{"id":19972,"date":"2022-06-21T09:58:27","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T13:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/?p=19972"},"modified":"2022-06-21T09:58:27","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T13:58:27","slug":"will-aphids-harm-milkweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Will ants and aphids harm milkweed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Question:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>We have both common and swamp milkweed in the backyard. This year we have noticed ants and aphids in the plants. We understand about their symbiotic relationship but wondered if they would damage the plant or the monarch caterpillars. If so, what is the best way to get ride of them?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Answer:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Pamela Hargest, Horticulture Professional<\/em><\/p>\n<div>Sometimes aphids can cause damage to milkweed, but this isn&#8217;t always the case. Anecdotally speaking, I&#8217;ve never witnessed a situation where aphid feeding harms monarch caterpillar populations. However, since the Oleander Aphid\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: arial, sans-serif\">(<em>Aphis nerii)<\/em>\u00a0is an introduced species to the US, it doesn&#8217;t hurt to mechanically remove them from your milkweed plants. You can do this by simply rubbing them off the branch. I&#8217;d recommend wearing gloves since it can be a sticky situation!<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #101c35;font-family: arial, sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #101c35;font-family: arial, sans-serif\">Here is a brief article about this topic:\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.sdstate.edu\/are-aphids-milkweed-really-bad-thing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/extension.sdstate.edu\/are-aphids-milkweed-really-bad-thing&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1655904754801000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2N76YjPEHZzdQtWkTpgmLP\">https:\/\/extension.sdstate.edu\/are-aphids-milkweed-really-bad-thing<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: We have both common and swamp milkweed in the backyard. This year we have noticed ants and aphids in the plants. We understand about their symbiotic relationship but wondered if they would damage the plant or the monarch caterpillars. If so, what is the best way to get ride of them? Answer: Pamela Hargest, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask","category-pests"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Will ants and aphids harm milkweed? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will ants and aphids harm milkweed? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: We have both common and swamp milkweed in the backyard. This year we have noticed ants and aphids in the plants. We understand about their symbiotic relationship but wondered if they would damage the plant or the monarch caterpillars. If so, what is the best way to get ride of them? Answer: Pamela Hargest, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-21T13:58:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"twood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"twood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"twood\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518\"},\"headline\":\"Will ants and aphids harm milkweed?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-21T13:58:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\"},\"wordCount\":154,\"articleSection\":[\"Ask the Expert\",\"Managing Insect, Diseases, and Animal Pests\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\",\"name\":\"Will ants and aphids harm milkweed? - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-21T13:58:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#\/schema\/person\/9f0056a6c4a281b4f517e1313fa2c518\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/2022\/06\/21\/will-aphids-harm-milkweed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will ants and aphids harm milkweed?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/gardening\/\",\"name\":\"Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard\",\"description\":\"Information you can use. 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