Milkweed bugs! You seen 'em on Milkweed: Here are 6 things you should know about them!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- Large Milkweed Bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) are often observed by people looking for monarch eggs or caterpillars. Milkweed bugs have a fascinating story in themselves. I cover six facts for you to know including: 1.They are true bugs 2. they undergo incomplete metamorphosis and you can often see all the stages on one plant 3. All stages eat milkweed sap but the adults eat the milkweed seeds 4. They exhibit aposematic coloration 5. You can distinguish males from females and 6. Milkweed Bugs migrate! Great video and close-ups.
The fact that they inject seeds with enzymes to feed blew my mind! I've only ever heard of this behavior in terms of predators feeding on live prey. The natural world really is beyond amazing. I'm very excited to have found your channel and can't wait to keep learning!
I know...its fascinating isn't it...with two or more bugs injecting same seed cooperating to digest! Yes...this what my channel is all about..not just cool photos...but the story behind each organisms millions of years of evolution with their amazing adaptations we are not aware of at first glance. Every organism has a fascinating "story" as well as cultural histories with humans!
It's no mystery then why Milkweed bugs shoot your seeds' viability to hell. I get 0 to low germination when these bugs show up
Very informative Frank. Great information. Thank you
Very welcome!
I’m glad milkweed plants are commonly found somewhere still!
Yes..right? 🙂🙂🙂
Glad I found this. I didn't know if this was something I needed to address.
These guys are clearly eating all my seeds.
Could be!
I had not seen these. Bought a Milkweed for Monarchs. Started seeing these! Very informative. Thank you for sharing!😊
You are so welcome!
Super informative! I saw a cluster on our new native swamp milkweeds we planted, and didn't know what they were. Thanks for the great info!!
Glad it was helpful!
So happy I discovered you! ❤ Enjoyed this vid tremendously. I hope you continue to provide such info because I REALLY like it and your voice 👍
Thank you! Will do! I am so glad you found my channel as well! Be sure to check out my playlists! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! It means a lot to me!
Love this video and learned so much. Really appreciate the closeups as well! 🎥 🐝🐛🦋🐞
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing! I had really had fun with the close-ups!
Hi Frank! I'm so glad I found your channel. 🙂 I'm excited to watch your videos! Thank you for making them.
Hi Sandy! So glad you discovered my channel!
Me too! ❤
Thanks for the easy, quick info! Super helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Great info! Subscribed!
Awesome, thank you! Welcome to NAYD! I hope you will enjoy exploring playlists on my channel!
Very interesting and impressing close-up filming
Thank you so much Roni! I enjoy making close-up filming and photography look really interesting!
I really enjoyed learning about Milkweed bugs. I just started learning how to save the Monarch. I will continue to watch your program.
Hi Beverly! I appreciate you checking in with me and supporting my effort. Send me questions anytime I will be glad to help out anyway I can.
Thank you for your videos! We have been lucky enough in CA to have milkweed just pop up in our yard, caterpillars have shown up and we now found our first Chrysalis on a neighboring plant that we observe regularly. I have not seen milkweed bugs yet but we definitely have a lot of seeds for them to munch on!
Glad to hear about that milkweed and hope your patch continues to grow!
Thank you! I love nature and learned so much from you today.
Awe! I really love sharing about nature too. Glad you learned some new things today! I hope you will enjoy exploring my channel!
I thought the slowing down from cold temps was an interesting fact as well! Haha :D
Cool video! Easy to understand and fascinating! Thanks :-)
Glad you liked it! Hope you will peruse through my channel shares!
Great information!!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Once Again; GREAT INFO!!:)) I’ve often wondered what these Brightly colored bugs were!!:)) (No inclination to feed one)😀✌️ Very impressed to know they migrate!! Thank you again!!:)) Please keep the GREAT videos coming!!!?!!✌️🌸💫
Awe Jenny you made me smile!! This is my intended response! Thanks so much for your kind comments and always encouraging me! Much appreciated!
@@natureatyourdoor, You are TOO KIND!!:)) I was a Biology major/ RN. Had a Big TBI long before I had intended to ‘retire’. Now I eagerly await the fun videos you share!!:) MANY THANKS ✌️
I wish you lived in the Pacific northwest! Your videos are so informative and great. I would learn so much more about the bugs and plants around here from you.
Ha! Thank you so much Monica. I have loved my experiences in Seattle and climbing MT Baker and Mt Adams!
Thanks for the informative video.
You are welcome! Very fun filming the close-ups on this one!
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
This was very informative. We have both common and swamp milkweed growing and these guys add a lot of interest. Did not know they migrated though.
Thank you Paul. Swamp milkweed is my favorite!
I started a milkweed patch & appreciate the info. They are rare in my area but I have had monarchs visit my pollinator garden. Haven’t seen the milkweed beetle yet.
Awesome about your milkweed patch!
This summer is my first experience with these bugs because my swamp milkweed plant grew like it was on steroids this summer in my garden. Great information! Should we let the bugs be or can they become problematic if not kept under control?
Good question! I would let them be! I have heard of them being problematic.
wonderful video, just found one of these today
Thank you Sebastian! I hope you will enjoy exploring my channel.
Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it!
loved this content, super informative Frank! I'm currently working on getting a milkweed colony started. My area has built up a lot and wild milkweed is hard to find. It wasn't ideal timing, but I received 2 common milkweed transplants this summer. They should rebound next year but I'm astounded how bugs find it so quickly. Even though the foliage is looking really sad from the transplant, it has aphids and what appears to be small tussock caterpillars that defoliated most of what is there.
Sounds great Ed thanks for energizing me for next video. Those aphids are likely the invasive oleander aphids and you might want to crush them with your fingers! Great that you are planting milkweed if everyone did that....
Ed I am also growing milkweed plants for the monarchs! Those orange aphids just love milkweed. I fortunately was successful growing many milkweed plants this summer. Everyday I have to go out and crush those little demons! Other plants are right besides the milkweed and have no aphids on them. There are a lot of milkweed bugs also but don't seem to hurt the milkweed. Good luck with your garden. I have many monarch butterflies in my garden now. I think this is their next to last journey before heading to California. I live in the low desert of AZ. My first monarchs arrive in early October.
Those Tussock cats likely did your Milkweed transplants a favor by defoliating them, preventing a lot of evapotranspiration.
The aphids, not so much.
Thanks Frank!
You are welcome James!
Thanks for this info. I noticed these bugs last year. I don't have milkweed but lots of sunflowers.
Do they colonize your sunflowers in same way?
@@natureatyourdoor I think so. They are all over but don't seem to be doing any harm
The bug at 3:47 is cutting the stalk into on my 2ft swamp milkweed I planted about 4 weeks ago. Im pretty sure it's to late in the season to get monarchs so I put some 5% Carbaryl on the plants to control this bug, and I noticed new growth is coming out were the stalk was being cut down.
Interesting. I do know that milkweed will grow back vigorously...even into late summer when cut back!
Great video. I've established a good stand of A. syriaca and just starting on some tuberosa on my property (in Massachusetts) - and did see a whole bunch of Tussock moth caterpillars this year... but the monarchs are very far and few between. Hopefully, they'll eventually find my plants as a stop-over or waypoint on their migration. Will keep my eyes open for the milkweed bugs next year. P.s. I've subscribed to your channel!
Thanks for subbing. Yes...Same experience here...caterpillars are all to few...I often walk road sides and inspect hundreds of individual plants before I se even one. Each year they seem harder to find!
I planted common milkweed transplants I got from friend who was pulling out to throw away. They were doin so nice and even had flower buds, then they started to disappear. I watched the woodchuck eat the flower buds and leaves on the milkweed. I do have some plants left but no flowers this year, hopefully next year. The swamp milkweed I bought for pond last fall did nice and flowered, have not seen milkweed bugs on it, aphids and ladybugs yes.
Terri! Oh my gosh! I never imagined a mammal eating milkweed! That is a first for me....wow...what was that furry guy thinking..it is bad tasting and sticky milky! Nature is amazing.
Fun facts!
😄!
I felt milkweed bugs ate other things besides milkweed because until this summer I had no milkweed in my low desert garden in Az zone 9b but my yard had many, many milkweed bugs.
Hi June! Locally I have only seen milkweed bugs on milkweed but I also know you can keep them in the lab feeding them raw sunflower seeds so they must also be some level of opportunist. Thanks for sharing and including habitat and geographic notes with me and our NAYD learning community!
To save my seeds I place old pantyhose loosely over my pods. Protects them from the bugs and I still get good seed yeilds. :) Helps if you double up or leave it loose on the pod.
Great idea!
@@natureatyourdoor Grandma was genius!
Slightly off topic, I have seen wheelbugs feasting on Japanese beetles... And I encourage this behavior!!! 😂
Ha! Right? Have you seen my assasin bug /wheel bug episode? I think you will like it!
I also have a praying mantis episode where mantis is eating a stink bug! Equally rewarding!
@@natureatyourdoor Will be checking them out with my morning coffee!! Cheers!
Thank you so much for this video!! I have so many questions I hope you can answer because I just started a milkweed patch for the monarch.
Will the milkweed bug have ANY effect re the monarch or can they live together peacefully?
How can I keep aphids (a real problem) off without harming the milkweed, the monarch or the monarch larvae?
Thank you in advance! So glad I found you and will be following from now on!
The milkweed bugs and monarchs can live peacefully together. The caterpillars eat the leaves and the milkweed bugs are on the seed pods with their interest in the seeds. Aphids? Well..the suck. Pun intended. If aphid numbers get to high..I manually crush them on the leaves with my fingers! Keep in touch..let me know how it goes!
thanks ! just found a bunch on my milkweed plant and was wondering what they are--milkweed bugs!!
Glad I could help!
I love going out on the back 40 looking for insects to photograph. Bern seeing many, some of which I have never seen in the 50 years I have lived around here.
Hi Samanth! I hear you! Insects are fascinating...so many unique adaptations and I am really enjoying spending time with them to get close up video to see them in a new way! Thanks for share! I hope you will go to my insect play list and see more of my insect episodes! Check out my Hellgramite episode..I thought that one was really special!
@@natureatyourdoor I will do that! Also joined on FB. I love insects and I found that if you talk to them, they listen...well, except for ticks, mosquitoes, and such.....but others do. Allergic to bees and have them all over me (and have disrupted nests), but we have an understanding and I haven't been stung in years. I have yellow jackets that come to me like hummingbirds. I feed them out of bottle caps. My kids think I am crazy. 🤣
@@samanthadoe4742 😃👍👍👍👍
I’ve seen these little guys for years on my milkweed - great info. But big question - do they adversely affect monarchs in any way?
That is a very good question rising waters! Unlike invasive species that swoop in with no checks and balances milkweed, monarchs, milkweed bugs, milkweed beetles coevolved over millions of years. The milkweed bugs are focused on sap and mostly nutrition inside seeds...caterpillars focused on consuming entire leaves so overall
...all in balance. The oleander aphids are invasive!
@@natureatyourdoor
The aphids aren't native here??
That with my question. Do you have a presentation on thr aphids on milkweed. For some reason I'm not seeing any caterpillars on my milkweed this year.
Very timely post! My milkweed is covered with milkweed bugs 😑
I knew they would be! 😉 Thank you for checking in!!!
@@natureatyourdoor I tried staying on top of removing the seed pods (once I had harvested a few for next year's crop), but these plants are so prolific they got away from me. Now my yard is covered in white fluff and the bugs are literally everywhere. 🤣 At least I have collected about a dozen monarch caterpillars to keep them safe from the wasps. This is my first year with monarchs in my yard, and your videos about their care have been super helpful. Thank you! 💛🧡
@@ashleighnelson512 awesome! great to hear of your passion and contribution to this endangered phenomenon! Keep in touch!
So talking about coloration, if you feed them sunflower seeds for a few generations will the color change? Is yellow a common color to see in milkweed bugs? This Is what I’ve noticed about the milkweed bugs we’ve been feeding sunflower seeds on but I’m not sure if it’s just due to a mutation in coloration.
Interesting! I don't know the answer. but an interesting observation.
Are the milkweed seeds damage by the bugs? How will I know if I want to save the seeds?
Yes! They digest/suck nutrition from seeds. Numerous seeds in pod..there will always be plenty of viable seeds. More difficult is the scarification process need for seeds to sprout successfully!
I was wondering if they harm all the seeds or by opening the seed pod they are helping spread the seeds and create more milkweed
They will only harm the seeds they are feeding on. They won't open the seed pod...that will occur naturally as seeds mature. There are plenty of seeds in lots of seed pods. Rest assured there is little worry about a few seeds predated! 🙂
Mine does not have any markings underneath and it is quite adult size any ideas?
? Send photo to natureatyourdooryt@gmail.com
I don't see these guys much anymore, but when I did they were usually around trees, and had more of a blue/purple coloring along with the bright orange, I wonder if they vary in colors in different areas?
Hi Alaris TheDruid. Perhaps you were seeing Box Elder Bug? Google images for that and tell me what you think. Your comment that you usually see them around trees makes me think that!
@@natureatyourdoor I would say they're more like the milkweed bugs as they don't have those big red eyes on the box elder, but they are certainly very similar!
@@maiasaura.2019 you are definitely on top of your insect ID. If you have photos you can post as a visitor on my NAYD facebook page. Very interesting to me!
@@natureatyourdoor Sure thing! I should see if I can look around for them and get some pictures of them sometime. They sure are interesting little creatures :-)
@@maiasaura.2019 thanks Alaris. I share here but I also learn A LOT from my viewers, too!!!
Are milkweed bugs beneficial - thanks
They are beneficial in a way that all insects are as part of a balanced ecology. To they have "value" to humans...do they do anything that would help in things we humans might value? I would say no. Lol!
Do pods grow on all milkweed plants?
Pretty much , if they have time to grow to maturity. I often see immature milkweed growing later in fall with no visible pods or flowers. They are resprouts from root stock of milkweed cut by mowing . They may resprout several times during a mowing season.
I found them stay together on my pink lady apples Eden the apples are still green. Do you think they are sucking the Apple juice?
First I have to ask ...could they have been box elder bugs because: In fall, box elder bugs will feed, like stink bugs, on developing fruits like apples and pears. Numerous insects feeding on the fruit cause damage called “catfacing,” which results in lumpy and misshapen fruit. It is on fruit trees that these insects are most likely to cause actual damage. I need to study more about milkweed bugs to see if they do fruit as well.
I did find this: Description
Despite its common name, the milkweed bug feeds on many types of crop, including apricot, citrus, cotton, maize, mangoes, millet, sorghum, sunflower and sweet potato. Adults feed either alone or in small groups. Generally, the milkweed bug is regarded as a minor pest. Occasionally, however, large numbers occur on plants. The reason for this is unknown. Unlike many other pests which feed on leaves or stems, milkweed bugs feed on the seeds. The bug injects a digestive saliva into the seed that dissolves the contents, which it then sucks up. Seeds that have been attacked shrivel up and die, and seed pods may deform.
Are the orange aphids good or bad? Are they the beginning of the butterfly caterpillar and eventual butterfly?
Orange Aphids can reproduce in high enough numbers to severely impact the milkweed plant. They reproduce by parthenogenisis...as single female aphid will produce many offspring. I need to do an episode on the orange aphids found on milkweed plants. In the meantime ..check out my monarch buttery videos that explain the whole life story from,egg to adult butterfly.
@@natureatyourdoor thank you !
I enjoyed this video.
I learned that Oleander Aphids are invasive, and that Milkweed Bugs are migratory.
Plus I learned how to sex Milkweed Bugs.
Pretty cool Madcity Jack!
Are these bugs detrimental to milkweed seed pods?
To some of the seeds on the milkweed pod they are on but not in the big picture. Not invasive.
Now this is the kind of advertised content I want!! ❤️🪲
Thank you A Moth!
Hello again. I need to ask a question. The Milkweed bug will it eat other plant life. Like tall Phlox.
Hi Alma. It is possible but I haven't observed them on phlox. One can colonize them in the lab on raw sunflower seeds so I imagine that they could move to other seeds if their first choice is not available!
The reason I'm asking. My Phlox is being wiped out. Don't know what to do. I don't use insectcides.
I haven't saw Milkweed in my area in quite awhile. I'm not saying it isn't here, I have not saw any. I know what Milkweed is.
I live in Southwest Va.
Tell me about the milk weed beetle. Help!!!!!!
These always appear in my house. What attracts them?
That is curious. I dont know!!
I found out they like to infest Foxgloves as well. It seems that the nymphs love to feed on the flower stems and also gather under the leaves. Been throwing infested clippings in a water effect that contains guppies who are enjoying them very much. Don't know about toxic, but guppies are indestructible. They've even found a species living in sulfuric acid in a a cave in Mexico.
Ah guppies! My first fish...and of course they multiplied!
@@natureatyourdoor 🤣. Yes. Out of control. Had to bring some to the pet shop a couple months ago "I don't want to know" as I walked out the store.
@@manwithaporpoiseYTsucksD 😁
im just here for science class
Awesome! Welcome Rintaro!
is this venomous?
Probably poisonous but not venomous!
Can pray mantids eat them?
Good question. Praying mantsis will eat stink bugs readily but not sure about these.
@@natureatyourdoor uh oh bc i just fed my pet mantid some😰😰😰
I am surprised that birds don't eat them all. They look very delicious.
They have that warning coloration recognized by predators as stinging or bad tasting! It works! :-)
@@natureatyourdoor Or perhaps birds can't see the orange color like humans do, so they don't see them as food. Wild animals don't see things like we do. In nature, most insects have colors and tastes similar to the plants they eat. Some insects use extra energy to make their own stinky and yucky taste and strange colors, to avoid being eaten. This is my theory. LOL
Ck out this link on aposematic coloration in nature: www.amazingnature-nancygoor.com/warning-colors.html
@@natureatyourdoor The question is, is it really poisonous to birds? Is orange the color of a toxin? Aposematic coloration is a human theory based on our perception of nature, which has nothing to do with what other predators actually perceive in nature. Say dogs are color blind and can only see blue and yellow. They rely on smell, not vision to find preys. I doubt if they can distinguish between an orange lizard and a piece of brown feces.
@@trumplostlol3007 true...I do know they carry the toxic alkolids from milkweed plant.
True bugs are any insects in the Suborder Hemiptera
👍😃
I found one in my car and I am terrified 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Oh noooo! 😞
They totally kill a milkweed plant. I’ve lost so many to them!
Where do you live? Locally in VA I have not seen them in large enough numbers to kill a plant! Tell me more!
@@natureatyourdoor I live in Southwest Florida. I’ve lost so many Asclepius plants to them that I’m afraid to plant anymore of them. And those little bugs are hard to get rid of.
So sad. Almost a year on TH-cam and less than 1000 likes. Humans have their priorities all the way messed up
Well......I work hard to have strong content and teach something new each week! Hoping my outreach can grow!
Mr Frank you do such an amazing job!!! I have been binge watching your videos and I have learned so much. I live in Louisiana and my family has a rather large dairy farm. I planted several plants about 5 years ago, I only knew them as "butterfly bushes". I recently got a few from a local nursery and I was researching where best to plant them. That's when I discovered that the plants I have grown to love is actually "MILK WEED"! Up until now I have always heard that term from my Brother in law. I have heard him complain about "MILK WEED" in the hay fields!!!! We will be having science class over Sunday dinner!!! Thanks so much!!!! Have a good one and May God bless y'all!@natureatyourdoor
Are these kissing bugs? Dont kissing bugs cause deseases.
Yes...kissing bugs carry disease. and no while in the bug family..distantly related to blood sucking kissing bugs. These are strictly plant feeders. And yes...you are right ..they have a similar overall shape and proboscis!