In addition to selective planting of flowers and shrubs, there are many simple ways to offer butterflies their food. These alternative butterfly food sources, like over-ripe fruit or homemade butterfly nectar, are called "attractants." Attractants will lure butterflies into your yard even if it isn't an ideal wildflower meadow.
Easy Butterfly Food Butterflies use a variety of food sources to sustain them, including such tasty delights as over-ripe fruit and rotting vegetation. If you own an apple, plum, cherry or pear tree, simply allowing fallen fruit to ferment on the ground will create a favorite feeding spot for butterflies.
Don't throw out those last bananas, mushy strawberries, too-soft peaches or nectarines, extra orange slices or left-over melon ends either! Instead, follow the directions below to make an easy butterfly feeder for fruit!
One inexpensive source of over-ripe fruit is the "fast sale" stand in the produce section of your grocery store; you might even get the produce manager to donate one or two unsaleable pieces of fruit if you explain the purpose.
Save extra bananas in the freezer - the skin will turn black and unsightly, but the mushy fruit that results when you defrost the bananas will delight many butterflies and moths.
Easy Butterfly Feeder for Fruit A ceramic or glass pie plate, plastic or terra cotta plant saucer, or a dish with a sloping rim can all be used to make easy butterfly feeders. Suspend the plate with flower pot hangers or fashion a macrame style holder from household twine. You could wind the stems of silk or plastic flowers around the twine holder to decorate the butterfly feeder and make it visually appealing to butterflies.
Simply hang the feeder from the bough of a shady tree, in a spot where you can easily view visitors to the feeder. Try to place it a little higher than your highest flowers. Add slices of over-ripe fruit. You can sprinkle a little fruit juice or water over the fruit slices if they dry out too much - remember it's the mushy, rotting, very over-ripe fruit that butterflies like best. Replace the fruit if it dries out or becomes moldy.
Homemade Butterfly Nectar Recipe and Nectar Feeder
In Butterfly Gardening in Containers, released by Texas A & M University, Master Gardener Bobbie Truell says:
"An alternative food source for butterflies is a homemade feeder filled with a solution of 4 parts water to 1 part granulated sugar. Boil the solution for several minutes until sugar is dissolved, and then let cool. Serve the solution in a shallow container with an absorbent material such as paper towels saturated with the sugar solution. Bright yellow and orange kitchen scouring pads may be placed in the solution to attract butterflies and give them a resting place while they drink. Place the feeder among your nectar flowers on a post that's 4-6 inches higher than the tallest blooms. Extra solution can be stored in your refrigerator for up to a week."
Homemade Butterfly Jar Feeder for Nectar
You will need:
- a small glass jar with a lid that seals well
- a piece of cotton or other clean absorbant material
- homemade butterfly nectar (4 parts water to 1 part sugar, boiled and cooled) - twine - Optional decorations: yellow, orange or red plastic scouring pads; paint that will adhere to glass and sealer, or silk or plastic flowers
What You Do:
- Punch a small hole in the jar lid with an awl or a hammer and small nail.
- If you wish, insert a colored kitchen scouring pad to provide an alluring spash of color to attract the butterflies.
- Alternatively, decorate the outside of the jar with waterproof paint (simple, bold flower shapes would be ideal) then finish with clear sealer.
- Another decorative idea is to glue plastic or silk flowers to the outside of your jar. - Screw the lid firmly onto the jar.
- Plug the hole with sponge, cotton, a length of candlewicking or other absorbant material - you want this material to become saturated with nectar but not to drip, so make sure it plugs the hole tightly.
- Make a macrame style hanger from household twine.
- Invert the jar and hang it close to your flowers.
As with homemade hummingbird food, you will need to clean your feeder every few days, with hot water and a mild (10%) bleach solution to inhibit mold. Rinse thoroughly before refilling with butterfly nectar.
Sponge Nectar Feeders: Here's another simple nectar feeding idea, from Central Texas Butterfly Gardening by the Univerity of Texas:
"Red or orange sponges with sugar solution may be suspended from branches as artificial nectar sources when there are few flowers."
This article on butterfly food is Part Two of our Butterfly Gardening series.
I would like to start a butterfly habitat in my backyard. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of flowers/plants/shrubbery I should plant in my area that would attract butterflies? I haven't seen a butterly around in a very long time. I fear they're scarce in my area.
Reply to April
Jane – Editor of AllFreeCrafts
April 17, 2008 - 19:28
Hi, April,
Our article on Butterfly Gardening suggests what plants to grow to attract butterflies to your garden. You'll find the link on this page, in the last paragraph of the butterfly food article.
I wanted to put everything all on one page, but it just got too long.
Reply to April
lily – washington dc
April 21, 2008 - 21:35
try plants that are red pink purple lavender white yellow or orange
Reply to April
julie anderson – pa
April 23, 2008 - 14:26
a butterfly bush will attract butterflies or if you go to lowes they have a seed mixture for butterflies and humming birds in a bag that will cover a huge area.
Reply to April
Donica Ben – Ogdensburg, NY
April 27, 2008 - 19:07
www (dot) livemonarch (dot) com (slash) free-milkweed-seeds (dot) htm
I had to alter the links to get past the spam filter...I hope it's pretty obvious what you need to do to get to the links. :-)
vic – long island ny
April 12, 2008 - 17:37
I had saved three cocoon from a black swallowtail from last fall. One of them just emerged. I am in ny am just made a simple screened cage for it and put some sugar water in it for food. I am not sure how long to keep it before I let it go. It still gets a chilly here at night. Its april 12th-any ideas?
Reply to vic
Kiko – Dallas, TX
April 13, 2008 - 13:59
We have painted ladies right now from a "kit". The instructions said it was safe to release them once the temperature is over 55 all the time.
josie seward – corner brook nl
April 02, 2008 - 21:37
verry interesting articles iwould like to see more on butterflies
Family Butterfly Book Great reference book to learn more about butterflies and their habitat, including how to care for and raise butterflies in your home or classroom. Beautiful photographs, lots of solid information on how to attract butterflies to your garden or raise them and release them into the wild.
Butterfly Feeder Kids, as well as butterflies, will enjoy the bright colors of this butterfly feeder. Just fill with a simple nectar recipe and wait for the butterflies!
Butterfly Feeder to buy from Amazon Hang or mount on a 3/4 inch post, this butterfly feeder will keep these beautiful insects close to home. Holds six ounces of nectar in its 6 inch diameter frame. Designed and tested by biologists to assure effectiveness.
Butterfly in FrameFive beautiful butterflies from the rain forests of Brazil are featured in this 9" inch framed display. Sales controlled by the Brazilian Environment Department, obtained under license and from legal suppliers, not harming the diversity of our marvellous forests.
Don't throw out those last bananas, mushy strawberries, too-soft peaches or nectarines, extra orange slices or left-over melon ends either! Instead, follow the directions below to make an easy butterfly feeder for fruit!
Easy Butterfly Feeder for Fruit
Homemade Butterfly Nectar Recipe and Nectar Feeder
Butterfly Food
Butterfly Gardening
Hummingbird Food
Family Butterfly Book
Butterfly Feeder
Butterfly Feeder to buy from Amazon
Butterfly feeder and Nectar Gift Pack
Five beautiful butterflies from the rain forests of Brazil are featured in this 9" inch framed display. Sales controlled by the Brazilian Environment Department, obtained under license and from legal suppliers, not harming the diversity of our marvellous forests.
