We have so many figs this year, I put some out for the flutterbyes. They sure liked it.
Figgy puddle
ahh, now haint you just the resourceful one! .. hee hee ... (jes teasin' ya!)
Such a great idea!! .. And those are such beauties they've attracted, too !!
Looks like they must've been starvin' .. Good thing ya put the fruit out for them! hee
Now .. I just wish I had a fig tree .. or just a few lil ol figs!! .. hee
What a great idea! Such gorgeous customers to your diner too :-) I think I'll try something like that and see how it goes. :-)
-Julie
It does work, Julie!
Hey John, did you use figs too or some other fruit? Enquiring minds want to know :-)
-Julie
Other fruit. Bunch of peaches got too ripe and they really worked well. (Placed in clay pot saucer). All "rotting" fruit will. Some gross stuff, too! Haven't been inclined to try that! Read that a slurrey made from overipe fruit (in a blender?) painted on a surface e.g., tree trunk, rocks, works well. :-)
Hmmm - I will have to put your idea to work! Thanks for the great tip :) And an awesome photo I might add...
They really seem to like watermelon...we put the rinds out in the yard, where the butterflies can get to it. If we have too much melon, more than the rind is placed in the yard..and it is eaten by something!
Melon works very well. We had some over ripe from the garden so we threw it out on the lawn (watch where you step) and not a minute when by before a black swallowtail came by for a snack.
Some butterflies will only eat rotten fruit and sap, not the traditional nectar.
Butterflies love bananas, I rigged a butterfly feeder with a soft plastic saucer; punched holes in side and used a
wire hanger from a hanging basket. Poked holes in overripe bananas, not peeled. There are as many as 8 fritalaries at a time feeding. I think I saw one smile.
Thanks for the tip!
Pua too funny. I bet they were all smiling...you just couldn't see them because they were too fucused on the yummy lunch you "cooked" up for them to look up and show you! :-)
I've got to remember to try this free fruit buffet tomorrow. Maybe that will help me get shots of some of these butterflies who so far refuse to just sit STILL for even 100th of a second! LOL
-Julie
Rotting fruit really works well! Now to figure out how to get a good background for photographing them. Pua's tip has my feeble mind racing! Saw a monarch again today. Thats four days in a row and no shot!
John
heehee .. mmmm, best ya 'tighten' up imway ... (jes teasin' ya)
There is still time!
Pua, thanks for the tip. As soon as Jeanne passes thru GA, I'm adding the 2 bananas on my kitchen counter to the figs. And to think I almost tossed them....
Well, I tried putting some rotting fruit out - and I think a racoon carried it off! Oh well....try try again, right?
Right! They will come.
Does it have to be rotten? I've got some grapes and nectarines which are really ripe but certainly not rotten. Or is the "rotten" thing just because you all are using what you wouldn have thrown out otherwise?
I define rotten as 'too ripe for me to eat'. :-)
Well, I tried it with some grapes that would fit your definition of rotten. They've been sitting there for 4 hours and unless some flying creature snuck in during the 30 minutes I wasn't watching, I've been hugely unsuccessful with grapes. Maybe I'll let a nectarine sit out on the countertop for a day or two and then put it out there.
I've put out grapes for birds before and didn't attract anything but ants. The nectarine should do the trick though. Peaches were the most successful for me. They are similar fruits. Good luck!
Thanks for the feedback. I wonder why the grapes don't attract them...they sure have lot of sugar in them! I even placed them on a bright red plastic plate to grab the birds/butterflies attention LOL. I'll try to nectarine tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
good going!! they look like they absolutely love it... I'll have to find me some figs and over-ripe fruit to put out in the garden
I set out bananas yesterday, but no takers yet. I need to go out and see if the racoons got it again. I wish I had some peaches! I'll have to go to the store and get fruit just for the butterflies :)
I had seen this(rotted fruit set out) done at the butterfly conservatory at the Texas state fair, a few years ago.
I tried it recently with an overripe mango. It was too ripe for me, but apparently not ripe enough for them. I think they like it WAY too ripe for us to eat...
...sticky, and stenchy! lol...
-seedpicker_TX
Thanks for that extra info seedpicker. I was getting really frustrated as I set out an overripe nectarine and barely even got FLIES to touch it. Not a single butterfly landed on it even though I saw several of them fly right over it! I'll have to try to let some fruit go disgustingly ripe and put it out for them in the next week. I guess that will entail going out and actually buying a bit of fruit that's already too ripe to eat if I'm going to get it to the right stage of repulsive before winter sets in LOL.
-Julie
They seem to like the figs when they are fermenting! Really smelly. The butterflies come at that time. The bananas I put out only attracted flies, bees and wasps, so I'm sticking to the figs for now.
are you cutting the fruit?
Who? Me? Yes, I cut the fruit into pieces before putting it out for them. They ignored it. I guess it just wasn't "pungent" enough for them ;-)
I put out bananas and mango and got bees and flies...I'll have to look for figs next time I grocery shop...
Yes I cut the figs - actually just split them open. The bananas were split open but peel left around the pieces.
I just put bananas out today. They were brown and mushy and attracting fruit flies in the house. Hope it works!