Subject: Milkweed Bug
Geographic location of the bug: Central Florida
Date: 02/14/2019
Time: 12:04 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hello Bugman!
While visiting friends in Rockledge, Florida, they showed me one of their milkweed plants that had many of these milkweed bugs on them. I haven’t, in the past, considered them to be harmful to milkweed, but would (roughly) 20 insects on one plant kill the it?
They are pesticide-free (unlike much of the rest of Florida ah-hem), so they’re either letting them be or picking them off. What advice can I give them?
Thank you!
How you want your letter signed: Kenda
Hi Kenda,
Large Milkweed Bugs will not harm the plant. They do feed on seeds, so large numbers of Large Milkweed Bugs might reduce seed production, but again, they do not harm the milkweed plants.
Excellent news! Thanks for all you do, Daniel, to make the planet a better place!
Cheers,
Kenda