Puddling area for Butterflies

Do any of you have a puddling area for butterflies? I have a small one surrounded by small flagstones, and originally had it filled with sand and some salt for their mineral needs. They never used it, so I scooped the sand out thinking maybe it wasn't holding the salt well, and replaced it with compost and added more salt. Still no takers! What is the ratio of salt to use? Maybe it is too much or too little I'm adding....about 1/2 a cup or so.

I haven't but I keep intending to buy one or make one.

Is yours raised or in the ground? Could it be too deep or too shallow? Also, you might try putting in mud instead since that's what's naturally in these puddles.

Here is a photo of it. I just used pond liner from Home Depot, and stacked flagstone around the edge. I think I will try the mud and see if that works...

Let us know if it works.

Sounds weird, but I get butterflies in the muddy spots where my dogs piddle. Maybe the salts?

Yes - they like the minerals and salts. In my book it says sometimes they like rotting fruit, but my dogs would try and eat that so I haven't tried it.

Rotting fruit works so, does animal dung (e.g. dog). Instead of the fresh dung I'm going to try a couple handfulls of store bought steer manure. I've had success with rotting fruit w/ a little water in a clay pot saucer. Not an appealing background for photography! shearpamela's setup looks like the way to go for me!

LOL...they are not a pretty picture. I was just looking thru some pictures I took earlier this year and one was of a hanging bird feeder/bath with a rotting banana on it. It was really gross, and I wondered why I took that picture, then I finally saw that hidden in the pic was a Question Mark.

Last May I was mixing soils to do some planting and accidentally spilled a bag of manure compost on our gravel driveway. My gravel driveway always attracts butters after a rain, but the next day when I went to clean up the spill I found 8 Tiger Swallowtails puddling on it. Needless to say, I never cleaned up the spill. And manure compost doesn't stink.
I think the little 'bog' with mud and manure compost.....maybe a little sand.....will do the trick. Keep it moist but not wet. Maybe add a few little 'stepping stones' in the mud mixture.
Here's a pic of the manure compost spill with 8 Tigers.......

WOW on the swallowtails! Should I put puddles in shade or sun?

GREAT pic! I'll dump manure out on the driveway for THAT!

I've found b-flies on the shady concrete porch after a rain. The Smithsonian's b-fly puddles are usually placed in shade too.

Good news! I'm redoing my butterfly garden with walkways, seperated beds, ORGANIZED and a little pond for the b-flies! And maybe a bench. Thought I should add that in.

A bench? For the Butterflies! How thoughtful :>)

Wouldn't have to be a large bench either. Great idea!

Well I was thinking the bench would be more for me but hey, we can share it! Who wouldn't want to sit next to a butterfly?

I have three scattered around the yard. I used plastic 9" pot water retainers found in the pot area at Home Depot. I use gravel with sand and a few native coral type rocks as resting areas. My sprinkler system keeps them wet enough and also supplies minerals. However, in two of my native sable palm trees I have bromelieads growing. I have often seen butterflies perched on the bromelieads drinking from the center section which is always filled with water. All of my "puddles" are in the shade. I see butterflies on all of them. As they get filled with natural dropings of leaves I leave them alone since it adds nurishment to the water and seems more natural to me. None of the "puddles" have water more than 1/4 inch of water maximum.

I too am working on puddlers. I like the Night-light idea for flirting with them.
Sidney

That reminds me! I need to get my puddles operational tomorrow. Ya never know, might see a butterfly!

John

At the Smithsonian b-fly garden in D.C. they had small ponds as "butterfly puddles", I can't say I've ever seen a b-fly using one.

Should I install a small pond in my new and improved butterfly garden (as yet unbuilt) or just stick to small actual puddle sized holes?

I'd like to attract birds to it, especially since it'd be right by the brambles but I'm afraid they'll make food out of the butterflies.

What to do, what to do?

I have yet to see a butterfly eaten, but I'm sure some are. Those beautiful marks are on them to scare birds I think.
I can remember seeing butterflies around the bird bath, so that'a a good start. Birds really do take baths.
Sidney

I have purposely tried to attract butterflies to my garden. This year I've been trying to attract more birds, even tho I know some might eat my butterflies and caterpillars. So far I've attracted my hawk. lol I have seen a bird, maybe a mockingbird, fly down right in front of my car and grab a butterfly. eeekkk!!!

I've said I wanted to do the puddling thing, but in my hot wind-tunnel of a yard, what I end up with is a dry bed for the birds to bathe in. They are so cute tho!

Last year I set out a plate of overipe/rotting peaches that really attracted a lot of butterflies.

I saw a tiny little fountain pump that said it would operate in 1 inch of water. I thought I might get that and put it in some gravel in one of my birdbaths and maybe the butterflies would like that if they could sit on the gravel and stay dry while being able to reach the water. Just an idea. I have LOTS of ideas this time of year! Some of them even make it to the garden when it warms up.

Tell us more about the "tiny fountain pump." :-)

John

Is there any way to accomodate the butterflies without allowing mosquitos to breed? I wonder if Sylvi's tiny fountain pump would provise enough water movement to discourage skeeters while still being hospitable to the flutterbyes....

Oh, yes. The mosquitos. You can tell when you're still in winter mode when you've forgotten about them.

We wait.

Sylvi74 - where did you find that pump? I'm curious because I was looking for something just like that to make a bird bath for the hummers. Most the fountains I've looked at are a little too deep...or not really wide enough, etc. I haven't really looked too hard since I've been spending most my days planting and putzin around the yard. So this would be awesome if you found it at a home depot or lowes..etc. Thanks.

Lisa

I found a small battery operated fountain, but it might be good enough for Flutterbys. http://378.scifstore.com/module/store/viewentry/8855/
Just a suggestion.
Sidney

Hi, all! I've been reading a lot this winter about attracting birds/flutterbys and I'm planning on a puddle for them this year. Thought I'd mention that most sources that I referred to recommended MUD for the butterflies. They don't tend to use very clean water (like in a birdbath), apparently. Also, a drip source is supposed to be a huge draw for butterflies. I'm planning on rigging up a drip system to hang down from an overhead spot about 3 feet above my mudpuddle. The puddle will simply be a rounded out indentation in the dirt, lined with pond plastic, covered with a relatively thick mud, and set up to drip. The dripping also keeps the water from becoming stagnant, that way discouraging mosquito reproduction there. You can also spritz the puddle with a jet stream from your hose every day or two to discourage mosquito eggs. "They" say to do that as a means of controlling them in birdbaths, anyway. Post pics, please, if you muddy up your puddle! :)

Hugs :)

P.S. I really love the flagstones... beautiful :)

Oops... off topic, but also wanted to say that hummers will "bathe" in misted water from a hose. I read that if you put your hose on a mist setting and let it sit out for a few minutes each day at roughly the same time, the hummers and other birds will catch on quickly and fly through the mist :) THAT would make some great photo opps! :)

Take care,
Jacci

Now back to puddles... I wanted to be sure to redirect after my off-topic post :)

Also, I would imagine the more butterfly plants around the puddle the better :)

Oh, how about adding mosquito dunks to the puddle? Will it repell the butterflies.

A puddle that I'm considering is:

Digging a wide and shallow hole and patting down concrete to form a base. Then sprinkling colorful dull glass on top while wet. I have the plans in a garden book, there's also a picture.

A drip "system" could be rigged up by hanging a 2 liter plastic cola bottle filled with water from a tree and poking a teeny hole in the bottom of it. Depending on how high you put the bottle, it could either be concealed by the tree or decorated so it wasn't just an unattractive cola bottle hanging there. If you make the hole small enough (like with a sewing needle) the water should last for at least a day or two and should give drips on a regular basis. I'm gonna try it and report back on how it works. If it's a failure I promise to be honest about it ;-)

-Julie

Hi all, the tiny fountain pump I saw was on line for about $10. I think I have the site bookmarked on work's computer, but I am home right now. I will do my best to find it again and post it on Monday! Julie, I love the no-hose dripper idea. Let us know how it works. I am thinking of installing a dripper system in part of my front garden this year, and was thinking also about elevating one of the little water nodes to drip for butterflies.

Hugahosta - Thanks for the tip!

Silvi74 - thanks...good to know you found it online. Guess it's time for me to go surfing. Good luck with your butterfly puddle.

Okay, I used a 1/2 gallon milk jug instead (has a built in handle). The first hole I put in was with a normal sized safety pin. The hole was too big and the water streamed out. The next hole I made was with the finest sewing needle I had in my kit. It made a perfect drip speed.....one drip about every 3 seconds.....with very warm (not hot) water (mimicking how hot the water might get if the bottle were in direct sun). With cold water it dripped about once every 7 seconds. So now I just have to figure out where in the heck to set it up. I think I'll set it up over a terracotta plant saucer with some compost and salt in it. But how much salt???? I'll put about a cup of compost....a teaspoon of salt? Or is that too much or too little salt?

hmmmm

-Julie

Dunno about the salt. I will just make a 50 - 50 steer manure soil mix (slurry) and some pebbles. All in a terracotta saucer for now.

Aint got no steer manure here John.....just plain old garden compost that comes in a bag ;-). But hopefully the butterflies won't mind ;-). I've got smooth stones though. Will yours be just a few stones with mostly the slurry or will you fill the saucer with stones and pour the slurry over it? I'm honestly not trying to be heavy here....just curious since my rotted fruit never did attract a single butterfly in the summer. ;-)

-Julie

The stones are resting places and provide minerals as does the composted manure. Don't give up on rotting fruit! Compost is compost. Wether from steers or plants.