Butterflies are attracted to salt. For male butterflies especially, it is a vital nutrient. I decided to help them out and make a butterfly salt lick for my garden. I washed out a glass bowl, found an old discarded metal stand and glued them together.
I buried the legs of the stand into my garden soil near plants attractive to butterflies.
I brought home some of the Delaware Bay’s sandy beach.
I added a piece of driftwood, a few shells and sea glass shards as butterfly perches.
A bit of water to activate the salts and minerals in the sand was the last step. My project is finished. Hopefully, I will be able to capture a few photographs of butterflies drinking up the salt.
Click here to read why: Butterflies need salt?
Awesome idea thanks for sharing!
By: angie on April 26, 2013
at 12:42 pm
What kind of salt should I use? Sea salt? Table salt? Epsom salt?
By: Melanie on March 12, 2013
at 11:19 am
Hi Melanie, I used sand from the shores of the Delaware bay which is full of natural salt and minerals. Are there any bodies of water near your home? You can also use plain old mud, or sandy soil from areas near your home. If you do this be sure the area you take soil or sand from is free of any chemical contaminants and not near a road. Kathy
By: timelesslady on March 27, 2013
at 7:52 am
In the butterfly gardens they feed them w bananas. I like your suggestion, maybe bananas is an alternative to land lucked folks
By: Orly on February 1, 2013
at 4:07 pm
Great Idea…I’ll have to try that next year. I think just plain old mud will work too.
By: timelesslady on February 1, 2013
at 5:34 pm
What if u don’t have sand, is there a mixture to do for salt?
By: Missy on January 17, 2013
at 8:37 am
I think they are really partial to wet dirt, mixed into mud. Happy mud puddling!
By: timelesslady on January 17, 2013
at 8:46 am
I love this! I’m using your idea to make something similar for my butterfly garden. I believe they also like the salt tablets like those from water softener salt tablets.
By: Dee on December 30, 2012
at 11:02 am
So I have to ask did you have very many butterflies stop by?
By: Ann on November 18, 2012
at 2:08 am
Didn’t see any, but did see little tracks of something in the sand. Unfortunately, it was one of those summers when the butterfly population in our area seemed to be down. The cabbage whites did well and flourished, and laid many eggs that ate my cruciferous vegetables in the garden. I saw a few black swallowtails, very few yellow swallowtails, a lot of skippers toward the end of the season, and a few monarchs. On the whole the butterfly population wasn’t as large as it has been in past years.
By: timelesslady on November 18, 2012
at 10:30 am
Love this idea… only problem is I live in SouthEast Missouri. No ocean beaches here. Any suggestions? I so want to do this for my garden…
By: Michelle Southard-Thompson on August 5, 2012
at 5:51 am
Why not add some natural sea salt to whatever clean sand you have available? A bit of natural sponge soaked in salt water would work too, and give the butterflies a perch.
By: vaericks on September 15, 2012
at 12:13 am
Sounds like a great idea!
By: timelesslady on September 15, 2012
at 7:37 am
To Vaericks…
Thank you for the suggestion.
My oldest son in an OTR trucker and thought of even asking him to pick up some sand on his next trip to the coast… BUT this idea is so much easier.
Winter almost here… Will be doing this come Spring… Thank you so.much
By: Michelle Southard Thompson on October 30, 2012
at 5:18 pm
Liked your project! I’m a Delawarean and headed to the beach next week – going to bring back some sand!
By: Barb Rosen on July 8, 2012
at 6:08 pm
Thanks! Enjoy your time at the beach.
By: timelesslady on July 8, 2012
at 8:49 pm