Mmathis
TurtleMommy
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Messages
- 14,229
- Reaction score
- 8,294
- Location
- NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Over the past couple of years I've posted about my issues with Oleander aphids attacking and weakening my Swamp Milkweed [asclepias incarnata] plants. I have yet to have blooms -- much less Monarchs -- and as of last season, I more or less gave up on ever having any successful plants. I posted on various forums and read about every article I could find on how to eliminate the pests. Somewhere along the way I set a "reminder" for myself that around May/June of each year I should start looking for them on the plants so I could take preemptive action. Ho, hum!
So this season, there is a beautiful "crop" of SM growing out of the turtle bog. The stalks are 4+ feet tall with multiple, multiple branching.....and.....Oleander aphids. I wasn't going to do anything since nothing I tried in the past worked. But this "crop" was just too nice to give up on. So, as a last resort [have I mentioned that I don't really like bugs?], I decided to try and remove them all by hand.....from every stalk, every leaf, every leaf bud...... But guess what! That was about a month ago, AND THEY HAVEN'T COME BACK!!!! I'm so excited! So something DID finally work! It was the one thing I didn't want to try -- and the easiest and safest for the other beneficial critters -- because I thought it was too yucky and I didn't have faith in that particular method.
Moral: "Never give up / Never surrender!"
Now, whether I'll have blooms or not, or if I'll be blessed with Monarchs......
For those who don't know, this is what an infestation of Oleander aphids looks like. This is a google image, not my own.
So this season, there is a beautiful "crop" of SM growing out of the turtle bog. The stalks are 4+ feet tall with multiple, multiple branching.....and.....Oleander aphids. I wasn't going to do anything since nothing I tried in the past worked. But this "crop" was just too nice to give up on. So, as a last resort [have I mentioned that I don't really like bugs?], I decided to try and remove them all by hand.....from every stalk, every leaf, every leaf bud...... But guess what! That was about a month ago, AND THEY HAVEN'T COME BACK!!!! I'm so excited! So something DID finally work! It was the one thing I didn't want to try -- and the easiest and safest for the other beneficial critters -- because I thought it was too yucky and I didn't have faith in that particular method.
Moral: "Never give up / Never surrender!"
Now, whether I'll have blooms or not, or if I'll be blessed with Monarchs......
For those who don't know, this is what an infestation of Oleander aphids looks like. This is a google image, not my own.