No answer found on Milkweed bug...

My garden is infested with the small milkweed bug, nymph, adults everywhere.
(My pic from last year): http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/628/

I never had these until I bought some seeds in the spring of 2006 from a reputable company.

They are driving me nuts. >:(

I asked awhile ago if they do any harm to plants. No one really answered.
It seems that the plants that they are on start very healthy in the spring, and then as they appear later in the summer, the plants look weak and the flowers look like... well, look like hell.

One flower for sure is the white cone flower (swam) the other I will have to go back and look to see what it is. I bought both seed packets from the same company. (it is the flower in the pic above). but even when I cut them down, they look for ANY other flower, black eyed susans, marigolds, etc.

I make a daily evening walk with my dawn water and spray them, on the flower and on the ground below the plant (nymph's everywhere on ground). They seem to suck on the seed of the flower, so, late summer to fall is when I am majorly infested with these things.

Does anyone know a way to get rid of these bugs for good??

Thanks for you help!

Are you positive it's the milkweed bugs that are eating your plants and not something else? I honestly don't know too much about them, but I looked for some info on them just now, and I couldn't find any sites that talked about them doing damage to any plants besides milkweeds.

Jen, I know it's frustrating, I get them too. Since they fly in, there's really no way to permanently get rid of them except to get rid of the milkweed. They love the seed pods, if you cut off the pods the mw bugs do not come around. They will occasionally, looking for pods, but don't seem to stay. I don't seem to have a problem with them on the flower, just the seed pods.

I don't see them on any other plant than the mw.

Sorry, I don't have a better solution.

Ecrane3: I looked myself and could not find anything about them doing damage.
I am sure it is the Milkweed bug.

My best Photo I took of them for ID:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/628/


Fly Girl: Funniest thing, I keep reading about this bug and I have NO milk weed anywhere.

I will go out tomorrow and take more pics. You wont believe the nymphes on the ground when I spray (just with dawn dishsoap and water)

Of the flowers that I do find them on I behead the flowers that are going to seed. But then they go to the fresh new flower.

They are just very frustrating to me. Thanks for your input, both of you, I'll try to get more pic's tomorrow since our summer in Cincinnati is being extended ( still in the 80's and possible 90's this week)

It could be the dawn that is burning the leaves. The bug is always on the flower, only hides from me behind leaves.

Thanks again!

I wasn't questioning the ID on the bug, I agree it looks like a milkweed bug (unless maybe there's another bug that looks very similar). I was just questioning whether they are the things doing the damage, or if they are just in the area and got blamed by mistake when it's actually something else that's damaging the plants. I just think if they typically damaged plants other than milkweeds there would be more information out there about it, but everything I found said they don't damage anything except the milkweeds.

Some pics of the plants might help though, maybe if someone sees the damage they might have an idea of what is causing it.

I found an article that said they have fed on Daylilies. So, maybe if they can't find any mw they feast on other flowers. I couldn't find very much either, ecrane, on the other plants they feed on.

I think if you continue spraying the nymphs and adults you'll make a dent in their population.
I know it's difficult to get all the adults because they fly off.

I hate to recommend a systemic because of the other insects that feed on the nectar.

Are you sure the detergent solution is killing them not just stunning them?

This was the only pic I could find of the eggs, but they are laid in clusters and are yellow. Check for those on the leaves, probably on the underside.

http://milkweedbugs.tripod.com/

This message was edited Oct 3, 2007 11:19 PM

I think fly_girl's got a good point on the dish soap, it's typically effective on soft bodied insects like aphids, but on a bug like this it probably just rolls right off them. I hate to suggest the use of stronger chemicals, but I doubt the dish soap is killing very many of them. Maybe not a systemic, but a stronger pesticide will probably do better at getting rid of them. It'll kill some good bugs too, but the effects won't linger like the systemics do. I'm not sure if you'll find milkweed bugs specifically listed on the label of any pesticides, but if you see other sorts of true bugs on the label it'll probably work on the milkweed bugs too.

when I have a pest I cannot seem to make a dent in, I go to Diatomaceous earth. I have a hand crank blower to disperse the stuff just where I want it. Just make SURE you use food grade diatomaceous earth, not the pool filter stuff.

Well, I did a test on the dawn. It kills them. No IF , Buts, or Ands about it.

Collected the ones that I sprayed and put them into a spot that I marked where they were (RIP), 24 hours later RIP in the same spot.

Dead.

Excellent site fly_girl. I see alot of the photos on that link in my garden.

I am trying to get rid of most of the plants that have gone to seed to help stop them feed so much.

The photo with the eggs are VERY interesting. I'll look for those, I guess next spring. funny i have not seen anything in my garden this year with the "cotton ball" look to it. But Appearantly I MISSED them.

Must need to wear my glasses out to the garden!

Pic of ONE of the younger guys.

Another of a younger guy.

this guy and many more on a few different varieties of Black Eyed Susan's that have gone to seed.

(I wish I had my camera out there when hundreds of the little punks ran on the leaves and ground when I sprayed). ... Always next year.

For whatever it's worth, your Milkweed Bug in Bug Files is probably Lygaeus turcicus, not Lygaeus kalmii - the taxonomy is kind of up in the air right now, but take a look at this, under identification:


http://bugguide.net/node/view/102855

One more thing, about the dawn soap. I tested that months ago with this bug and other bugs.

I put markers down to test it on June Bugs (VERY Destructive insect). RIP they laid. Works great on almost all bugs, soft or hard shell. As far as most of my test.

Except for maybe fruit flies... Nothing works to kill those pest !

I am still trying to find where I bought the seeds that I think the eggs of the Milkweed bug may have came from. I will have to dig into my basement for the actual package. But, to my knowledge it is the flower Goldfinger, bought from Seed Savers. The first year that I had started that seed, is the first place that I seen the Milkweed bug, and first and mainly on that plant.

But I will make sure I am correct about what seeds I bought that year.

This year, they do not care what flower they are on, even Marigolds.

Claypa.... very interesting. Even the bug people dont know how to identify this guy!

I dont feel so dumb after all !!

(I did a lot of research about this guy, and nothing came up about it's habbits that it has in my garden like it says about the Milkweed Bug, only a couple of articles said it would feed off the seed of other plants if there was not enough Milkweed to go around for all of them)

I'll have better pics tomorrow. I'll use my glasses !!

Here is an adult by his/her/self.(seen and sprayed many of the couples mating)

Goldfinger seeded flower head.
(the flowers do not need to be fully seeded for this guy to be doing whatever he does to the flower/seed/plant)

Last years "fun for them but not for me this year" pic. (2006 pic)

Claypa... yeah big difference in the heart shape on the back and the eyes/head shape as well.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/623700/

And the red 'T' or 'Y' shape on the head. My milkweeds are like an insect zoo nowadays too. Monarchs, aphids, milkweed bugs, stink bugs, who knows what else. The ones in the swamp I go to are the same story - but the deer have eaten every seed pod off the plants! I think it's deer anyway.