Help - little black bugs

Hello, can someone help? I have tiny little black bugs on my hibiscus. At first, I thought aphids, but they move very quickly and I thought aphids were slow. They move like busy little ants, but resemble a flea. Last night I noticed they had congregated inside a bloom. They are active during the heat of the day and I'm not seeing any damage so far. Ideas?

Thanks,
Nancy

I had aphids on mine this summer which looked black, they tended to congregate on flowerbuds and it sounds exactly like what you're seeing, except I can't remember seeing them move much(although there were lots of ants too which did move around a lot). Some diligent hosing should get rid of them. I didn't catch mine until there were a ton of them--they never really seemed to do damage to the plant (besides making the flower look really ugly with all the little black bugs on it!), but I ended up with the blackish mildew stuff on the leaves because of their honeydew and that was really ugly. So I would hose them off or spray them with dilute dish soap if I were you.

Thanks ecrane,

I hosed off with plain water as you suggested, and used some insecticidal soap just a few minutes ago. I did see a green spider looking bug and he's no longer with us !


- Nancy