I've attached a link to help ID which bug you have. Right now, the Leaf Milkweed Beetle just showed up in my garden. I fight them every year. They are nasty, because the eat the foliage quickly, and leaf behind a trail of black, slimy residue (frass) on the foliage. The nymphs are soft-bodied, and I hand pick them, put them on the sidewalk and stomp them to pieces. The adult looks like a Lady Beetle, with a hard shell, and I much prefer picking these off for the "stomping" method. Later, I get a few of the seed eating Large Milkweed Bugs and I use the same control method, of hand picking and squashing them. Haven't seen the small ones yet. As you'll see in the attached info, there is also a Swamp Milkweed Beetle, but I have never seen them here. I may yet. Just don't know their range. If you find clusters of yellow eggs on the undersides of the leaves, they are most likely milkweed beetle/bug eggs. Get em before they hatch if you can! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed Bugs and Beetles

Sorry to confuse you, tdogmom. I used dishwashing soap. I guess I should have said "d/w" rather than "DW". No, that isn't what is hurting the milkweed.I only used it on the hordes of milkweed bugs yesterday. I am sure there are aphids too, but I can't see them because of the hundreds of milkweed bugs. I tried mixing the soap with cooking oil and water, but that didn't seem to work. I read that 1/8 of a cup of dishwashing soap (like Dawn) in a sprayer bottle of water would kill the milkweed bugs and it did. There are still some alive and I will leave them for now. There were HUNDREDS and they were eating the seeds and sucking the life out of the milkweed. I have never paid any attention the bugs before. But my milkweed has never looked this bad. It gets plenty of water but the leaves have curled up and turned brown and I could barely see the plants for all the bugs. I just feritilized today, so I hope that helps.I will just have to keep on top of it I guess.

I have been using black netting and it has worked very well to keep the gold finches from pulling the petals from my flowers. I think it is also less obvious. I can't see it unless I am right in front of it. You might want to try that.

I have the same problem too. I've heard that the orange milk weed bugs are poisonous, so lady bugs won't eat them. We seem to have a problem keeping lady bugs around for some reason. For people that want to attract butterflies (especially monarchs), they grow milk weed, so why pull it out? (one writer suggests pulling the plants out). The orange tiny bugs on the milk weed do not get eaten by any bug because I've read they are poinsonous. These bugs keep increasing, and eventually kill the flowers on the milk weed. I use a spray bottle filled with plain water, and I put about a teaspoon of dish washing detergent into the bottle, and I spray the milk weed and other affected plants with the mixture. I find on the milk weed, after I spray it, the leaves turn yellow and drop off, so I cut the stems down, and it contines to grow back. The mixture works great on my other plants. Good for aphids, and weevils too.