Four O'Clocks a Host plant?

I am ready, and more importantly, the butterflies are ready, to have their Guinness & Banana elixir.

How do you store this again? If I leave the top off, the ants will come, but if I leave the top on, it will explode. I can't be trusted to remember to take the lid off and on and off again. Does anybody have an alternate storage idea on this?

I know we joked about it, but what about a tube coming out of the top ala Appalachian still?

Suzy

Suzy, you might put it in plain sight so you don't forget, but the lid must be closed real tight. Use a pretty thick bottle and it shouldn't explode. This Arizona Tea bottle I'm using is real thick. I burped it yesterday, and a loud puff of noisy air came out. I opened it again today to re-apply some more bc the rain washed it off the log, and the same sound again.. quite a bit of air. You can squeeze the bottle when tightening the lid and it provides a little more room too.

Gotta keep it tightly closed. Gotta burp it every day or so. That's 2 very important things.

Deb

I just made some and put it out -- should I have waited for it to ferment? How long?

And can it be room temperature? Or should it be warm, or hot, like in my garage?

I am trying. :) Yesterday I had a pretty butterfly stopping and tasting everything with his feet. I wish I had had some treats out for him... poor thing. Does dog poop count as "scat"?

Suzy

Suzy you can use it right away and let the rest in the bottle as suggested above to ferment. As it ripens and you use it, you will get big gangs of different fruit feasters at one time. As it gets used up you can add more to it also. It keeps for up to a year...yes outside in the normal heat of all the seasons. You will remember to burp it better than anything. It will definatly become part of your gardening routine. lol

I put mine under an inverted bucket marked "Butterfly Brew", in front of the shed out back.

:-)

Oh, that's a really good idea...then if it explodes, it is just on the ground outside. I did put Mr. Clean on the task, though, so I should be good in the garage.. He went with me to buy the Guinness and was (sort of) intrigued by the whole thing. In any case, you can set your watch by the man, so if I put him on a daily task, you can be sure it will get done!

My mother was with me when I was buying bananas and she couldn't believe I was buying them to mash for butterflies. And at 38c a pound! LOL! Instead of buying 10 pounds, I only bought 2 pounds so I wouldn't get a lecture from her on the way home....did I mention she's 92, and I am a grown woman spending her own money? Doesn't matter! (She would have died if she had seen the price on the Guinness!)

I have another question about puddlers and making a salt lick puddler, but I'm going to start a new thread for it.

Suzy