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Make Your Own
Butterfly Feeder

Delicious, Fruity & Fresh

Butterfly Feeder

Butterfly's make beautiful additions to our gardens. Not only do they brighten up the landscape with their colorful wings, they also help pollinate flowers and vegetables. Butterflies enjoy the sweet nectar found in flowers. You can encourage more of these beautiful winged-pollinators into your yard and garden landscapes by creating an easy, DIY butterfly feeder and nectar solution.

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Make Your Own Butterfly Feeder

Click on each step to see how to make your own butterfly feeder:

Step One

Collect your supplies (supplies listed below). Your first step is to make the nectar for your butterfly feeder. The solution is one part white granulated sugar to ten parts of water. A good starting point is one tablespoon of sugar to ten tablespoons of water. Mix the components and boil until sugar is dissolved. Let it until completely cool.

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Step Two

While your nectar solution is cooling, begin making your butterfly feeder holder. Taking two 2' pieces of string/twine and cross them like an 'X.' Tie a knot in the middle where the two strings cross each other. This will be the base of our holder.

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Step Three

Place your saucer on top of the knot. This saucer will be the actual butterfly feeder.

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Step Four

Fill your saucer with shallow stones or river rock. These stones will serve as perches for the butterflies. It's important to keep butterfly wings dry, so this gives the butterflies a place to stand and drink safely.

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Step Five

Now, take the four end points of your string/twine, and tie them together into a loop. This will allow you to hang your feeder onto a branch of a tree or onto a hook, keeping it high off the ground. You also can forgo the twine, and simply sit your feeder somewhere sunny and elevated in your garden.

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Step Six

Your butterfly feeder is ready to hang! To finish it off, fill your saucer with a shallow layer of the cooled nectar. Make sure the liquid doesn't go above the level of the stones. You also can throw in fruit scraps like banana peels and orange peels to add a tasty treat for your winged-friends! Enjoy. Change nectar every 1-2 days. Excess nectar can keep in the fridge for up to a week.

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Supplies List

  • 6"-8" saucer or plate
  • Two 2' cuttings of twine/string
  • A handful of small stones or river rock
  • 1 TBPS white granulated sugar
  • 10 TBPS water
  • fruit scraps (optional)