Must be very frustrating, Loretta

Well, I wouldn't say they are neighbors from hell at all. They are very nice people. I mentioned it once but they said one of them is allergic. I have been meaning to introduce them to mosquito bits but every time I go by Home Depot, I forget what I wanted from there and then when I try to add it to my shopping list, I again forget why I opened the list but it did get on there finally. (And I always blamed my kids' ADD on my husband! )
The thing is, there are still millions of mosquitos!
I will try again but next time insist that if they want to spray their yard, they need to find a way to eliminate the drift.

Im amazed at how many musquitos get on me, just sitting on the ground in shade near moist ground in my yard where I KNOW no standing water has been nearby. Then I go to the park by the river and dont see any on me.
I wonder if anyone has researched spraying shrubs and moist ground with Bt for mosquitoes.

Without looking into it, I Believe that bt works by the larvae eating the bacteria. Some use it for fungus gnats by soaking the bits in water. Not sure that you can use it as a spray.

Well, I left the milkweed beetles in place (even though they are disgusting) because spraying them would kill any Monarch eggs or caterpillars. And a good thing too -- my very first Monarch caterpillar!!

I leave those milkweed bugs alone as well. Although I've never seen that many of them, usually I see just a few here and there. And I agree, they're disgusting, and I'm hopeful that something bigger comes along to eat them!

I really have a lot of them right now - but just on one plant. I thought about cutting off the top of the plant, but then I saw the caterpillar. It took me three years and several tries to get the seeds to germinate, and then another three years to get to today. I'm pretty disgusted with the bugs, but excited for the caterpillar. Living in condos, there is not much room to grow a pollinator garden, but looks like it can be done. And now four of my neighbors also have put in small pollinator gardens too. Not exactly a pathway, but close enough.

I wonder if the weather has anything to do with the abundance of them this year
I have more than I've ever had

Could be - I saw maybe one last year, but nothing like this year.

I feel like they come and go, hard to say why, like the orange aphids i think its an average year in my garden, for MW seed bugs.

Interesting - the beetles have all just left just these past few days, and now orange aphids showed up. Could the beetles have been eating the aphids? Did the colder nights chase off the beetles so now I have aphids?? Hmmm.

No idea. Aphids thrive in the hot nights here. I have a lot of different plants outside and those aphids don't seem to be spreading to other plants. If that continues, that's fine with me. The hummingbirds still visit them, and butterflies.

I found 5 monarch caterpillars munching away on aphid-covered plants this morning. Excitement! I separated them a bit, 2 were eating the same leaf on the same plant. I put each one on a new plant that hasn't been munched at all yet.

I call this a success story!


After taking the pic, I moved them to separate spots with more leaves.

purpleinopp said: I call this a success story!


After taking the pic, I moved them to separate spots with more leaves.

Well done, Tiffany!

Looks like they are almost done, Tiffany. Yesterday, my last caterpillar became a chrysalis totaling only five.

These were from August. That's all I had and no "cats". Maybe next year will be better.

purpleinopp said: I call this a success story!


After taking the pic, I moved them to separate spots with more leaves.

Have you ever witnessed them head butting (more like swinging heads and smacking) when the other gets too close?

Sounds like a real cat fight!

Lol!