Nothing has sparked more life back into my tired (hum, or am I talking about me?) butterfly garden than Haven Brand Manure Tea! This is not tea for drinking, but a blend of natural manure made from pesticide and antibiotic free, grass fed livestock from the Haven Ranch in San Juan Capistrano, California. Realizing the demand from local farmers for her natural soil fertilizer, Annie Haven, of Haven Ranch came up with a wonderful way to package up her naturally rich soil conditioners for the home gardener.
Haven Brand manure teas keep my butterfly gardening blooming all year with lots of flowering nectar plants to feed the butterflies that visit my garden and enough healthy vegetation to feed all my “very hungry caterpillars“. To read more about which plants caterpillars like to eat, visit our Butterfly Host Plants page.
Master magician, munching to and fro, a caterpillar works illusions til’ the end of his show ~K. D’Angelo
There is no a better way to entice butterflies into your garden then with healthy, butterfly nectar and host plants.
Female butterflies have evolved to be very picky individuals when it comes to laying their eggs. Even when a prospective plant feels, tastes and smells just like the right species, it may be rejected by the female butterfly for a variety of reasons. It may be to exposed to the elements. It may be to wet? Fungus could grow here! It may be to hot? The eggs might dry up? Evidence of competition may also be present. Chewed leaves mean less food available. Healthy plants means more food available for her young munching offspring. Even the prospective plant may be out to trick the female butterfly by displaying “false eggs” which advertise “no vacancy” here!
What’s a mother to do? On average a female butterfly may visit up to 10 prospective host plants before picking the perfect one! Even after she has made her choice, she may spend up to 9 hours surveying and selecting precise leaves on which to deposit her eggs. You couldn’t ask for a more spectacular show then watching a female butterfly dance upon your butterfly garden for hours.
A concerned mother plans for her children’s future! She lays her eggs diligently. Depending on the species she may lay them singularly or in a group. She may lay them on the underside of a leaf or in a crevasse. Most always she lays them on the most tender leaves. She may use the simple eye” on her abdomen to lay on the tip of a twisted tendril.
A female butterfly is not a Realtor, but she might as well be. Location is everything to her! Location, location, an investment in her species future…
Haven Brand Manure Teas or as Annie Haven says “Moo Poo” teas are odor free and come pre-measured and ready to brew in its own gauze draw-string pouch. It’s so easy to make brew up a jar of this miracle liquid fertilizer, just fill a container with up to five gallons of water, drop in a tea bag and let it “steep” for a day or two. Water your indoor or outdoor plants with the brew and in no time, you’ll be rewarded with bigger, healthier plants, fruits, vegetables and flowers!
You can find Haven Brand Natural Tea Soil Conditioners online in our Butterfly Gifts or at HavenBrand.com
Enjoy the butterflies,
Vickie
We often get asked, “What do butterflies eat?”. . .
If you have butterflies in a cage or enclosure for more than a day, they will need to be fed. They can be fed a variety of ripe juicy fruits, like watermelon, melons, oranges, cherries, strawberries, peaches and plums. Caged butterflies will also enjoy sipping on Gatorade and homemade nectar. You can make your own butterfly nectar by mixing 4 parts water to 1 part granulated sugar. Boil the mixture for a few minutes then be sure to allow the sugar mixture to cool before feeding butterflies. Use cotton balls soaked with either the homemade nectar or Gatorade and placed on a small plate. If the enclosure is large enough, you can also place a few potted flowering butterfly nectar plants inside to keep the butterflies happy and well fed.
To help keep male butterflies happy and enticing to female butterflies in your garden or enclosure, be sure to include a “puddling” area. This can be done by place smooth round stones in a shallow dish along with some mud or wet soil.
