They will often sit still for quite a long time between instars, or while they are molting (don't know if that's an accurate term). Just leave them alone with fresh milkweed and give it time. Hopefully it will shed its skin and start eating again. Martha

I'm thinking it's fine for now, but I'd keep an eye on it since 'Striptease' seems to be one that has a very high incidence of it showing up in, eventually, like 'Sum & Substance'!! If I ever get another 'Striptease', I'm getting it from someone who is vigilant about testing for HVX and Hallson's and Rob Canning are two sources I would trust to get another one from! I won't buy it at any other source, local nurseries, big box stores, etc. The one I have is from *Greenguy* a few years ago, and so far it has not shown any evidence of the virus! I hope it continues to be virus free, because it is very special to me that he was so thoughtful to surprise me by his 'gifting', after I lost a HUGE amount of hosta in the Spring of '07 (?)!! Thank you, again, Todd--it's a lovely plant!

Common. Normal for this time of year..:-) Sure you can keep it growing....Alot slower than in full sun, on sunny hot summer days.. It will constantly push out new growth from the top, unless you withdraw light all together. In fact if you used no lights at all, and just stuck them in a window, dependent on the winters light only, they would still grow a tad bit. The thing is, you will never get them to be fully leafed out, unless you provide 14 hours or more of full strength hot light and very warm conditions.. perfect conditions.. Hard to mimick in winter, especially in Canada. By nature they want to drop leaves at this time of year, especially in the fashion as you describe. Why even in Texas they are dropping leaves as you described.. My local nursery owner has a few, loosing leaves like crazy, like yours, in full sun, and in a hot greenhouse anyway..Don't fret.:-) Not to worry. They will not die, nor will they stop "growing" if you providing them some light. They will almost stop pushing leaves, and maybe not at all, if you withdraw all light and warmth. Your major concern should be your "watering" habits, and "root rot". Be careful, especially if your soil is not porous and free draining... At this time of year, your soil should not be wet more than a couple days at a time if in dormancy stage.. If so, you will loose them unless you are keeping them in active growth under warm lights and a warm enviroment..;-) Dormancy does not mean it is entirely asleep as some of our outdoor plants, such as perenials, it just means it is growing at a much SLOWER pace..Believe or not, they will still look for a drink, even in dormancy stage.. Just keep it alive, and the full strentgh of spring sun will bring it back to full leaves, and possibly flowers too..;-) Sorry about spelling. Time fleeted me and I had to leave fast..Hope this helped.;-)

I am the original poster, and although I mentioned I would update the progress from last year, I never did, so I will now--------! I followed all the advice given here and elsewhere on how to integrate my new cat with the three older barn cats and at first thought it was all on track. But even after two weeks, two of the three barn cats was still chasing the new cat. The barn is not very big and the area they spend most of their time in, the upstairs hay loft, just did not give her many places away from two cats (and sometimes the 3rd) to hide. After two weeks it seemed worse than it had been initially so I finally couldn't take it any more and moved her back down to the house. I just was afraid that even with extra food set out in different areas as well as litter boxes, I worried she would not get a chance to eat, drink or use the box when she had three cats chasing her when they felt like it. This was back in Oct. The elderly house cat I mentioned was not happy at all, but he seems to have settled down and though never will be "friends" with her, has finally seemed to just tolerate her. The one thing is, she tries to stay out of his way and does not challenge him so that I think makes me feel better since he is now 19 years old and seems like a little old man! She seems pretty happy in the house, and when the weather was nice I let her go out into the garden, so that all has been working out quite well. Thank you again for all the help given to me last year. I must admit, a year ago I did not think things would have turned out as they did. I really thought the barn cats would have been more accepting and the elderly house cat less but it was just the opposite.