I am assuming that these bugs are milkweed bugs? Anyway, I seem to have a breeding ground for them. They breed more than rabbits! LOL
When I first looked at the milkweed seed pod, I thought it was seeds ...... but then it started MOVING! Eeewwww.....
squish them and save your seed pod
Donna - I would, but that was just WAY TOO MANY BUGS for me to squish in one shot. Yuck! I have harvested a LOT of milkweed seeds (even after including packets of seeds in my Christmas cards this year). I had a major seed crop this year. Seems that every milkweed plant in my yard produced seed pods, so more seeds I really don't need. I am just going around now and maintaining damage control. I don't want milkweed growing all over my yard. Those seeds float everywhere!
If anyone needs seeds, let me know.
get a bowl of hot soapy water and shake them into it
I'm irked! My internet service went down just as I tried to send a large post. So this one will be brief. (I can see everyone sighing with relief because I am so long-winded at time! LOL)
Donna - I'm afraid that the seeds would fall into the soapy water at the same time. I'm not worried about it. I have plenty of seeds. I just wanted to show anyone interested what some of the pests we get look like, when we have chemical-free gardens. The Milkweed Beetle is horrible to try to keep at bay! They multiply worse than love-bugs! LOL
The big one does kind of look like a mw bug, is his topside orange and black? I've never seen that many young....wow!
I tried leaving them on the mw during the summer. My reasoning was the predator bugs would pick them over the cats. But, after some time, I couldn't stand it...there were so many so I dunked them!
This is one of the few things I actually wear gloves for. Mechanical bug control.
Maggie
The ones on the seed pod are nymphs (immature insects).
Yikes Becky... Good to know what those look like! I haven't seen them in my garden....yet. Now I will have a good photo reference.
fly_girl - I am quite sure that those bugs in the photo are the Milkweed Beetles. And the smaller ones on the seed pod are baby (nymph) Milkweed Beetles. There are probably (just a guess) about a thousand or so in my yard right now. My first year growing Scarlet MW, I didn't really see any MW Beetles, but after that first year, I now seem to get more and more each year. Probably because I currently have about 90-100 Scarlet MW plants in my yard. The more plants, the more insects, I guess.
I don't know what they are feeding off of because the MW is about gone from the Monarch cats. Though .... I keep seeing more baby cats scavaging around for food. (I am sitting here shaking my head.) I've just never imagined so many Monarch cats at one time. I finally released the last Monarch butterfly from all the chrysalises in the hatchery. BUT .....I just pulled down all the chrysalises hanging in the two cages and will be adding 37 more chrysalis to the hatchery. It seems never ending. But .... I don't think there will be many more. No more MW in my yard for the Monarchs to actually lay eggs on. (I hope they stay away from the bare stalks and branches.) I am getting ready to cut them all back to about 4" from the ground. I stick the stalks in large trash bags with the beetles on them and send them off with the garbage pick up. Unfortunately, all the MW that I cut back over the past 2 weeks are now starting to show new leaves, so do you suppose this cycle will continue? I really thought the Monarchs would migrate further south. Maybe my area IS "south" for them. I have no idea. But there are Monarch butterflies all over my yard every day. This is December almost January. I am beginning to think we are going to have a warm winter. That's good .... and bad at the same time.
Does anyone know if Swamp Milkweed and the Pink Milkweed are as prone to investations of the beetles? I've gotten seeds for those from some of you here on this forum and am trying to germinate them from seed.
I am going to be laying out and preparing the bog garden bed along the back fence within the next few days and I want to plant some swamp milkweed in with the other bog plants/seeds I have. I am surprised to be learning about all the bog/wet area plants that butterflies like. Perfect for the very back of my yard. There IS lots of "SWAMP LAND" in Florida. Even in my neighborhood. LOL
This message was edited Dec 26, 2006 7:12 PM
Last summer was the first year for my butterfly garden at my cottage. Since I was there only part time during the season, I only saw a few "cats" in my garden. I already had 4 types of milkweed and I ordered another 4 varieties. Every one of the varieties had more types of bugs than I thought possible for any plant. Millions. The only common thread is that they all had orange on them. So much for milkweed being such a toxin for the heart. Becky, by the way, from what I have read, those birds eating your "cats" should have felt very sick after their meal.
I'm also looking for insects control methods.
Nancy - The cats that the birds ate were Black Swallowtail caterpillars. Those cats eat dill plants. Which I don't believe is toxic to birds? I know Monarch cats are toxic to birds because they eat Milkweed (which is poisonous).
When you say your milkweed had orange bugs on them. I bet is was the dreaded milkweed beetles. I also get aphids on my milkweed. I hate both species of those bugs. Luckily they haven't killed any of my milkweed plants. But they are a bothersome! Can ya hear Winnie the Pooh saying "Oh bother"!
Becky, my milkweed has those too. Initially I tried soapy water, but was afraid that I would kill Monarch eggs so I stopped. I ignore those bugs and they don't seem to do any harm. Occasionally a ladybug will land and take care of some and it is possible that the dragonflies do too.
