I am finding some gravel roads near our farm with tons of milkweed. I am about 10 days behind from last year. Last year I had Monarchs hatching by June 17, this year it will probably be this weekend for my first ones. Thank you for all your nice comments, I admit 300 at a time is a bit too much, I am so tired every day. Last Friday was my day off from work but I devoted 9 hours just to tending to all the catepillars. I can't be doing that all the time, luckily alot of them are now chrysalises so... it is not as bad. I am thinking by mid July we should be seeing alot of Monarchs here, so far I have only seen one here and there but obviously they are here, with all the eggs and catepillars I have found. Course once I release mine will help. I plan on taking alot of photos once I release them so beware! LOL.

Well, know in advance that by letting nature take its course, that you run the risk of predation. Wasps are one of the biggest predators 'out in the wild' as are some of the spiders. In my garden, the jumping spiders are the biggies. Personally? If I wanted the little guys to hopefully, make it to adulthood, then I'd put them into small containers and feed them by hand, to to speak. I have info about this on my various websites (you can check any of them for info on raising butterflies...I am revising my Monarch guide but you can still access it). As for watering the garden? I don't think it hurts them any. I have hosed off the Oleander Aphids off of my Milkweed without even knowing I had Monarch larvae on the plants and didn't hurt them before. With regards to where they are going to pupate? Caterpillars are odd...they will pupate where THEY want to. You could put all the goodies you think they will want to pupate on and sure enough, they won't use ANY of your good intentioned items. The goofy things will go and pupate on some odd item or plant or...(I'm notorious for my larvae pupating in weird spots so I know this is definitely the case!). Don't worry about having anything special for them. They're like human children and will do what THEY want regardless of what YOU want. tee-hee! My Butterfly Guide tdogmom

OKSandy the Spicebush do take a while, I wonder why? I have had Spicebush cats from the beginning of June! Not the same ones but, a continuing stream of them..I just found three more in the past two days. They will over-winter I bet.. I went on a hike yesterday and finally found Spicebush-all the time I have found the cats on Sassafrass. What a great smell! I knew it was SB the moment I broke the leaf-I put it in the cage with the ones I had and they are eating it up.. I will miss all my little cats when the season ends..I was so happy to find those eggs-that means I'll have cats for just a few more weeks. Aggie

You have lots of questions, so I'll try to do my best to answer them. Your caterpillars are darker because of cooler temps. From what I've read, it allows them to absorb more light/heat. At this time of the year, diseases and pests are rampant. Make sure the containers you are using are bleached in between groups of caterpillars. You can google Monarch diseases to get information and photos to help you ID your problem. As for blankets over your plants, there is a fabric that you can purchase that gives several degrees of protection. It's white and allows light to penetrate. Also, sheets are great. I use them here to protect tomatoes from frost. I wouldn't use black fabric. As to chlorine residue, I've never worried about it. You could rinse with purchased spring water if you are concerned or rinse in cooled boiled water. Or you can even agitate water in a blender to remove chlorine. Good luck. I know from experience how stressful it can be when you have problems. I've lost my share of caterpillars to black death and tachnid flies. And I've seen and destroyed chrysalides that exhibited OE. I raised and released approximately 600 Monarchs this year. My last group had the most problems and resulted in fewer adults than any of the earlier groups. I attributed it to the fact that I didn't get them all rescued as eggs. 80% or more of the caterpillars I brought in didn't make it. Hope this helps. Sandy