I went to a local gourmet store and bought organic parsley. That worked out okay, but it turned out they were almost done eating anyway and are now in the chrysalis. If you have a Whole Foods nearby they would probably carry the organic. I found that each parsley plant fed one caterpillar. The parsleys were not large, however. I can't imagine how you will manage to feed that many cats. It wouldn't be a crime to leave some outside. Spiders and wasps have to live too. :-)

I told myself today that I'm leaving anymore I find outside but I think I can save the world so I doubt I'll leave any I just can't after I seem how fast the very first 17 disappeared. I'll do my part and work hard!! I live in the city and there's not many gardens or even butterflies other than cabbage whites and my neighbors and passerbys are always complimenting and telling me how nice it is to see such a bright spot to look at!! I'll def be looking for organic parsley at stores if I run low. I'm going to buy some seeds tomorrow and start them in pots.

I started seeds inside this past spring and planted probably 30 parsley plants? It's holding up nicely but I'm focusing more on Monarchs right now. I do have about 12 BST that I am raising.

Anyway, that was my first time to start parsley from seed - it was quite easy, all seeds sprouted and I will definitely be doing it again. They have grown much faster than the dill I started from seed. HTH

~Laura

I've started the plants I have from seed. I don't why why I was thinking they would grow in time to feed all these hungry cats. And to top it off I found another 31 eggs someone left for me. So my best totals right now to approx: 70 cats. I've bought some miracle grow to feed my parsley and fennel and dill. Hopefully I can sustain these cats. I dunno what I'm going to do when monarchs start laying eggs.

The BST ELFs have been going hog wild here, too. I'm raising 24 now and there are more eggs!
And today I saw another female around what's left of the Fennel. Tomorrow I'm going to the Farmer's Market to get some Parsley and maybe some Fennel if I can still find it up here. I'm seeing more Monarchs and finding eggs and cats as I go along. I have 3 hatchlings today and 6 5th instar cats and a couple of #4s.

I find more eggs everyday. I found another 11 today. At this point I'm just gonna stop counting and hope they all make it. I have so many tubs and I'm in process of building a large housing cage for the chrysalis' and a lady brought me a 20 gal aquarium that I'm going to keep inside to better house all these cats. I have been having issues with them disappearing. But I'm pretty sure some are getting eaten by others. I did have one cat out of the first batch of ten that randomly died. I'm think he wandered to far from the food and starved himself while I was away. I have 12 cats right now. One chrysalis and one in process. And then I have about 70 eggs I'm waiting on to hatch.

farmers market will carry everything you need to feed your growing family ! Good luck

Wow, congrats on so many.

Thanks for helping them out.