Beginner Gardening: What's all over my corn?, 1 by tucsonjill

tucsonjill wrote:
I'm growing a fall crop of corn for the first time this year--Guarijio Red, an old variety that's been grown in these parts for hundreds of years. Just went out this morning to see if it was tasseling yet, and found most of the upper leaves covered with bugs. The bigger darker ones look like aphids, but I don't know what the littler tan bits are. We've been getting rain lately, so everything is staying pretty damp.

Can anyone tell me what this stuff is, and what I should be doing about it? And, if the bigger ones are aphids, is there a way to wash them off without pushing them farther down the leaf into the stalk?

Thanks for the help!