Thank you
@luvsgrtdanes. I'm back with information from one of our members who is an expert in the field. He's even been quoted in one of the articles I read while googling. (At least I'm impressed.) Here's his exact words with several sidebars by me:
"If a single Cat is present and there are thousands and thousands of aphids - I would likely just move the Cat. If there are several cats and/or eggs present, I would not even blast the aphids with a stream of water. Nor use soapy water nor anything else. Then I squish them. A pain - but if you keep up with squishing, you can get them under control - more or less. At least to the point that they will not destroy the plant. And they will destroy a plant if there are thousands and you do nothing.
I have never seen any evidence that Insecticidal Soap has a residual effect. Neem oil is up for grabs.
Note that I usually do not apply anything at all. Only in BAD cases. But I am pragmatic. ~ 6 weeks ago I had > 130 cats disappear in 24 hours. Conclusion was birds. Earlier I had over 30 eggs dropped by a remigrant April 9 disapper over night.
With stuff like that "natural" I have no problem trashing a few tens of thousands of aphids with insecticidal soap.
Not sure about one single picture - I am sure they are out there. But these are the "bugs" that are problematical.
Aphids
Milkweed bug - small
Milkweed bug - large
Milkweed beetle (We seem to not have these here) [Sidebar: he's in Missouri]
Essentially, there may be other "bugs" present, but most cause little or no damage.
With one exception. Earwigs. [Sidebar: the mere mention of 'earwigs' gives me the willies.]
They can cause a lot of damage by eating the top portions of stems off. This can severely damage the plant so bad that it will not recover in the season.
Another major problem I have encountered is the animal - vole. A MW plant suddenly starts turning brown and/or dieing.
So there you have it. I did look at some bug pictures online but none matched your description. But I wasn't wearing my glasses.
Feel free to ask more questions and let us know how things go.
