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What To Do If You Find Milkweed Bugs On Your Plants
By TIFFANY SELVEY
It can be challenging to deal with milkweed bugs on a plant, as you want to eliminate them without harming the larvae of monarch butterflies that feed exclusively on milkweed.
Unless the bugs are doing visible damage to your plants, it might be best to do nothing and let the bugs enjoy their seeds while the caterpillars munch on the leaves.
If the bugs take over the plant before it produces seed pods, it's a good idea to intervene. You may use pesticides to kill the bugs, but they'll also kill the monarch larvae.
Therefore, the best way of removing milkweed bugs is to knock them into a bucket of soapy water and let them drown.
Though it may sound a bit icky, you may have to hand-pick milkweed bugs a few times to eliminate the entire population since the nymphs can easily hide under leaves.