I have bright orange aphids on milkweed. I removed by hand, more next day. Sprayed w neem , huge 3-day rainstorms. Today aphids back w one ladybug. Saw monarch yesterday do not want to spray.

I've always just blasted any plants with aphids with water blasts from my hose. I used to get them bad on 50 oleanders that lined the back side of my back yard in Texas City. That worked pretty well, since hand picking wasn't practical. Bought a bag of ladybugs (I hoped real ladybugs) and set them among the trees and the problem then was only bad on the new shoots in spring if I had to cut them down to the ground after a hard freeze. That approach for aphids has always worked on roses, too. I will reach for the neem oil on small plants though. Don't want to blast them to death. ;)

I use a water pitcher and while pouring with one hand, I wipe off the aphids with the other. It's a daily job, but it works.

Those bright orange aphids seem to be the bane of Milkweed. I had ladybug nymphs eating them all spring and thought the problem was solved. But the ladybugs grew up and flew away looking for greener (oranger) pastures. Now the aphids are back in full force.

I ignore them as they seem to stay exclusively on the milkweed.

Thanks. As long as they don't damage the plants or harm monarchs at any stage I can leave them.

They tend to focus on new growth. I've read that the only plants they are found on is milkweed. I found little yellow specks all over the new growth on mine; I was apparently slacking on removing them.

I also get the orange aphids on the milkweed. They do not seem to hurt the plant . Often they disappear and return in a few days? This year, they went away and never returned. They may show up to.orrow, but I do nothing. At times I also get harlequin bug in masses on my milkweed, the milkweed looks fine , I never spray.

I have these for the first time this year. My infestation is severe, and my plant is showing signs of distress. @BigBill suggested to use a tissue to wipe them off when I posted the same question. I was using water (useless) and was afraid I was washing my baby cats away. I did not want to spray with anything either. The tissue wipe is somewhat successful. I raised 4 baby cats to maturity while wiping the leaves. This morning I was wiping the leaves and noticed 4 new baby cats, so evidently I am not harming them . With the severe infestation I had doing nothing was not an option. Re harlequin bugs; I have those, too. It is a lot easier to kill them in the nymph stage; when they are adults they move fast and have a tendency to fly away!

I've got those around my house as well. I've had great success with a spray bottle with water and a touch of dish soap as suggested to me on this forum.