While many butterflies sip from delicate blossoms, others have wilder tastes—drawn to the fermenting sweetness of fruit. Adding a fruit feeder to your butterfly garden can help attract butterflies. Many butterflies do not live on flower nectar alone. Some species prefer, even require, overripe fruit to feed on. Butterflies are particularly fond of sliced, rotting oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, apples, and bananas.
Some species are more likely to drop by to visit you if you offer some fruit , including Mourning Cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa), Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), Question Marks (Polygonia interrogationis), Red Spotted Purples (Limenitis arthemis), Hackberry Emperors (Asterocampa celtis), Viceroys (Limenitis archippus), and Commas (Polygonia c-album) are just a few of the many species of butterflies who may frequent a backyard fruit feeder.
This easily-assembled butterfly feeder is a clay saucer with sliced cantaloupe that was positioned on top of a hanging plant basket. It was hung in a Plum Tree (Prunus spp.), which happens to be a host plant for the Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) seen feeding here.
My friend, Jill Streit-Murphy of Building a Butterfly Garden, hangs out a rotten banana in her garden. There are so many butterflies you can’t even see the fruit!
Keep ants at bay by hanging your butterfly feeder with an ant guard. Whether you use the kind shown here with a small bit of pesticide tucked inside where it doesn’t come in contact with the butterflies or the type that you keep filled with water and a few drops of cooking oil, ant guards are essential equipment when using butterfly feeders.
The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, makes a Banana Brew” and paints the mixture on stumps and logs placed throughout their butterfly sanctuary. Many of the tropical butterflies found in the sanctuary and be found feeding on the banana brew making it a perfect place to observe and photograph butterflies.
🍌 Butterfly Brew Recipe
Here’s a basic version you can try at home:
8-10 Overripe bananas (mashed)
2 cups brown sugar or molasses
1 16 oz Dark Beer
Liquefy the bananas until all the lumps are gone. Add the remaining ingredients and bland well. Should be the consistency of cake batter. Serve some right up and save the rest to ferment. Be sure it’s in a large bowl, it will rise a bit while fermenting. Can keep on counter overnight, the store in fridge. Pour into a vented container to allow gases to escape.
🖌️ How to Use It
Mix ingredients until you get a thick, sticky paste.
Paint it onto logs, tree trunks, or flat stones in your garden.
Place in shaded areas where butterflies like to rest.
