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!
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?
@@natureatyourdoorbut if they eat the seeds there will be no flowers for the monarch butterflies to get their source of nourishment? Am I thinking correctly?
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!
Very informative! Thank you so much for this information. I have hundreds of Milkweed plants and see them bugs all the time. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of them though. I just like how they hide when I’m looking at them!
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!
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
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! 🙂
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.
I have milkweed bugs all over my milkweed without any pods on them. The bugs have eaten all the flowers off my milkweed without any pods on them. Hanging out on the leaves as well. My monarchs are now without the flowers to feed on.
Wow....just looked that up! While the seeds are still the preferred food they can and will eat other parts of plant. Thanks for teaching ME! You seem to have an uncommon infestation!
@@natureatyourdoor I go out a few times a day and find more on them. Have been using your method of soapy water to eradicate them. What a big task it has been.
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.
@@natureatyourdooryes it does and that’s fantastic. I have a rotating crop of milkweed. I raise monarch’s and don’t want to run out of food like I did last year. I had 12 caterpillars and 6 plants. I was lucky enough to find more that same day. Started propagating milkweed that very day.
I just noticed these for the first time about a month ago, but since one of the larger ones was kinda shaped like a boxelder bug, I assumed thats what they were.
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!!!?!!✌️🌸💫
@@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 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.
@@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! 💛🧡
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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. 🤣
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
@@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.
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 :-)
@@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
@@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.
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!
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.
