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Old 06-04-2004, 08:43 PM
David Smith`
 
Posts: n/a
Default Another question About Milkweed - I'm so dumb!

I always get those orange aphids on my milkweeds as well. I've always just
left them - they never really seem to do much harm to the plant.
"Lar" wrote in message
t...
In article ,


says...
There are tons of orange eggs which I think are some kind of mite,

maybe
spider mites. All kinds of little orange things walking around. A

few
white things that look like a tiny fly, a few ants, a few things that

look
like small beetles (I think may be eating the little orange mites, but

I'm
not sure), and very few butterfly eggs.


The orange are probably aphids, the ants will be tending the aphids for

the
honey dew the aphids secrete. You could introduce lady bugs for the

aphids,
but I would think that would put your monarch eggs/hatchlings at too great

a
risk. Spraying water to remove the aphids may also dislodge the monarch
caterpillars. If you felt you needed to step in maybe running a Q-tip over
the orange aphids to reduce their numbers. Probably just as well too leave
them alone and just watch the world of nature in your garden.
--
It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!