Leo,

hanging butterfly feeder plates

I drilled three holes in the edges of plastic plates (or metal tops to containers), strung wire through each hole, connected the three wires at the top of the plate, and used wire to hang them at least 10 feet below small branches of trees, The long wire is to keep squirrels and other animals off the feeders. Hang them far enough from trees, etc. so animals like squirrels can't jump to them. Mine hang about 10 feet off the ground and I use a stepladder to reach them with butterfly food. Hang them in an area that you can SAFELY reach with a stepladder and where they will get enough sun to encourage butterflies to visit.
I use a pail with a tight lid to hold the butterfly food. I cut up chunks of overripe bananas(12), two cans of cheap beer, one bottle of molasses, three scoops of powdered Gatorade, and a pound of brown sugar. I mix it up in the pail and let it ferment for about a week; then fill the plates. I cover my plates with regular fiberglass screen and secure the screening on each plate with 3-5 big paper clamps. The goal is to prevent unwanted insects from getting UNDER the screening . The butterflies can feed through the screen, but unwanted other insects usually can't( they will collect on TOP of the screens, but the butterflies generally ignore them).
I try to remember to put plastic plates face down on top of the screens on the plates if rain is expected. I do this to prevent the butterfly feeding mixture from being too diluted from heavy rains.
Butterflies flock to these plates including anglewings, red admirals. red spotted purples, painted ladies, and mourning cloaks.
You can use other fruits such as mangos, watermelon,etc Experiment with what you can get( sometimes for free if your grocery store is discarding spoiled fruit) and what works best for the butterflies that you want to attract.
This system provides us daily visits by our "winged jewels" on sunny days in spring, summer, and fall. It is well worth the limited effort to attract these types of butterflies(which seldom, if ever, visit our flowers for nectar)

I've decided to give up on the screens for 2007. They are such a hassle to remove/place the food/replace each couple of days over the spring-fall. Plus, they don't seem to keep many unwanted visitors off the plates anyway.

mike

Thanks Mike!

Leo.

I use a piece of a log for my butterfly bait...either wrap a wire around the ends or use eye screws in them. Remember to cut out grooves or a rout out a section so the butterfly bait will have a place to pool.

As for putting out fruit trays...I use regular dishes set on plant stands...have also used an old birdbath.

Butterfly bait used by leps in south Texas:

About 10 lbs of overripe bananas
1 bottle of Guiness Stout dark
1 pound dark brown sugar

Blend and store in a plastic jug with a screw on top. Vent periodically if your climate is hot. The fermentation will cause gas to form...so you need to let it escape by unscrewing the cap.

~ Cat
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I also added plastic stones to a dish and added either add fresh water, salty water or gatorade for the butterflies.

This is a simple plant stand from the dollar store and a cheap bowl :o)
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Hi Texaspuddy,

Your feeders are great, I really like the smaller one where you had gatorade. Do you mix anything with it? Is it okay to feed them plain gatotade?

I saw this feeder at the Museum of Natural Sciences, Butterfly exhibit here in Houston. I think they are great. I am trying to figure out what kind of mesh it is that they use (the yellow thing), what type of stand that is, and what mix they feed them. Have you seen anything like this before?

Thanks for your help. You take great pictures!

Leonora.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:467860}}

Leonora,

When I clicked on that link all I got was the main page for Photo Bucket and an error message that said page not found.

I normally use that dish with the plastic red stones for water, salted water or water mixed with fish emulsion (stinks though!).

Whenever I use gatorade or fruit juice I pour a little into the dish and set a plastic scrubby (those things for washing dishes) in the dish since gatorade tends to be sticky. That way the butterflies can step on the scrubby and won't get their feet too sticky and they can still reach the gatorade or juice with their long proboscis.

Probably best to hang it from a tree or the eave of your house. Ants always manage to find the sweet stuff...the butterflies ignore them but I still don't like gobs of ants on my feeders.

Also the screen method as Mike mentioned helps to keep bees and wasps from getting to the juice. The scrubby works the same way. They don't have a long proboscis so they can't reach it through the mesh.

Texaspuddy,

Sorry for the bad link. I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures here.

I think the yellow mesh thing I was trying to show you is actually the plastic scrubby you mentioned. I don't know if you ever been at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Houston, but the butterfly exhibit there is just fantastic. I usually go there at least once a month, and that is what got me interested in butterfly gardening. I will keep trying to post the picture here so you can see the feeder I am talking about.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.

Leonora.

Okay, lets see if this works now.

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Leonora.