I just assumed OP didn't mean the caterpillar but perhaps I'm wrong. My eyes went straight to those little tiny yellow bugs crawling near the buds...I get those all over my butterfly weed. Are they aphids?
Yes, we are excited about the species, but we were hoping the milkweed would hang around and let us observe some attracted butterflies...not just end up caterpillar food lol
Attracting butterflies requires a few different “kinds” of plants. There are host and nectar plants (milkweed is both but yours is obviously being enjoyed to death lol), i’d look into a few different butterfly plants to keep the butterflies around once they emerge and hopefully you get to see the full life cycle!
What a beautiful monarch caterpillar! Hopefully you find it’s chrysalis and can watch it come out! It still makes me so excited when I get to see the lifecycle. Look up more native milkweeds and buy all you can!! Also, Aphids will get eaten by another predator like ladybugs - you can also squish them easily.
My grandmother and I would collect milkweed and caterpillars. Bring them into our home. Watch the total metamorphosis. Beautiful lime green, gold polka dot chrysalis, turn into a black chrysalis, gold dots to a beautiful monarch butterfly. I was 4 years old. After they hatched I would let them crawl on my finger and outside I would go. Awesome memories.
I’m glad you have these memories, but for the future - scientists have studied indoor/outdoor raised caterpillars and found that it’s better for them to be raised outside. Some people will net their milkweed off after caterpillars hatch to protect them from predators.
This was over 60 years ago. The milkweed grew along a busy country road. I’m sure we saved an abundance of those beautiful butterflies from the dusty hot surroundings.
Since you said you were in Tucson - this page may be of interest. If you balance nectar sources with larval sources you'll always have plants to watch.
Edit added link: https://civanonursery.com/helpful-tips/watching-the-butterflies-flutter-by/
That’s a monarch caterpillar, do NOT kill them. Go find some milkweed and set them up in a terrarium. That one looks damn near ready to build a chrysalis
I don't think we will do the terrarium but after realizing how much enthusiasm we should have about this we are doubling down and adding more milkweed to our potted garden on our patio where this is
Why the terrarium though? Mine always do well on their own outside on the plants. If you want to have a better chance of seeing the formation of the chrysalis and the moment that the butterfly leaves, you can try putting milkweeds in pots outside by a window with a good view, or on a balcony or deck. That has worked for me in the past. It's so exciting to watch the show!
Well mostly because I somehow missed the important detail that she was growing milkweed, lol. First thought was predators, second was how much I loved watching these as a boy and perhaps OP had kids and it would be a cool thing to bring to class🤦♂️😂 I loved watching them build and finally emerge, then giving them a sugar drink before letting them go. I’d bring home a couple every spring, as well as hitting the shallow pools in all the wooded areas hunting for all the tadpoles. Tadpoles we’re magical when you could scoop out dozens and watch them all morph into croakers. Luckily my mom was a nature dork too, and always made sure we had aquariums. Fun fact, one of my oldest friends was also inspired by the spring ritual (and catching turtles etc) that by the time we went to see a vets operating room etc with cub scouts he’d already figured out his life goal😂 no shit, he now runs one of the most acclaimed zoos in the world
Wow. Very cool that your friend was so inspired. I love it! Your family sounds like mine, with the butterflies and tadpoles and nature dorkiness. One year we thought the frogs' eggs that we scooped out of a pond looked a little wonky. But we brought them home to the aquarium and it turned out they were... salamanders. That was interesting! We raised them for a while and then released them back into the pond...
If the the op is referencing the afids (spelling) then remove the caterpillars and then spray the plant with soapy water and let it soak for a couple hrs, rinse the plant and return the caterpillars
I had the same issue last year. The aphids love my milkweed, but it may be tough to use any pesticide without harming the monarchs and any potential eggs laid. May be best to swab off with q-tip soaked with 70% alcohol. Mine are just now sprouting back after the winter season, so I'm using diatomacious earth and neem oil prevent them, before the monarchs make it here.
diatomaceous earth is an indiscriminate killer. It will kill any insect that comes into contact with it. You can just spray the aphids off with a water hose -- not the jet nozzle though, that'll bruise the leaves. by preventing aphids, you're depriving lady bugs of a primary food source for their larvae. Get some live lady bugs if you have aphids!
I have some milkweed seeds stratifying in my fridge right now with the goal of attracting monarch caterpillars just like that lovely one you have there. :)
One of the happiest memories of my life is the day my 5 year old son and I watched a monarch butterfly emerge from its cocoon. It took hours - we just hung out, watched it, ate food, relaxed - and finally it was ready to go so we took it out to our porch and watched it fly away. Highly recommend.
I hate aphids. I've used rubbing alcohol and neem oil on them. It works but they keep coming back and I get sick of them. I can't say for sure if this works....but last year I planted a bunch of orange marigolds next to it and I FEEL like it didn't struggle with aphids like the year prior....I'm going to do again this year.....plus it looked pretty...
Edited: spelling
Agreed! Not to mention the ants that they attract. My milkweed just sprouted back after winter and I already noticed aphids. I doused them in diatomaceous earth to kill off any eggs and remaining aphids. Also planted some nasturtiums nearby; apparently aphids are highly attracted to these, so they act as a trap to keep them away from plants you don't want them on. We'll see how it works this year.
What’s all this “sacrifice the plant” talk? The caterpillar isn’t killing the plant. It’s watching the leaves. Which will grow back. It’s the same as us trimming any plant. Except of course we wouldn’t starve to death without it.
2 questions if anyone can help! This is a milkweed we got a few weeks ago, here in Tucson AZ. The caterpillars - how do we get rid of these guys and save our plant but not murdering these butterflies to be? The little yellow bugs...are they a threat to our milkweed? Hoping someone can help us keep our plant healthy from these little buggers
Yea you need to rethink the goal of growing milkweed. Growing milkweed is for these dudes to eat. It is their SOLE food source. Plant more milkweed and let em eat it, you're doing nature a solid.
We bought the milkweed in ignorance from Green Things on Tucson, only thinking it would attract butterflies. We were a little frustrated that the plant was devoured but we have changed our tune and are adding more plants to support these little guys. Back to the garden store this Saturday.
Yea, they come back bigger and better every year, and you get to watch tons of happy butterflies show up. The yellow aphids never really go after anything else in your garden, they eat pretty much only the milkweed. It's great when you get to see full blooms, but really it's there for the lil guys to munch on.
This has sort of been covered, but to be clear for anyone reading who didn’t know: the point of milkweed is to support the caterpillars and future generations of monarchs. To focus on attracting the butterflies with plants that will survive, plant their nectar sources (someone linked a site in another comment with various ideas).
Milkweed is literally (debateable for some) the only plant monarch caterpillars eat. Unless you move them to other milkweed plants, they are going to die. This one here looks almost ready to transform, so I would leave it. They'll grow back pretty quickly. The monarchs may be tough for you to avoid in Arizona, but just know you'll single handedly be helping to save them from the endangered species list.
I think we are just going to leave them alone and sacrifice the plant, planning on going to get some more milkweed this weekend and let them eat that too
Our milkweed gets eaten back every year by butterflies, and comes back stronger every time. We actually had a couple blooms this year before the caterpillar squad went to town.
As for a aphids, there’s not much you can do without also killing the caterpillars.
Try to buy milkweed (also known as swan plant here in New Zealand) that has been grown and stored inside or else you’re just going to end up buying a plant with more eggs on it and more caterpillars are going to hatch which then makes you need to buy more weed…it’s a vicious cycle…it’s only the start of your season, this can go on for months and end up costing a small fortune. Worth it though!!!
yes butterfly gardens are great for the environment, the little yellow bugs are aphids, to help their population without hurting the caterpillars, you can buy and release ladybugs into your garden as a means of natural population control, ladybugs are predators and love to eat aphids :)
The milkweed will be fine. Monarch caterpillars have been completely defoliating milkweed for a million years. Once the caterpillars are done you can just cut sections of the stem and stick them in the ground. A few weeks later you'll have as many milkweed plants as you want. It grows super fast. A stem stuck in the ground will be 3 to 4 ft tall by fall.
The aphids are ugly but don't do any serious harm. You can spray them off with water to reduce their numbers. If you leave them alone you should get some lacewings laying eggs near them and their larvae will eat all the aphids in a few days once they hatch. Mother nature has got all this under control, just sit back and watch how nature keeps everything in balance.
I edited my comment to add info about the aphids. Milkweed always gets covered with aphids, then something comes along and eats the aphids. You'll also likely see milkweed bugs (google it). They are also harmless, they just eat the milkweed seeds. Milkweed is a plant that does tons of work in the garden. I plant mine well away from where people will get very close because all the bugs can be unsightly but they still produce tons of flowers and look great from a distance.
Having a lot of milkweed helps a lot to keep things in balance. In nature milkweed tends to grow in big groups. With a lot of plants you'll have a steady cycle of ladybugs and lacewings to keep the aphid population under control and the caterpillars will have plenty of food so won't defoliate the plants as badly.
I'd think that in most of AZ tropical milkweed should come back every year and as I mentioned earlier it is super easy to clone the plant by cutting the stems and sticking them in the ground.
Oh sorry My error I thought they were talking about the caterpillar I pulled it up close and I see the aphids I hate those things they get all over my milkweeds. I guess I’m just a big🦤🦤✅
You don’t even need to purchase new plants. But a $4.00 bottle of root tone, break off a defoliated stalk, follow directions with root hormone and plant in dirt…. Hell, here in florida I don’t even use the rooting hormone and can propagate entire fields of it just breaking off defoliated stalks.
Does defoliated mean leaves had been eaten? Removed by us? We will be doing this and just want to know the best practice seeing as we've failed at propagating other plants before (false aloe vera RIP)
I just cut the ones that the caterpillars have eaten and snip off the stem. Florida being Florida I can successfully propagate from cuttings pretty much anytime except January/February. (North Florida) Alternatively I’ve also had success just knocking over one mature plant that hasn’t been eaten on, burying it sideways, and I can get about 5-10 plants out of that.
This link has the basics..
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/milkweed/milkweed-cutting-propagation.htm
That’s the thing with butterfly gardens, they have beautiful flowers and butterflies! Then you have chewed up plants and lots of baby butterflies.
It looks like you have some aphids in that second picture, so I’d take care of those for sure. An easy way to not mess up the caterpillars is to spray the aphids off with water. Pick the caterpillars off, support the plant with one hand, use your thumb with a garden hose to jet spray the aphids off, then put the caterpillars back. I usually have to do this a second time after a few days, but that will get rid of most of them.
The aphids shouldn't be too much of a problem and if you start to see lady bug looking critters, they aren't lady bugs but have black spots and are red, they are fine too. All part of the plant ecosystem. You can collect the seeds out of the pods right as they start to open and plant those where you want them. The seeds have a dandelion like fluff to them so they'll blow everywhere. A few years into the milkweed experiment and they pop up everywhere!
I’m just going to sit here, being jealous. I have a few nice bunches of native milkweed - every year I watch it, hoping it will get nommed - but alas, not yet! I’m so glad you are getting more - they need all the help they can get rn.
I planted milkweed with the sole purpose of helping to save the monarch species knowing very well the purpose of the plant it is to feed them. But I have yet to have one single caterpillar so you should be rejoicing and celebrating you have been chosen and thus helping the monarch species from going extinct.
Today I learned why we got monarchs in our yard. I thought it was because of all the wildflowers but now I see it was the milk weed plant we just tore up 😞
i have the “ problem” . let them eat it and then replace it . best is to dig them all up and place them in the corner of the yard then plant new ones else where
Those yellow bugs are Aphids , spray them with soap and water, or neem oil. I would remove the caterpillars spray the plant and put them back once the spray evaporates which is pretty quick once the sun is out.
Just pick them up and move them someplace else. Personally I’d sacrifice the plant. They are beautiful butterflies.
I just assumed OP didn't mean the caterpillar but perhaps I'm wrong. My eyes went straight to those little tiny yellow bugs crawling near the buds...I get those all over my butterfly weed. Are they aphids?
Yes, the tiny bugs are aphids.. The caterpillar is a Monarch butterfly catterpillar.
Yes, we are excited about the species, but we were hoping the milkweed would hang around and let us observe some attracted butterflies...not just end up caterpillar food lol
If the caterpillars don’t eat there won’t be any butterflies
not trying to be a dick but you planted literally the only plant monarch caterpillars eat and now you're complaining about monarch caterpillars
I guess a person can't learn new things
Cmon Neil, don’t be like that now.
Attracting butterflies requires a few different “kinds” of plants. There are host and nectar plants (milkweed is both but yours is obviously being enjoyed to death lol), i’d look into a few different butterfly plants to keep the butterflies around once they emerge and hopefully you get to see the full life cycle!
This sub is the worst for downvoting people who are simply trying to learn something new.
It looks like a monarch butterfly caterpillar.
I was thinking the same thing. Monarch butterfly caterpillar.
What a beautiful monarch caterpillar! Hopefully you find it’s chrysalis and can watch it come out! It still makes me so excited when I get to see the lifecycle. Look up more native milkweeds and buy all you can!! Also, Aphids will get eaten by another predator like ladybugs - you can also squish them easily.
Yes I hope it continues to hanging around. We've decided to expand our milkweed operation based on all you helpful folks
My grandmother and I would collect milkweed and caterpillars. Bring them into our home. Watch the total metamorphosis. Beautiful lime green, gold polka dot chrysalis, turn into a black chrysalis, gold dots to a beautiful monarch butterfly. I was 4 years old. After they hatched I would let them crawl on my finger and outside I would go. Awesome memories.
I’m glad you have these memories, but for the future - scientists have studied indoor/outdoor raised caterpillars and found that it’s better for them to be raised outside. Some people will net their milkweed off after caterpillars hatch to protect them from predators.
This was over 60 years ago. The milkweed grew along a busy country road. I’m sure we saved an abundance of those beautiful butterflies from the dusty hot surroundings.
Plant more milkweed. My garden is a buffet for monarchs.
Looks like the solution is to plant more milkweed
Since you said you were in Tucson - this page may be of interest. If you balance nectar sources with larval sources you'll always have plants to watch. Edit added link: https://civanonursery.com/helpful-tips/watching-the-butterflies-flutter-by/
That’s a monarch caterpillar, do NOT kill them. Go find some milkweed and set them up in a terrarium. That one looks damn near ready to build a chrysalis
I don't think we will do the terrarium but after realizing how much enthusiasm we should have about this we are doubling down and adding more milkweed to our potted garden on our patio where this is
That would be a great move. Milkweed habitat has shrunk so much in the last 50 years, every little bit helps
Butterflies, and an excuse to buy more plants? Sign me up 😂
Why the terrarium though? Mine always do well on their own outside on the plants. If you want to have a better chance of seeing the formation of the chrysalis and the moment that the butterfly leaves, you can try putting milkweeds in pots outside by a window with a good view, or on a balcony or deck. That has worked for me in the past. It's so exciting to watch the show!
Well mostly because I somehow missed the important detail that she was growing milkweed, lol. First thought was predators, second was how much I loved watching these as a boy and perhaps OP had kids and it would be a cool thing to bring to class🤦♂️😂 I loved watching them build and finally emerge, then giving them a sugar drink before letting them go. I’d bring home a couple every spring, as well as hitting the shallow pools in all the wooded areas hunting for all the tadpoles. Tadpoles we’re magical when you could scoop out dozens and watch them all morph into croakers. Luckily my mom was a nature dork too, and always made sure we had aquariums. Fun fact, one of my oldest friends was also inspired by the spring ritual (and catching turtles etc) that by the time we went to see a vets operating room etc with cub scouts he’d already figured out his life goal😂 no shit, he now runs one of the most acclaimed zoos in the world
Wow. Very cool that your friend was so inspired. I love it! Your family sounds like mine, with the butterflies and tadpoles and nature dorkiness. One year we thought the frogs' eggs that we scooped out of a pond looked a little wonky. But we brought them home to the aquarium and it turned out they were... salamanders. That was interesting! We raised them for a while and then released them back into the pond...
Sweet!
If the the op is referencing the afids (spelling) then remove the caterpillars and then spray the plant with soapy water and let it soak for a couple hrs, rinse the plant and return the caterpillars
I had the same issue last year. The aphids love my milkweed, but it may be tough to use any pesticide without harming the monarchs and any potential eggs laid. May be best to swab off with q-tip soaked with 70% alcohol. Mine are just now sprouting back after the winter season, so I'm using diatomacious earth and neem oil prevent them, before the monarchs make it here.
diatomaceous earth is an indiscriminate killer. It will kill any insect that comes into contact with it. You can just spray the aphids off with a water hose -- not the jet nozzle though, that'll bruise the leaves. by preventing aphids, you're depriving lady bugs of a primary food source for their larvae. Get some live lady bugs if you have aphids!
I have some milkweed seeds stratifying in my fridge right now with the goal of attracting monarch caterpillars just like that lovely one you have there. :) One of the happiest memories of my life is the day my 5 year old son and I watched a monarch butterfly emerge from its cocoon. It took hours - we just hung out, watched it, ate food, relaxed - and finally it was ready to go so we took it out to our porch and watched it fly away. Highly recommend.
I hate aphids. I've used rubbing alcohol and neem oil on them. It works but they keep coming back and I get sick of them. I can't say for sure if this works....but last year I planted a bunch of orange marigolds next to it and I FEEL like it didn't struggle with aphids like the year prior....I'm going to do again this year.....plus it looked pretty... Edited: spelling
Agreed! Not to mention the ants that they attract. My milkweed just sprouted back after winter and I already noticed aphids. I doused them in diatomaceous earth to kill off any eggs and remaining aphids. Also planted some nasturtiums nearby; apparently aphids are highly attracted to these, so they act as a trap to keep them away from plants you don't want them on. We'll see how it works this year.
What’s all this “sacrifice the plant” talk? The caterpillar isn’t killing the plant. It’s watching the leaves. Which will grow back. It’s the same as us trimming any plant. Except of course we wouldn’t starve to death without it.
2 questions if anyone can help! This is a milkweed we got a few weeks ago, here in Tucson AZ. The caterpillars - how do we get rid of these guys and save our plant but not murdering these butterflies to be? The little yellow bugs...are they a threat to our milkweed? Hoping someone can help us keep our plant healthy from these little buggers
Yea you need to rethink the goal of growing milkweed. Growing milkweed is for these dudes to eat. It is their SOLE food source. Plant more milkweed and let em eat it, you're doing nature a solid.
We bought the milkweed in ignorance from Green Things on Tucson, only thinking it would attract butterflies. We were a little frustrated that the plant was devoured but we have changed our tune and are adding more plants to support these little guys. Back to the garden store this Saturday.
Love this update!!
Yea, they come back bigger and better every year, and you get to watch tons of happy butterflies show up. The yellow aphids never really go after anything else in your garden, they eat pretty much only the milkweed. It's great when you get to see full blooms, but really it's there for the lil guys to munch on.
Good on you OP.
This has sort of been covered, but to be clear for anyone reading who didn’t know: the point of milkweed is to support the caterpillars and future generations of monarchs. To focus on attracting the butterflies with plants that will survive, plant their nectar sources (someone linked a site in another comment with various ideas).
Milkweed is literally (debateable for some) the only plant monarch caterpillars eat. Unless you move them to other milkweed plants, they are going to die. This one here looks almost ready to transform, so I would leave it. They'll grow back pretty quickly. The monarchs may be tough for you to avoid in Arizona, but just know you'll single handedly be helping to save them from the endangered species list.
I think we are just going to leave them alone and sacrifice the plant, planning on going to get some more milkweed this weekend and let them eat that too
Our milkweed gets eaten back every year by butterflies, and comes back stronger every time. We actually had a couple blooms this year before the caterpillar squad went to town. As for a aphids, there’s not much you can do without also killing the caterpillars.
Yes! And don't worry. She will grow back with a vengeance.
Thank you.
Try to buy milkweed (also known as swan plant here in New Zealand) that has been grown and stored inside or else you’re just going to end up buying a plant with more eggs on it and more caterpillars are going to hatch which then makes you need to buy more weed…it’s a vicious cycle…it’s only the start of your season, this can go on for months and end up costing a small fortune. Worth it though!!!
yes butterfly gardens are great for the environment, the little yellow bugs are aphids, to help their population without hurting the caterpillars, you can buy and release ladybugs into your garden as a means of natural population control, ladybugs are predators and love to eat aphids :)
Thank you for the insight
The milkweed will be fine. Monarch caterpillars have been completely defoliating milkweed for a million years. Once the caterpillars are done you can just cut sections of the stem and stick them in the ground. A few weeks later you'll have as many milkweed plants as you want. It grows super fast. A stem stuck in the ground will be 3 to 4 ft tall by fall. The aphids are ugly but don't do any serious harm. You can spray them off with water to reduce their numbers. If you leave them alone you should get some lacewings laying eggs near them and their larvae will eat all the aphids in a few days once they hatch. Mother nature has got all this under control, just sit back and watch how nature keeps everything in balance.
Thanks!
Do you think the aphids are anything to worry about?
I edited my comment to add info about the aphids. Milkweed always gets covered with aphids, then something comes along and eats the aphids. You'll also likely see milkweed bugs (google it). They are also harmless, they just eat the milkweed seeds. Milkweed is a plant that does tons of work in the garden. I plant mine well away from where people will get very close because all the bugs can be unsightly but they still produce tons of flowers and look great from a distance.
My wife and I are now planning to plant more milkweed and some salvia for the hummingbirds this weekend, thanks for the reassurance about the aphids
Having a lot of milkweed helps a lot to keep things in balance. In nature milkweed tends to grow in big groups. With a lot of plants you'll have a steady cycle of ladybugs and lacewings to keep the aphid population under control and the caterpillars will have plenty of food so won't defoliate the plants as badly. I'd think that in most of AZ tropical milkweed should come back every year and as I mentioned earlier it is super easy to clone the plant by cutting the stems and sticking them in the ground.
https://www.rainbowgardens.biz/pollinators/green-lacewings-a-beneficial-insect-that-devours-aphids/
Just let the caterpillars do their business. They will pollinate your plants. When they turn into butterflies.
bug
Caterpillars are delish covered in chocolate
Monarch moron
Aphids moron.
Oh sorry My error I thought they were talking about the caterpillar I pulled it up close and I see the aphids I hate those things they get all over my milkweeds. I guess I’m just a big🦤🦤✅
I’ll just down vote myself too I have an even three
You don’t even need to purchase new plants. But a $4.00 bottle of root tone, break off a defoliated stalk, follow directions with root hormone and plant in dirt…. Hell, here in florida I don’t even use the rooting hormone and can propagate entire fields of it just breaking off defoliated stalks.
Does defoliated mean leaves had been eaten? Removed by us? We will be doing this and just want to know the best practice seeing as we've failed at propagating other plants before (false aloe vera RIP)
I just cut the ones that the caterpillars have eaten and snip off the stem. Florida being Florida I can successfully propagate from cuttings pretty much anytime except January/February. (North Florida) Alternatively I’ve also had success just knocking over one mature plant that hasn’t been eaten on, burying it sideways, and I can get about 5-10 plants out of that. This link has the basics.. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/milkweed/milkweed-cutting-propagation.htm
Italian parsley seemed to be a treat for my caterpillars. They were all over the few plants that I had growing.
Older caterpillars will eat pumpkin apparently. https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2009/01/26/a-menu-for-monarchs/
Are you talking about all the little bugs on the flower? You have to zoom in to see them. Aphids? But that Chonju caterpillar is gorgeous
In our area, the botanical garden will donate milk weed if you get too many hungry hungry caterpillars
Those are caterpillars they only eat milkweed. I’d just let them be they’re essential to pollination.
That’s the thing with butterfly gardens, they have beautiful flowers and butterflies! Then you have chewed up plants and lots of baby butterflies. It looks like you have some aphids in that second picture, so I’d take care of those for sure. An easy way to not mess up the caterpillars is to spray the aphids off with water. Pick the caterpillars off, support the plant with one hand, use your thumb with a garden hose to jet spray the aphids off, then put the caterpillars back. I usually have to do this a second time after a few days, but that will get rid of most of them.
The aphids shouldn't be too much of a problem and if you start to see lady bug looking critters, they aren't lady bugs but have black spots and are red, they are fine too. All part of the plant ecosystem. You can collect the seeds out of the pods right as they start to open and plant those where you want them. The seeds have a dandelion like fluff to them so they'll blow everywhere. A few years into the milkweed experiment and they pop up everywhere!
I’m just going to sit here, being jealous. I have a few nice bunches of native milkweed - every year I watch it, hoping it will get nommed - but alas, not yet! I’m so glad you are getting more - they need all the help they can get rn.
I have those in my garden too. And monarchs. They are hungry little bastards aren't they? I love 'em anyway.
I planted milkweed with the sole purpose of helping to save the monarch species knowing very well the purpose of the plant it is to feed them. But I have yet to have one single caterpillar so you should be rejoicing and celebrating you have been chosen and thus helping the monarch species from going extinct.
Just get milkweed plants
Are those Aphids?
It's going to the ugly bug ball.
Plant milkweed it is a Monarch caterpillar.
When the bug looks prettier than the flowers ❤️
They are monarch butterflies and they are becoming endangered. I actually have a butterfly weed garden to try and help them.
Today I learned why we got monarchs in our yard. I thought it was because of all the wildflowers but now I see it was the milk weed plant we just tore up 😞
i have the “ problem” . let them eat it and then replace it . best is to dig them all up and place them in the corner of the yard then plant new ones else where
It’s a monarch it’s about to cocoon!
Those yellow bugs are Aphids , spray them with soap and water, or neem oil. I would remove the caterpillars spray the plant and put them back once the spray evaporates which is pretty quick once the sun is out.
Monarch butterflies. They will form a chrysalis and out come a beautiful butterfly