Here's a picture of the little yellow bugs which are all over the stems, flowers, etc. of my milkweed. They don't move very fast and are easily squashed, but there are lots of little black dots interspersed with the yellow bugs, so I'm assuming the black dots are butterfly eggs.
should i leave the yellow bugs? will they kill the butterfly eggs? help!
The black dots could be eggs, but can't be sure without a picture. Monarch eggs are white but will get darker right before they hatch. The aphids won't bother the eggs or cats but they will eventually hurt the plant. Just leave them until you can tell if the other things are eggs. The cats will eat right around the aphids. Look at how many I had in this pic! blech!
that's exactly what most of my mllkweed looks like right now. blech is right!
should i pick the aphids off (eventually)? the last time this happened, I cut the milkweek right down to the bottom but then the aphids came right back when the plants grew up. i'm leery of putting anything deadly on the plants since they are right in the middle of the butterfly garden.
thanks
The milkweed plants attract these aphids, so there's not much chance of totally getting rid of them. Using chemicals will kill them but also kill the cats and beneficials. Do you have a magnifying glass that you could look at the little black things with? They could be different colored aphids, although I've never seen black ones on milkweed. I put on rubber gloves and squish them usually. There is a sense of satisfaction in it. LOL You can squirt them off with a water hose, but that usually breaks off leaves too. A few drops of soap in some water in a spray bottle might work too. I have only resorted to insecticidal soap when there was a threat that they would kill my plant before the butterflies ever made it to it, so I had to keep the plant alive. Once you've got cats and aphids together all you can do is try to squish them or spray them and the cats will eat around the others. Monarch cats have been known to eat smaller cats so they probably munch on the aphids as well. Now, get squishing!
I wouldn't worry about the red bugs too much. You will probably have caterpillars wipe out your plant in a week or so. It seems in my yard where I have milkweed planted several places, once the red bugs appear the caterpillars soon follow. They defoliate the plant in about three days red bugs and all.
Could the black things be ladybugs? I've noticed on mine that the ladybugs swarm to it and have a feeding frenzy. They seem to complete all stages of life on the milkweed.
Jen
I think the black is poop spots. The aphids are born pregnant. I just took a bowl of soapy (dawn) warm water out to milkweed and gently washed them off with my fingers. After they were gone to my satisfaction, I rinsed the whole plant. They did not return.
Sidney
