plants and bugs

[shelgirl]

I've been out of town for 10 days.  When I came back, my lilypads and hyacinth were covered in tiny black bugs, probably aphids.  The hyacinth are brown and black and all chewed up as are most of the lillypads.  Do aphids do this kind of destruction?  I also have tadpoles.  Would they be chewing up the lilypads?  What should I do???

[Aquaphy]

Hard to say what the tiny black bugs are. A picture would be helpful. Aphids don't don't chew, they pierce tiny holes and suck nutrients from plants, so you wouldn't see pieces missing (you still may have aphids + something else). Tree frog tadpoles will damage lilies, but there has to be a lot of them. A single tree frog tadpole can work on the edge of a lily pad all day and not cause visible damage. When you have a group of them all focused on the edge of a pad it will get a scalloped look to it and if they are really bad they can skeletonize the pad where they chew it from the outside in leaving mostly just the veins.   

Gabe

[frogman3]

 Here is a site that might help. http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/sitePlantProblem.php?type=pest&problemid=58

[SueSTx]

When I suspected aphids or mites on lily pads...I gently sprayed them off and let the  clean them up. 

Are the pads overgrown...overlapping?  If so pinch them back or remore some.

[LeeAnne151]

The little black bugs covering the pads are most likely aphids. They do suck and not chew holes or bites. Pick off the pads that are yellowing. I've never found spraying them with water to help. Sean has a recipe for a spray in the tutorial section. I've used Pam cooking spray but it does leave a film and it does kill water lettuce.

I have hundreds of treefrog tadpoles in my three waterlily ponds and have never had any pad damage from them. The pads are pristine.

[Aquaphy]

I have hundreds of treefrog tadpoles in my three waterlily ponds and have never had any pad damage from them. The pads are pristine.

I've had a lot of people express doubt that a little tree frog could do damage to lilies. Usually they aren't a problem for me either. Once and a while the tree frog tadpoles turn their attention to the lily pads and when they do... their destruction can rival the china mark moth. The one constant seems to be the absence of fish to keep the tadpole population in check and new water in the grow pool (as in filled at the beginning of the season). I believe a fresh filled grow pool lacks the quantity of more favorable food that the tadpoles would eat if it was available. I have quite a few water lily grow pools and thousands of water lilies. I imagine most ponders don't have problems with tree frog tadpoles because a) it requires specific conditions and b) those conditions are the result of an imbalance that most people would try to avoid. Next season I'll have to test my theory that a fresh filled grow pool + tadpole overpopulation = water lily destruction. If I can get it on video I'm sure most people will be surprised when they see dozens of tadpoles on every leaf fighting for space at the edge like piranhas on prey.

Shelgirl, after rereading your post I see that you are saying the hyacinths are all chewed up as well as the lily pads. If the damage that you are seeing looks like it is being done by the same thing on both the hyacinths and the lilies then I would say it is probably not the tadpoles because they can't damage plants above the water surface level. Without a picture though it is really hard to say what is doing the chewing. If you are talking about chew marks where there are actually large chunks of hyacinths missing then it may be raccoons. They love hyacinths and they can really tear your lilies up just messing about in the pool while eating your hyacinths and turning stuff over looking for other food.

Gabe