Making homemade hummingbird solution (and a few random hummer tips)

We were up visiting my father-in-law and his wife on Father's Day. Their gardens are absolutely beautiful. Late in the afternoon, the gardens were swarming with hummingbirds, reminding me that I needed to get the hummingbird feeder out of storage and out into our garden. Several years ago we received one of those gorgeous, blown-glass feeders. They can be a bit tricky to use, at first. But with just a few tricks, they are easy to keep drip-free and attracting those hummers.

The ideal food for hummingbirds is the nectar found in the plants they visit. However, there are times when the attractive blooms are either not ready or just passed, and you'd like to keep the hummingbirds around your place for viewing. A sucrose solution is just the thing those hummers need for fuel for their amazing metabolisms. A quick feed will give them the energy to hunt down some insects for protein.

A popular hummingbird feeding location can mean going through gallons of sugar solution every month. The store bought stuff is really an unnecessary expense.

I make my own solution with a blend of 4 parts water and 1 part white cane sugar.  Some speculate that cane sugar is more attractive to hummingbirds than beet sugar. So, to get a good viewing of hummers, I stick with the cane.

I use regular tap water (not softened, too many salts for the birdies). And I make only a week or two's worth at a time (even sugar water can grow mold).

I use the boil method, to prolong the refrigeration life of my solution, and store in a sterile jar (I just add a jar to my sterilizing kettle when I'm making jam or yogurt).

Simply:

Place 1 part sugar and 4 parts water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 2 minutes. Turn stove off and cool before filling the feeders.

If you are hanging a feeder in your yard for the first time this season, or ever, you can also do a 3:1 ratio of water to sugar, as an attractant for the first fill-up. Then switch to the standard 4:1 for the next. 

This 4:1 formula has actually been studied and determined to be an ideal solution for the hummer's metabolism, and most closely approximates the ratio of flower nectar that hummingbirds normally feed on.

Store any leftovers in a sterile jar in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. Throw out any cloudy or discolored solution, or solution with mold growing on it. 

If you want to make a large batch ahead of time, you can freeze leftovers in portions necessary for each fill-up. Bring to room temp before adding to your feeder.

• Check your feeders daily, for refilling or tossing out old/cloudy solution.
• Don't add red food coloring, salt or anything other than the plain tap water and white cane sugar. Don't add honey (can spoil rapidly once water is added), or sugar in the raw (too high iron content for hummingbirds).
• You don't need red nectar, or a red feeder, just something on your feeder near the port where hummers feed that is red. A red end, or even a piece of red plastic tape wrapped near the end should be enough to attract hummingbirds.
• Hang in a partly shady spot, near shrubs and trees to which hummingbirds are naturally attracted. If you're using a glass globe, or other gravity feeder, solution heated up in the sun will be more likely to leak. As well, wasps and bees seem to prefer being in the sun, and you'll have fewer insect problems with your feeder, by placing it in partial shade.
• If bees and wasps persist, try increasing the water in your formula to a 5:1 ratio. It's less appealing to flying pests.
• Wipe the outside off with a damp cloth after hanging. Syrupy stickiness seems to attract wasps and bees.
• And just an FYI, it can take a few days for the hummers to find your feeder. Be patient. If no hummers have found yours after a week, try moving it just a bit closer to some bright red or purple flowers.
• Once a week, clean out your feeder with warm water (no soap), a bottle brush and pipe cleaner (to reach inside feeding tube). If mold has become an issue, you can also soak in equal parts white vinegar and water. Then, follow-up with a hot water rinse. This should also be done once per month, to disinfect the feeder.

Do you have one of those difficult to use, but simply beautiful, glass globe feeders like ours? A big complaint is that they leak. Mine did too, at first. With a few tweaks mine was made leak-proof. First, I shoved the straw all the way up to the top of the stopper. Then I filled the globe to the brim, so much so, that when I pushed the stopper in as far as I could, a bit of syrup oozed out. Taking it outside, I quickly turned the whole thing over, and voila -- no leaks.

Next month, our garden club has an expert coming to speak on hummingbirds. I'm excited to hear what she has to say! I'll relay any info I glean from this meeting.

10 ways I'll be saving water in my garden this summer

You would think that in rainy Seattle, we wouldn't give a thought to conserving water in summer. But in reality, the months of July, August and September are very dry. We do what we can to minimize water waste in our yard, but still keeping the plants healthy looking.

I've listed 10 of the ways we'll be saving water on our gardens this summer. Maybe something here will spark an idea in you. Share your tips in the comments. I'm always looking for new ways to conserve.


1) Soaker Hoses

Instead of watering an entire area (and encouraging weed growth in bare patches), I use soaker hoses to water specific plants and areas. I use leader hoses (non-porous hoses) to bridge the gap between the faucet and the area to be soaked.

2) Mulch Plants 
For the most part, I use free mulch -- coffee grounds (both from Starbucks and home), dried shredded leaves, grass clippings, compost, and when I see a tree company in the neighborhood, I always ask if they're trucking the clippings somewhere, and ask if they'd like to dump them in our driveway. I've gotten a lot of free branch chips this way.

3) Donut Berms
With trees and shrubs that are newly planted this year, I'm making donut-shaped mounds of soil to surround the trunk of the shrub/tree, keeping clear about 6 inches or so from the trunk itself. These berms prevent run-off of water, keeping it near the root zone of these new babies.

4) Homemade Drip Irrigation For The Yard

Using 1 gallon milk jugs, flip the jug over.

Poke 2, 3 or 4 holes into the bottom of the jug, with a nail, corkscrew or ice pick (I use a cork screw, and just screw it through the plastic).

Add a few small stones to the jug to keep it from blowing away on a windy day.

this is rain water, hence the dirty coloring

Place on soil near shrubs, fill with water, replace cap, but leave it just a tad loose, so air can come in as water seeps out. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour for the water to seep out, minimizing run-off. Refill as necessary. Great for places where you don't want an entire length of soaker hose, or are too far away from any water supply.


5) Homemade Drip Irrigation for Potted Plants 
Using 1 or 2 litre bottles with lids and a power drill with very small drill bit,

drill or poke 1 hole into the cap of the bottle.

Flip the bottle over and drill 1 hole into the bottom of the bottle.

bad photo, I know --
trying to get a pic of the hole drilled into the bottom

Hold 1 finger over the hole on the bottom of bottle, and fill with water, place cap back on.

Turn upside down and bury slightly in your pot of plants.

The water slowly seeps into the soil, instead of a huge rush of water that happens with a hose or can, and most of which then comes back out the base of the pot. In my pots, these take about 20-35 minutes (small vs. large bottles) to drain into the soil. These can also be used on house plants, tucked in the back of the pot, they're less noticeable and your plant will thank you for the continual sips of water.

6) Saving Kitchen Water
I have 2 watering cans, I keep one down by the rain barrel, the other I keep up on the deck, just outside the kitchen door. I wash lettuce and other leafy greens in a salad spinner. I dump that rinse water into the watering can on the deck, to be used to water plants up near the house.


7) Rain Barrels

We have 2 rain barrels under downspouts from rain gutters on our house and garage. Typically, the rain water lasts until late June to early July. One good rainfall in summer will fill each can to the top, and we'll be good on water again for a week or two.

8) Letting The Lawns Go Without Watering

We don't water the lawns in summer. The front lawn won't dry up until early August. But the back lawn will stay green all summer, due to shade.

We mow less frequently in summer, and keep the mower blade set to 3 inches. Longer grass blades shade the root zone and slow any evaporation of rain or dew. It may not look as prim and tidy as a short lawn, but it will stay green longer.

Also, with the front lawn, once June hits, we leave the clippings on the lawn, as a mulch. We bag the back lawn clippings, as that lawn stays green, we don't want to be tracking in grass all summer, and we can use those clippings as mulch around shrubs.

9) Repairing Hose Ends

We've driven over the ends of some of our hoses that were left in the driveway. This leaves the metal screwing end of the hose slightly crimped, just enough to keep the hose from sealing to a soaker hose properly (spraying water all over a walkway or driveway).

I've bought one of these inexpensive hose end repair kits and will be attempting to repair the hose myself (first time for doing this -- hope it's easy). Likewise, with hose reels which have developed leaks where the hose attaches to the reel. Ours needs a repair with some watertight glue and a crimping band. I'll be attempting to make this leak-free once more.

10) Relocating Plants to the Correct Placement for Their Sun and Water Needs
In our dry patches (which believe it or not we do have here in the pacific northwest), sedums and other succulents are the way to go. I am slowly moving these succulents to the dry spots where I don't wish to spend my precious summer hours with a watering can. In addition, I have some water-loving plants which could really benefit from being placed out of direct, hot sun. A little plant swap is in the plans.

Ten of the ways we'll be saving water this summer. I remember a time when water was so cheap and plentiful, my parents didn't give much thought to water conservation. But times have certainly changed, haven't they? Do you have any tricks for saving water in summer?