Yes, those are aphids.......and with ants tending them or gathering up their honeydew. Easiest way to be rid of them is to flush them off with a strong stream of water. You can use insecticidal soap or neem oil as well but infestations rarely demand that sort of intervention. Beneficials typically take care of any that might remain after washing them off.

Thanks. My hose won't reach to where they're planted, and not sure if the stream from a spray bottle will be strong enough. I don't have any insecticidal soap or neem oil. What about dish detergent and water? Would that work?

i wouldlnt oil any blue hosta ...

and i never heard of aphids on hosta ... whats that all about ...

DETERGENT is not insecticidal soap ... do not use it ,,.. imo ..

and as gal said.. you can knock them off with the hose.. so why bother with anything else ... they cant fly back ..

and... they are on flower stalks.. who cares ... cut the flower stalks off ...

dont make this a bigger deal than it is ... you dont have to kill every bug on the face of the earth ... id probably ignore them ...

ken

"and i never heard of aphids on hosta ... whats that all about ..."

Aphids can appear on any type of plant. But unless this issue is much more severe than what the photos show, I doubt I would do much of anything. Except maybe smoosh them off by hand. Can't say you are a real gardener unless you've done this a few zillion times!! 😁

im a real gardener.. and i can affirmatively state i have never smoshed anything in my fingers ever ... and yes.. you can have my man card if you want ... but you are going to have to fight me for it .. lol ...

but i have been known to whip the pruning shears out of my back pocket and surgically bisect anything i dislike on a plant ...

sure gal.. anything possible ... and having had over 1600 different host in my collection back in the day.. for over 20 years .... and fondling every single one all season long.... i can affirmatively state i never saw a single aphid on any of them ...

makes me wonder whats above those afflicted here.. maybe they are falling from something above or some such ...

ken

Gardenchick, you need a longer hose……. lol …….. lol

debra

makes me wonder whats above those afflicted here.. maybe they are falling from something above or some such ...

There's Oak and Maple trees in the area, but no branches directly over both of them. These are the same 2 Undulatas from my https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6139558/what-colour-hosta-would-look-good-here#n=15 thread, so there's other hostas right beside them, who aren't being bothered by aphids. Maybe my Undulatas just really want me to move them somewhere else. LOL.

Gardenchick, you need a longer hose……. lol …….. lol

I already have a 100 ft one. What I really need is a faucet on the back of the house. LOL.

Where is ken's tutorial on an auxillary faucet at the back fence? I downloaded the photos way back when, but lost them in a crash.

bk

Ken, having gardened for more than 50 years both personally and professionally and with hundreds - maybe thousands - of different plant types, I have also rarely experienced any aphids in my gardens either. That doesn't mean the plants I've grown are immune or resistant to them :-) Only that the growing conditions did not encourage aphid infestations.

One can find many online references to aphids on hostas and how to control them so this is not particularly unique phenomenon.

Gardenchick, I have to use 3 100 ft hoses to reach my hostas and that is to hook up to sprinklers that reach further.

I checked for aphids today, still a few, but not too bad. I also moved them to a new location, so will be interesting to see if they get aphids again next year or not.

pandora: sounds like you have a nice large property.