Milkweed pest - what is it?

My milkweed (butterfly weed) has loads of small yellow bugs climbing on it. Can anyone tell me what they are and if I need to get rid of them? Thanks, Karen

Check the second post and advise if those are the critters you see on your milkweed http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/471984/

Yup! That's them, thanks so much! Karen

No Prob :)

Resemble these? gggrrrr!!! I had a massive war with them this year. I don't think either of us won tho. I managed to keep the tons of milkweed alive, after many hours of battle, but had very few Monarch eggs or cats!

Did they actually harm the plant, koncreteblond? We got rid of most of them with a garlic spray and water, but I don't like the way the plant looks after the spray. Someone told me the bugs don't do much harm and can be left alone. Karen

They will cause the leaves to yellow and fall off, but I haven't had any plants actually die from them. They will kill the buds tho. The problem with the aphids is that even if you just have a few, the multiply into thousands quickly. The sooner you kill them, the better.

They are naturally attracted to the milkweed tho, so it's hard to keep them off once they find it. Last year they found mine early in the season and my Monarchs don't come until they are on their way to Mexico, so I fought them for months to keep my milkweed alive.

One of the things I tried was taking a bowl of water and putting a few drops of liquid soap and sometimes a little orange oil in it. Then if they are at the top of the plant, like in my pic, I just bent the plant and dunked that whole piece in the water and swished it around. My bowl would be full of them. You can't use much soap or orange oil or it can burn the leaves a little.

I will try that tomorrow with the soap and water. Thanks and wish me luck. Karen

What worked for my roses, in ct was a hose. Just hose the plant every singe day until they are gone.

Apparently it knocks them off and they don't survive the fall.

I saw some green ones in the leaves on my other rose, so I squished them in the leaves.

Spraying them off with water never worked on my milkweed. The plant just attracts too many. I've heard that they don't survive, but I believe they do because I could spray each and every plant (and use a lot of water!) and the next day they'd be covered again. They're just horrid beasts!

So far they are gone. Will keep checking though. Thanks!!

Gone after using soap and water or something else? Yay either way! But do keep looking. Don't let them fool you. You'll forget about them and then the next time you look you think "WHERE did they come from?!" I still want someone to explain to me how they travel so fast in such large numbers and we don't see them marching across the yard!

Because they also come in a winged form which allows them to travel fast and far. 1 female can have 50+ offspring, those 50+ more offspring and so on, so they increase in numbers quickly. Also noteworthy is that they can lay eggs as well as being live bearers.

Have you ever seen an aphid fly by tho? lol ...maybe they travel at night. At the rate they multiply in my yard they must produce 50 offspring daily and it must only take them a few days to go from egg to mature!

I swear that this year I am tackling the first batch I see and keeping on top of them. Hopefully that might keep the numbers down. I tried releasing ladybugs but they didn't hang around long. Oddly tho, months later ladybugs started showing up but it was after they had already dwindled down some.

Which brings me to a new question. Is there a way to attract the ladybugs before the aphids get here?

I have wild milkweed (2 kinds) growing at our summer place and have never seen these bugs. Maybe only the hybridized ones are susceptible? Or maybe they don't survive this far north.

Andrew, they also exist up here and they do infect swamp milkweed. The likelyhood of getting them increases if you have oleander trees in the neighbourhood as those are primary hosts to these aphids.

PC, Oleanders "are primary hosts to these aphids" meaning the milkweed aphids?! We'd find the same aphids on oleanders??

Aphids are born PREGNANT!!!
Sidney

Yep besides milkweed aphids they are also commonly called oleander aphids.

We have plenty of Oleander's in my town, but not right around my street. I'm not sure if that's good or bad tho. More Oleanders, more aphids. That must be why they come in droves to my milkweed. Born pregnant? That just isn't right! I wonder what the purpose in life is, besides tormenting me. You know, like bees and ants can be annoying but they play major roles in the garden. ?

Aphids give 'milk' for the ants. That's their other purpose beside aggrivating you and me.
Sidney

Oh yes Sidney, I forgot all about that! I was so focused on my hate that my memory failed. LOL I've got just as big a problem with ants too. I don't know which came first, the ant or the aphid, and can't figure out how to get rid of either!!

My (although I'd rather not claim them) ants are out of hibernation (or wherever they've been hiding) and are attempting to get inside again. I've got both Fireants and Pharoah (I think) ants. Anyways, I've got to put out my dry molasses and use some orange oil around and see if that helps.

Trois had a solution and my friend Bunny puts out dry grits to get rid of ants.
Sidney