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Texas Gardening

Milkweed pest? Monarch food

10 years ago

I am trying to growing butterfly food in my backyard and my milkweeds have been responsible for adding a few monarchs to the population. Last year, for the first time, I spotted these tiny yellow "bugs" on the stems of my milkweed plants, which seem to discourage the monarch caterpillars from feeding on the plants. I would love some information about these little things. THANK YOU! - Marti

Comments (9)

Vulture61
10 years ago
Those are aphids. You can wash them out or hope for lady bugs.

Omar
lovejoymar
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you so much! I'm not using any insecticides anywhere in my yard (duh - trying to grow butterflies) so will try washing them off. I have some lady bugs but they must not be hungry enough.

Marti
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There is a patch of anise or fennel weed that reseeds every year in the lot behind our house. It seems to attract butterfly habitat, but not sure about milkweed. However, about 5 years ago, we awoke one morning - and going outside, found ourselves in the midst of a huge Monarch migration. What a sight, they just kept on coming, and seemed to be from the ocean. It looked as though they were headed for a huge growth of wild mustard - down in the canyon behind our house. We have lived here over 30 years, and that was the first one we had seen. Fantastic! We see swallowtail, mourning cloaks, a few monarchs every year, but that migration was a once-in-a-lifetime event, I'm afraid. Bejay
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Hi there, Sounds like you have a good plan for your Monarch caterpillars when they come again. You didn't state your location, but with butterfly gardens we hope to attract a lot of species that are native to our yards. Once you know what could potentially come through your yard, then you can start to learn what their host plants are (these are the plants that caterpillars have to eat; Monarchs eat milkweeds, fritillaries eat violets, and so one). Another very important piece of the pie is nectar plants. This can also take some research, but if we know your area, then it's easier to tell you what is good to plant. Plants that are native to your area are a really good investment--most of the are host plants to many different kinds of butterlies and moths, are good nectar plants, and produce seeds for birds. Our page here has a FAQ section which is the first thing I should have mentioned. :) Gardening practices are very important too--no pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and butterfly gardens call for different fall clean-up strategies as most of our butterflies & moths overwinter in some form.
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I am a avid orchid grower and have been for many years. I encourage new people to be successful growing orchids. I have been a member of GW for almost as long as it existed. Many people visit the orchid forum for help with their orchid, usually their first or received as a gift. Orchid growing is not complicated but unless you learn a bit about their biology and native environments, you will not succeed and will stop growing these incredible plants. Basic 'dirt' knowledge doesn't really help when you are growing orchids. Most of our 'old timers' have little patience for newbies. Their responses tend to be beyond what most new growers can comprehend. I always try to encourage these people and give just the very basics so they will save their plant and hopefully have flowers the following year. I have found when you encourage people with simple instructions it works and they tend to research more and become 'addicted' to the hobby and learn as they move along. Success is always addictive. I realize it becomes so boring and repetitive to keep responding to people who yell 'help' and have no idea what they are doing. But if the ultimate goal is to educate and encourage, you have to take a deep breath and be kind and instructive in a simple way. Who knows what will happen. The ultimate goal is to encourage people to save these beautiful creatures and to continue to learn. Jane
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Well Wis Tom, NO I have not been organic gardening since the 70's lol, but I did garden during that period. There is no need to convince you of my qualifications on Monarchs, GMO's, Monsanto etc., but I'm glad you read my talking points, hopefully it helped. What does it have to do with trees? Well I did qualify the post with which tree would best help the Monarch, or did you not read that? But you and Brandon made the thread a war zone not I. Let's look at the first responses of Brandon and yourself - shall we? "sensationalism/spam" from ol' Brandon "Alarmist media" "Attain your level of wisdom" from you Tom The reality is you two psuedo-intellectuals have no idea whatsoever as to what your talking about in this matter or in your case Tom you may want to get back to the sales dept of Monsanto.
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Vulture61
10 years ago
You're welcome, Marti. You may also want to reduce the amount of water you are providing. Aphids thrive in high moisture areas.

Omar
honeybunny2 Fox
10 years ago
This was a question that Bob Webster answered yesterday morning on his talk show. He said that aphids hate the taste of garlic, so if you have aphids on your roses or plants to spary them with garlic. He said to remove buds on the plant, because the aphids are inside the buds and have already damaged those buds. The new buds will be aphid free. Most people plant milkweed, because they want to attract aphids, to bring in beneficial bugs, like lady bugs into their yard. If you want to get rid of them, then use garlic spray. Barbra
eahamel
10 years ago
I thought most people planted milkweed because they want to bring monarch butterflies into their yard and will lay eggs on them. I've never heard of anyone planting them to attract lady bugs. It's never worked for me at all, I always have to find a way to remove the aphids.
honeybunny2 Fox
10 years ago
You need to look at some gardening videos on your computer, that is what I do during the winter months.. I have heard it more than once by gardeners. Saying they do not kill aphids on the milkweed, since they bring ladybugs into your yard. I personally plant milkweed for monarch butterflies, but since I have seen these videos, I no longer kill aphids on my milkweed. Sometimes the aphids might kill a plant, I just pull up the sacrificial milkweed. I have a yard full of ladybugs. In fact if you did not know it they swarm like bees in my yard. Its unbelievable!. I just could not believe it when I first saw it. Barbra
hearittTX
10 years ago
I planted milkweed last summer to attract aphids off my other plants. This spring I was surprised with monarch caterpillars feeding on the milkweed. Two caterpillars made cocoons (sp?) on my hydrangea and turned into butterflies! I think you can leave the aphids alone and nature will do it's thing! The aphids are ugly but not a big deal in the big picture! Here's a picture of one of the monarchs coming out of the cocoon.
PKponder TX Z7B
10 years ago
I love learning something that I hadn't really considered before! I always looked at aphids as a pest that must be dealt with. Using milkweed as a trap plant makes perfect sense and the upside is the Monarchs and ladybugs!

Gorgeous picture HearittTX!
lovejoymar
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks again to all for the discussion. I released about 2000 ladybugs in my yard and that's about all I'm going to do. Too many Monarch eggs on the milkweed to risk anything else.

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