You need to get all aphids off and keep off. You can use a hard spray of water, or squish off like me. They will suck out all of the juices of your plant. Also, too much water can cause the leaves to yellow. I too have mine in pots and usually water daily. Too much water will result in yellow and dropping leaves. Hope this helps.

I agree, the aphids are probably the cause. Put on some plastic gloves and enjoy washing them off. I use a flat setting, and it blast them off.

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed leaf Problems

great advice and website--thank you

I use a small paint brush (1-1/2") to brush them off (sometimes onto a paper towel, if I have time) and then I kill as many of them as I can. Sometimes, I'll just use a spray bottle filled with water to blast them off.

I know one thing, those little things are a pain and almost impossible to get rid of. I recall reading somewhere that ladybugs will eat them. I wonder, is this is true????

Anyway, good luck to you.

B

Hey

I'm in Texas too. Some of my milkweed appears to be unhappy with all the rain we got from the two tropical storms that hit Mexico. If you got a lot of rain from the storms too, I am thinking your milkweed has been over-watered. Tropical milkweed is quite drought tolerant. Too much water makes the leaves turn yellow and fall off on mine.

my giant milkweeds (2) looked very healthy for a long time; now the leaves get spots, turn yellow and drop to the ground. I have noticed more OE in my monarchs recently - wonder if there is a connection. My "scarlet" ascepias don't do the yellowing much. The caterpillars eat them down to sticks so there is a period in the early winter where there isn't anything for them to eat. Heard that was better - I live in Florida - and feeding year round can result in more OE. It is so sad to see those curled wings and the legs flailing. I guess there are no sprays? I just squish the little yellow "bugs" that are on the ascepias. I see no bugs on the giant milkweed.

You can prevent OE by spraying a solution on monarch catapilars. If you go to livemonarch.com they sell it. It last two years and is very effective. I have been raising caterpillars for 3 years and so far non of them have had OE. Hope this helps.

Minty - I know this is years old, but i went and ordered that "spray" off of the site. I'm hoping it helps with OE. Living in FL, it is always an issue.

I asked Edith Smith of Shady Oak Butterfly Farm about it. Her reply : "Every single pathologist I've spoken with says the same thing - bleach. If one is allergic to bleach, an expensive hospital disinfectant with quaternary ammonium will work. They say to use nothing else."

When I first got my giant milkweed, a butterfly immediately landed after I potted it. it was wonderful to have caterpillars and watch them become butterflies. Now I am not getting any butterflies near it. Is there something I need to do?

Where are you located? It might be that the Monarchs have moved through your region, so will be rare until they migrate back through in the fall.

Martha