Another question About Milkweed - I'm so dumb!

[<hacbac]

Thanks to all who have given me info re: milkweeds. I have all kinds of things on them now, and most of them aren't good.

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.

I guess I didn't really know what a monarch egg looked like until I actually saw a monarch laying them. I thought I did a lot of research on these butterflies and there host plants, but now I feel so stupid.

I think I should brush all the mites, but I'm not sure if I'll be getting rid of any good bugs. Can someone please help me!

Barbara C.

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] 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.

[David Smith`]

[e-mail]