Using Fresh Pineapple to Attract Butterflies
What do butterflies eat? Many people think that the only source of food for butterflies is through flowers. Although butterflies may visit your garden as a source of food, they may have a hard time sustaining their hunger with just the flowers you have. One way that you can encourage butterflies to keep coming back is by creating your own butterfly garden and offering them fresh fruit, such as Chestnut Hill Farms Perfect Pineapples.
Why do Pineapples Attract Butterflies?
The main source of food for most butterflies is nectar in flowers, but they have quite the sweet tooth. Butterflies love sugar and can gain energy from fruit juice, which is why pineapple is the perfect treat to get butterflies to flock to your garden. They cannot eat the fruit itself, but they can drink the juices. Pineapple juice has the added benefit of keeping butterflies hydrated.
Because butterflies tend to love overripe fruit the best, the sweeter the pineapple, the better the chance that they’ll come flying over. This is also great to keep in mind if you have fruit you forgot to eat. If it’s going bad, consider giving it to hungry butterflies rather than throwing it out.
Safety First
One might think twice about using fruit to attract butterflies to their garden because of the possibility that pesticides will harm or potentially kill them. Luckily, Chestnut Hill Farms are dedicated to sustainable farming practices that use minimal pesticides, so butterflies can enjoy their food safely.
How to Create a Butterfly Garden Pineapple Feeder
Building your own butterfly pineapple feeder only takes a few, quick minutes. It’s a simple activity and a great way to entertain children. You can discuss butterfly facts while working!
- Start off by slicing and dicing your pineapple into medium sized chunks so that the butterflies have a nice amount to sip from. Next, decide which type of feeder is right for you.
Hanging-Hook Feeder
- One option is to use copper wire in order to create hooks that can hang from a tree branch. This will work best if there is an area in your garden where you can hang these hooks. Then, all you have to do is spear your pineapple chunks onto the hanging wire.
- Another option is to create a feeder with water between the pineapple to create a barrier that would drive away any unwanted insects who would also like a sweet treat, such as ants. To do this, simply take a large bowl and put a smaller bowl in the middle of it. Place your pineapple on the smaller plate and add some water to the larger plate. Place this on a nearby table and your butterflies will have a feast.
- Wait for the butterflies to arrive!
Butterflies To Look For
Some butterflies are more likely to be attracted by fruit than others. Here are a few types to keep an eye out for when you put your pineapple on display:
Mourning Cloak
These beautiful creatures can be easily identified by their dark maroon wings, which are nicely offset by a yellow strip along the edges of their wings and blue spots
Red Admiral
With mostly black wings, these can be noted by the orange that makes almost a circle shape across their wings, along with white dots toward the edges of the tops.
Red-Spotted Purple
These gorgeous butterflies can be discerned by their mostly blue wings. The wings get darker as they get closer to the body, and some of them have small orange spots on the edges near the upper half of them.
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