Hello and thanks for contacting us about your honeysuckle vine. This appears to be an infestation of aphids. They are sap-sucking insects that usually don’t cause much damage to plants, but can be a nuisance and certainly unsightly. All of the sap-sucking can also deform new leaves causing them to look curled or “wadded up”. They feed and reproduce quite heavily, so you will see all the life stages of the aphids (eggs, larva, adults and some flying adults) all together in the messy congregations. After eating the sweet sap from the plants, they also poop a sticky, sweet substance called honeydew that will be on the plant and attract other insects that feed on the sugary honeydew (like some wasps and flies).

The quickest, easiest management is to spray the aphid colonies with a stream of water, knocking them to the ground (because they are sedentary insects, they are unable to climb back up). This will also wash off the honeydew and perhaps keep other insects from feeding on that. There are other treatments available and you can read about those treatments (along with lots more info about aphids) in the following fact sheet. https://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/insect/05511.pdf

Thanks again, and don’t hesitate to contact us again with further questions.

Karin