Question About Pesticides

[Gwynne]

Today, I was in a hurry to get back to work at lunch time. I passed a nice patch of milkweed that I had seen previously. I am running low on nice food near my home. I checked quickly and didnt see any pests and grabbed the top 4 or 5 inches of three plants. Now I am worried that the lack of pests means that they were treated with pesticide. They were growing along the side of the road and not near anything that I feel should have been treated with pesticide, but you never know. Also, these didnt have pink blooms, but I know they were milkweed. I do see one egg on the leaves. Does the lack of pests mean these were exposed to pesticide or could it be because their were no open pods? The last group of milkweed that I got near my work that was very nice had some pests. Not lots, but some. And there was orange stuff all over the leaves that I had to wash off. I guess some type of seed. But these leaves are really clean. Should I be grateful or worried? I also stepped in a patch of poisen ivy getting them.

[Farfalla]

I have lots of plants in my garden that still look good.,,But It's difficult to know for sure about pesticides when the milkweed is from anywhere other than your own garden. I'd wash the leaves first and hope for the best.

[Gwynne]

I think they are okay. I spoke with someone knowledgable about monarchs and he thought they would be all right. Also, on the way home from work today, I found another patch up the road from where I found ll the healther caterpillars last week and that was virtually pest free.