I'm already past my normal ending time for monarch rearing. I found 6 eggs last week, and they all hatched. At this rate, I'll be releasing in early October, much later for me than usual. I believe my last release was mid September last year, probably about todays date. We normally frost here in mid October, but last year it was a much warmer than normal October. I'm still looking for eggs too, but haven't found any. Normally when they eclose, they don't feed for up to 24 hours anyway, and they can fly hundreds of miles in a day, so if you do end up releasing some very late, they might just be able to make it to a nectar source.

I've seen a few vids of this guys set up. I can't really speak to any answers as the bins I have are significantly different and I have no experience with something like this. Many others may not be posting because they also do much smaller indoor bins. I did manage to make a 7' by 4' worm bin quite unintentionally and it is thriving. I have a raised bed garden built on a concrete pad. When making it I started with straw bales and placed compost over the tops of them as done in bale type gardens. I then bought some leaf worms at the local bait shop and tossed them on it. Now I have more worms than could be counted. Each year I toss about half a cubic yard of chopped fall leafs on top of my garden. Have you found the blog at http://www.redwormcomposting.com/ this has a huge amount of info that has helped me a lot. I will echo the suggestion that you have a second smaller bin with a second population of worms as a backup. Gut feel an 8" diameter circle filled with holes may be fine as long as there is a cover to shed the rain. Rather than drilling it may work well to use a punch (like a framing nail) and hammer to punch holes from the inside out. Again this is gut feel and I have no experience. I don't know if the drain hole there will work or not because I have no clue how it is mounted or how easily it will clog. More holes allow for more to fail without a failure of the drain system. Red worms are a rather resilient animal and will live in a large variety of conditions. Have you read the thread "Three Big Mistakes" started by morgan_3?

Thanks Vagas and Tclynx. I had the cocoons in a plastic bag w/o air or food. Just worm doo and cocoons which aren't that recognizable to me yet. I could not imagine leaving them in the plastic bag vagas, so I prepared a bed of peat moss/a couple cups of cornmeal/ and a couple cups of wellllll rotted bagged cow manure that has been laying out in the weather for about 3 years/and a few handfuls of small shredded paper to break up all that dirt looking stuff. Well Mixed and damp. I poured the plastic bag of worm cocoons out onto this mixture in the bin and covered it with a layer of dry shredded paper. I did put some drain holes in the bottom, and I did put another container w/o holes under that to capture any liquid excess or baby worms that might fall through and of course the brick to keep the upper plastic container from falling down below the air holes. And I did put a soaked piece of cardboard box down in my bin to cover the holes for the babies to lay on,first thing. I did that about 3 days ago with the cocoons and I don't see any babies yet, but since I am still afraid I will damage them if I put my hands down in the mixture to look, that doesn't mean they aren't there, I'm sure. In the meantime, I am down to opening and looking at the worms only about 3 times a day and that IS a struggle for me. I put the 3 containers together like Vaga said. The worms are awfully skinny and aren't moving too fast just yet. It has been only about a week and a half since I put them(1000) in there and NOW I can see that they are eating the bedding up and pretty quickly. So, Friday, I set the second prepared container that makes the tiered bin on top of that W/Oa brick (The worms around outside are all laying under heavy stuff so I figured the small weight of the container could be helpful) and I put about 1/2 lb or less of kitchen scraps and coffee grounds and of course shredded paper in it in case they wanted more to eat. They really are skinny. I have never seen such skinny little worms. I am sure they must grow (red wigglers)bigger. Anyway, Today when I looked at them, I DID find that they are migrating up into the food...or at least about 20 of them have so far. Out of fear that they would attempt to escape and inadvertantly commit suicide, I placed the whole 3 layer bin in a large black garbage bag leaving it open and loose in case they try to explore outside the box while I am gone. That way, I won't find them dried up on the floor or step on them. Once I saw that they weren't trying to get away, I took the bin out of the bag. Not one fatality due to escape...not one worm in the bag either. =o) So, I am learning not to sit and prowl through their bedding to see what they are doing.....all the time. Just nervous about them I guess. Trial and error is the way of life, I suppose. I will either get more worms, or they will not do well for me. Thanks so much for your input. It helps to know that you guys are out there willing to share the information with me. =o)

A kind neighbor potted up one of her white veined PVs and gave it to me, along with seeds. I'm nervous a pipevine swallowtail will find my plantlet and lay eggs, as there's no way my little plant would support even one butterfly (but at least I'd be able to transport the cats to said neighbor's yard, thankfully). Iris: Do you ever have any luck propagating WVPV by seed, or do your plants just self sow? I immediately started a few seeds using the moist paper towel method, and I also overnight soaked more, then have them in potting soil. I'm tempted to set them all outside, but I'm concerned our 96 degree heat (even in the shade) would be too warm for seed germination. ( I am so, so excited and grateful to have this little plant!)