eat to show up. The only way they can get to work is to be left alone. Your yard, your call. The fire truck doesn't park outside your house waiting for it to catch fire, u know? When it does, they rush in. Unfortunately beneficial bugs aren't as efficient as firefighters, but kinda works the same. Sometimes the balance isn't achieved in a single year. ...black balls that look like poop... See any caterpillars? If so, search "currant host plant" to see what munches on it, see if pics match. Sometimes one discovers the caterpillars of pretty butterflies are the munchers of a plant, sometimes it's something much less desirable. Can't see pictured bug clearly enough to guess.

I think plain old insect soap will fix the aphid problem. And don't spend a lot of money-I just make my own with Dr Bronners castile soap and water. The ants are a big part of the problem - they carry aphids to plants and then eat their secretions. NEEM is working very well with me for all kinds of things (very little insect damage but it did NOT stop the pickleworms) but I got my best results when I ditched the stuff from home depot and ordered NEEM pro. The Home depot (Bayer) stuff has a pleasant odor and mixes right up with water. The NEEM pro is cold pressed pure NEEM oil and the odor is NOT pleasant. I avoid the flooding the blooms with NEEM; there is some bee toxicity though not as bad as with other things. I just don't want it down inside the flowers where they gather nectar. This post was edited by jocoyn on Thu, Jul 17, 14 at 7:52