What is a Puddle Patch?
When thinking about how to attract wildlife to your garden, a great place to start planning is with butterflies. Butterflies are attracted to many different nectar and host plants that you can put in your garden, but another way to provide for butterflies is by giving them opportunities to puddle.
So what is puddling?
Puddling is a behaviour most used in butterflies, but occurs in other animals as well, mainly insects; they seek out certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud, dung, and sand.
Typically, puddling behavior takes place on wet soil. Ever have a butterfly land on you & start using his Proboscis? If so, it was puddling. Puddling behaviour is more commonly seen in males. Males puddle with a much higher frequency than females. Because they need more of these minerals in order to mate and not be sterile.
The males of some species will congregate at shallow puddles or damp mud, sipping water to obtain minerals such as salt, which is thought to be important for successful reproduction.
You can create a simple "mineral spa" in your own backyard by mixing equal parts of sand, soil, or gravel (I used Decomposed Granite) and adding it the catchment of your choice. You don’t even have to have a catchment & can do it right in the garden on the ground. In this video, I used an old birdbath since the base broke. Great way to repurpose things within the garden. Don’t forget to moisten your Puddle Patch. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind valuable salts and minerals that butterflies need. Once butterflies know where to find these minerals, they'll return regularly. Adding stale beer, salt, manure, or rotting fruit to this area will make it even more attractive to butterflies for sure. So until next time, Peace, Love, and Butterflies. ✌🏼💝🦋🦋
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Thank you!!
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I live in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. It is located in the Mojave desert. How do I foster the growth of butterflies in my area without inhibiting their natural instincts? I am not a fan of hummingbird feeders because they are rarely kept full and birds come to depend on them.
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Start with a small garden area. Maybe 8’ x 5’ in space. Think of what Butterflies you would would like to attract. Find the native plants to your area. Then you would want to plant both Nectar plants (Adult Butterfly food), and host plants (baby butterfly food, aka caterpillars). I promise you, plant it & they will come.
Here’s a Black Swallowtail feeding on Mock Bishops Weed. I believe in your are, y’all have Anise Swallowtails. We don’t have those here in Texas.
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Had never heard of a puddle patch before reading your post! Nice one. My nephew loves to jump in puddles:
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