Gwynne, Thanks. I'm sorry too. :( I feel bad that I just couldn't keep up with things and try to keep my sanity so I backed off and that's what happened. My husband says I act like I have to save every Monarch in the world. I do try to save all of them that I can, but then it just gets to be too much. I am convinced now more than ever of the parasite problems that Monarchs face. I think probably almost every one of the caterpillars and pupas that didn't make it had strings hanging down from them. I saw the fly pupa on the bottom of the containers. I'm just now coming to an end of having those problems because I'm strictly bringing in eggs and that's absolutely it. I figure if I see a caterpillar, chances are one of its enemies probably spotted it before I did and already laid eggs on it, so I don't even bother bringing any in. I'm finding less eggs these days than I had been. My biggest day I had this summer was 93 found eggs, but now when I got out it's more like 10-20. So I can tell the season is kind of winding down. I supposed I'll be releasing butterflies a month from now yet or probably even into October (only a few). My biggest release day was 29 butterflies on August 18 (a week ago today). Mostly all of those eclosed in my butterfly cage. I didn't keep track of how many dead caterpillars and pupas I had from when I brought them in as caterpillars when I was getting back into raising them, but I'd guess that it was 30 or so that didn't make it. Of the ones that I collected outside as caterpillars, far more died than what lived. Probably the ones that lived were the founds I found as tiny caterpillars before anything had a chance to find them. The ones in the butterfly cage were collected as eggs. We put 109 caterpillars in the cage; only two didn't make it. So I think that says a lot about how much better their chances are when they're collected as eggs and raised inside. Last year I didn't collect eggs at all. I was a novice and only collected the caterpillars. It's a wonder many of them made it, but I successfully raised 70 Monarch cats. I think I only had about 8 that didn't make it last year. So I think their parasites are a lot worse this year. Yes, I agree with you about the tachinid flies being disgusting. Sorry about your problems that you had before. I guess we probably all go through those things unfortunately, but at least now we know how bad the problem really is. I don't get rid or normal-looking larva, but if I see a pupa that looks funny, I do dispose of it because I know that either it will result in flies or else the butterfly will be deformed when it ecloses. Thanks for all the information. It was really interesting and now I've learned even more. Sherry, I absolutely agree with you about not bringing in caterpillars. If I ever take a break again, like back off from collecting eggs for a week or two each year. I found out from collecting caterpillars outside that very few of them make it. I've been taking my pain pills lately and it's not quite so hard on my back collecting the eggs, but it's still not pain-free. Oh, how I wish I had gotten into this when I was younger, but then again, I had kids, so that took up my time and I wouldn't have had the time to spare. Ha, even now I wonder how I'd do it if I'd get more eggs than I've already been getting. It's time-consuming, no doubt about it. I've been trying to put a bunch in small storage containers thinking maybe that would save time. I'm not sure if it saves that much. There's just no real easy way to do this without putting most of my waking hours into it. I spend more time with the caterpillars than I do my family. Yes, those Tachinid flies are definitely disgusting. If I see any outside when I'm out there, I'll whoop their hairy little butts. :) Btw, I enjoyed reading about them in your blog just as I've loved reading everything else you have on there. You have really good information! How many years have you been raising Monarchs now? Like you, I watch the pupae closely and if any start having a strange look, they get isolated. I have one right now that I'm wondering about. It's not that it doesn't look healthy. It has a nice plump look, but its stripes don't have the usual look. There's a criss-cross type pattern on part of it. I took a few pictures of it and will post them when my daughter gets them off of her camera and onto the computer. I bet that about had your blood boiling to let the Tachinid Fly hatch. ;-) Cathy

What *is* the predator of the slug or snail? pazzaglia asks. Snakes eat slugs. Here in the Northwest, where our snakes are not poisonous, they do more for the garden than not. I jump/scream every time I see them, yet realize they are hard at work. We have watched them swallow a large slug. The slug mucus's up and must be like swallowing dry dirt clods. It takes an hour or more for him to get it down his throat...a discusting display, yet very interesting. Once the slug is gone, his face is sticky and he wants to clean it up so he whipes his head all over the groud trying to get the goo off. Sometimes other snakes come to the feast wanting the catch..I'm not sure why as I live in the slug capital. There is plenty to go around. Idea: fill a spray bottle with water and add about 1/4 cup plain ammonia. Spray under the leaves of plants where you see the very smallest slugs, snails. The solution will kill them and the nitrogen will aid the plant. Oh, hte best preditor is MAN!! Smiles, D.....

This is my firs posting and I can see this is an old discussion but will try. I am also fighting the yellow bugs on my hoya. My fault for keeping it outside whjile we were living in a rental while we built a new house. My hoya is large and old. I started it from one leaf from my mother-in-law almost 40 years ago. It has never had bugs until a year ago. I have been fighting these yellow bugs on the new growth for the past year. I am going to try the alcohol treatment with water bath (insecticidal soap did not work in long term). I see that Amazon has Bayer Tree & Schrub on its website but it also has an Bayer insectide for aphids etc. Has anyone tried that?

Why not use Bayer 3-in-1 for Insects Disease and Mites? It's a spray, so you'd need to move the plants outdoors and spray and wait until they dry. I use it because I got a seriously bad reaction from ALL my plants when I used Marathon, which is Imidacloprid in a granular vehicle. It wasn't the Imidacloprid that caused issues, it was the vehicle - about the consistency of sawdust and it wrecked the aeration built into the gritty mix. I almost lost several valuable bonsai I am quite attached to after having cared for them for 30 or so years. I still have a 5 lb container of the wretched stuff if anyone wants it? They make 2 versions of this product. The big box stores sell an entirely different product (same name) than the one with Imidacloprid (systemic insecticide), Tebuconazole (systemic fungicide), and Tau-Fluvalinate (miticide). I use it as a fixative and a prophylactic for containerized plants. It works very well. I know they still make it because I just bought a case of 8 quarts in the concentrate form. See it here. Your other option would be to purchase a soil drench with 1.47% Imidacloprid and mix it 2 tsp/quart of water. Be sure the entire soil mass gets saturated. It should last about 6 months. Al