Milkweed bugs do not really harm the plants; however, "they use their beak or rostrum to pierce and feed on milkweed seeds, rendering them inviable. The damage is often difficult to see." Since milkweed is vital to monarchs, Ohioans (at least - perhaps other states as well) are being urged to take part in the Milkweed seed collection project .

I tend several public gardens in my area and have been going out with containers of soapy water & knocking the bugs into them in hopes of gathering a quantity of viable seed from the butterfly weed to submit to the project and also am collecting seed from common milkweed growing in waste places. This soapy water technique is very effective (if time-consuming) and is one I use to help control many pest species of insects in my gardens.

Thanks for the info

Weedlady

Do you think I could plant some now to see if they are good or not. Have some I didn't see the beatle on.

("Beatle" -- John, Paul, George, or Ringo?? LOL)

Unfortunately, no. Milkweed seed needs to go through a period or cycle of chilling to break dormancy. Prairie Moon Nursery has detailed instructions on germinating native seed. See Info on seed-starting .

Myself, I put the seed into a zip bag with some just-moist seed-starter mix and keep it in the fridge from now until just after Christmas, then take it out and put the baggie where I can keep an eye on it to watch for germinating seeds. Or I'll just go ahead & plant the seeds into a pot(s) of suitable size for the number of seeds you have ,or as I sometimes do, into cell packs (filled with moist soilless mix/seed starter) , one seed to a cell and put the cell packs into a flat covered with a clear plastic dome and put the flat under lights in my basement. Once the seeds germinate & have a set of true leaves, I pot them on into individual 2-3" pots. Fun stuff for boring, cold, dark, January!

These are tropical milkweed??