Hi all --
I thought I'd start some threads for new-ish butterfly gardeners based on things I've read in some books I got from the library.
From the book, Garden Butterflies of North America a Gallery of Garden Butterflies and How to Attract Them , by Rick Mikula who says to get a salt lick (salt block) from the feedstore. The book says that butterflies bask in the sun this time of year to get their cold blooded bodies up to 80 degrees so they can fly. To do this, they find a sunny spot and let the sun warm them by resting on a light colored surface. Light colored stones or a cement sidewalk are good. He likes a waterless pond which is just a shallow depression lined with plastic with light colored stones on it. I'm guessing 1-2" diameter stones, not gravel. No water goes in the pond, just the morning's dew which gets trapped under therocks, but the probiscus can find it. It dries before the nightfall, thus not offering a habitat for mold and bacteria. He doesn't say what to do if it rains.
Another idea of his is to have a tray of moist sand, and then he goes on to say that a salt block in the middle of the sand is even better, and that's the basis of my question. In another book, I read that beach sand is the way to go if you live close enough to an ocean beach.
Has anybody done this, does it work, and what are you supposed to do when it rains or you need to run the sprinkler? If you have moist sand, won't the salt disintegrate or dissolve fairly quickly? Can it be too salty?
I have read here on the forum from a poster I can't rememeber, that regular mud with some fertilizer that was there presumably for flowers was very popular with their butterflies. I have realized that I have no mud here! LOL! I've been so busy ammending my soil with compost that my mud is gone! I have to import some!
Suzy
Social puddler butterflies & salt licks or making puddles
Hi, Illoquin--
Good information from your books! Thanks for posting.
In our region (as opposed to the southwest and FLA where there are zillions of butterflies year round) I have read that especially during springtime, putting out a flat tray or flat rock in a sunny spot layered with wetted compost, mud, or manure and other potions--for instance, gatorade, urine or stale beer mixed with mud, salt, and/or rotten fruit--will help attract butterflies. (I think the beach sand was mentioned in your article because it has some salt and mineral residue in it already.)
As I recall when I read about Ohio butterflies they mentioned frittilaries, spring azures and spice bush swallowtails especially like this stuff in spring in Ohio (and I assume it would be about the same for Indianapolis.
I have not had a lot of success with my 'butterfly bait', but it's always fun to try. If you want to check out more recipes for butterfly bait, I have several listed in my diary: http://davesgarden.com/journal/ed/index.php?tabid=2172 (Scroll about half way down.)
I suppose if your tray of butterfly bait gets too wet from rain or sprinklers you could drain it off.
Hope you have a lot of fun butterfly gardening! We do.
Hey, Tabasco, fancy seeing you here!
Those are all great ideas! Naturally I probably missed my window on all this. One day it was freezing cold days and nights, the next day it was spring. I need to find a flat rock. .... A nice one...... I might even buy one. ..... The birds can poop on it. :)
I'll check your diary in a sec, but I will especially be looking for information on the serving dishes and delivery system you use -- how to keep not only ants, but possums, and the like out of it.
Suzy
OMG! It will take HOURS and HOURS to read through your diary. What a GREAT resource for us midwesterners, Tabasco! Thank you!
Suzy
Oh, don't look for any info on BF serving dishes in my diary. I just looked back at my diary and I do have too much information in there, don't I?!
I just put out a clay saucer or find a good rock in the sun and make a mess of it, then clean it up a couple of days later and try again with different bait potions.
Mostly I do this when my little nieces are visiting--they think it's very cool to mix up these potions and try to attract butterflies. Generally it doesn't actually work too well for us, though.
I would say verbena bonarienses and milk weeds are the two EZ-est and best BF attractors in our garden.
No, not too much information!!! I have been happily perusing it today while we had a much-needed, all-day rain.
My Verbena bonariensis (wintersown) is about only 1/2" tall -- yes, that's half inch tall! -- and the good red & yellow milkweed was a no show (so far).
I do have the milkweed incarnata, but that's the weedy one and I'm not sure if I have a place for it. It's about 6" tall now and I suppose if I were a good butterflier, I would definitely plant it, but it's a weed!
Suzy
I'm glad to give you some past time on this rainy day. My diary is a way for me to organize my thoughts (as disorganized it is) and my sisters who write garden columns crib some of the ideas, I think!
Well, my verbena is pretty tiny too but it will catch up before too long. My tithonia came back very nicely this spring from last year's WS crop. If I get some good tropical milk weed coming up or the asclepias tuberosa I will share it. They are nicer for the garden.
Yes, your garden is too pretty for the a. incarnata. (Mine is a mess with all the daffodil foliage around.)
If any of you need any Scarlet Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) I have some left that was harvested this past fall. It's got the red and yellow flowers. D-mail me if interested. I will send you some seeds for a SASBE.