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Butterfly Weed

18 years ago

Being a ham and egg gardner I don't know the proper name but we have a few plants I put in this year and tghey have done well.The past week or two I've noticed one plant has a group of pods that are covered with a yellow matter that looks to be eggs,does anyone know what this is ?

Thanks,

Peter

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Comments (12)

greenjewels
18 years ago
I am too new to be able to help much but just wanted to say that I had a huge patch of yellow/orangey "eggs" on my butterfly weed that turned out to have legs! After posting on the butterfly forum another poster steered me to a great link with pics of my "eggs"----aphids! So you might find your answer if you check out the Butterfly forum.
Judy_B_ON
18 years ago
There is a specific aphid that is found on milkweed including butterfly milkweed. This late in the season they won't cause permanent damage to the plant. They can be rinsed off with a spray of water and you don't want them on young plants next spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed Aphid
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Well, my "Gay Butterflies" has been blooming for about a week now, and low and behold, it's light orange. I too also have the regular orange tuberosa. I can feel your pain, lol. I had purchased my seed from Swallowtail Garden Seeds. There are some soon-to-be-blooming stalks and the foliage looks a bit different. I'm hoping I'll see some red. If I'm fortunate enough to get red, I'd gladly save you some seed ;) But, that's a big if at this point. I had purchased A. incarnata "Soulmate", which is supposed to be a deep rose pink, yet it bloomed light pink. I also purchased "Red Swamp Milkweed" seed from Pinetree, supposed to be pink to purple (their picture shows a beautiful purple), and of course it bloomed (what else?) light pink. My A. syriaca just bloomed too, light pink! Now I really hate light pink!!!!!!!!!!!! I have loads of A. incarnata "Cinderella", which is what, light pink... It's frustrating indeed...
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I have found the best thing to do is leave the Oleander aphids alone, and as they increase they will attract the predators that feed on them. Lady beetles, lacewings, and small parasitic flies and wasps. I will carefully spray any aphids off with the hose if they are on any of my rarer milkweeds that are still. small and not established are still small and not yet established. It's too much work and time to constantly be hosing off all your milkweeds, and you can end up damaging Monarch eggs or little caterpillars in the process. It's hard to see so many aphids on a plant, and not take action, but the natural predators will eventually come and clean out the aphids quickly. Most milkweeds have tubers that store energy, and they have evolved to be able to withstand a lot of predation from Monarch caterpillars, so it's doubtful the could kill a milkweed, except perhaps a very young seedling. Oleander aphids do not turn into red and black milkweed beetles, that's absurd. Hosing them off is reducing the food source of the predators. By leaving them, you help the predator populations, which will mean more predators and less aphids in the future. .
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gamekeeper
Original Author
18 years ago
They are gone!
wildflowerchris
18 years ago
they are a never-ending problem. i have two native milkweeds (A. incarnata) and they are constantly on them.
oath5
18 years ago
Yet another way to attract ladybugs!
ski69bum
18 years ago
Aphis Nerii will occur on all Asclepias plants (milkweeds). You can get them off using a strong shower of water to rinse them off, and keep their numbers down.
bonnieblueyes
18 years ago
I had orange and black bugs on mine and they were always clumped together. I think they were eating my seedpods, which i was wanting to start more butterfly weed in the spring with. Does anything eat these bugs? They were really freaky looking. I always thumped them off but they always came back.
Bonnie
MissMyGardens
18 years ago
This may seem like a "duh" question but when the Milkweed, which I put into my new Butterfly Garden, needs a hard stream of water to get rid of their specific aphid is it just part of natural gardening that leaves of other plants that you shouldn't spray water on to keep down powdery mildew are going to get showered? The tickseed is pretty close to Milkweeds although I got what is supposedly a mildew "resistant" strain although they may turn out to be as "resistant" as the deer "resistant" natives the deer chomped on.
Iris GW
18 years ago
bonnieblueyes, those are milkweed bugs. See link below.

newbie in nj, you don't need to get rid of aphids, it is just that most gardeners like a neater looking garden. In a world with less pesticides there would be more natural predators to keep them in check.

Not sure about your powdery mildew question. Sorry about the deer though, I've heard the deer are pretty hungry in NJ. If that continues, you could pursue fencing to keep them at bay.

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed bugs
bonnieblueyes
18 years ago
Thanks Esh ga, thats exactly what the bugs looked like. I only have a few plants and i wanted the seed so i was hoping there was a predator to this bug but apparently they taste really bad. Thanks so much for the info. They are really cool looking with bright orange and black colors. I had never seen them before.
Bonnie
tobydmv
18 years ago
I've read that garlic and cayenne pepper spray will help knock them out. I havent tried it on mine, which are covered head to toe in aphids, but at least its an organic approach.
joepyeweed
18 years ago
One thing to keep in mind is that anything you do to knock the aphids might also knock the caterpillars off, so do be careful.

I usually just let the aphids be, unless I think their numbers are too great and they will outcompete the caterpillars. Then I may carefully wipe them off with a paper towel.

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