It could just be from the stress of all the transplanting. Next best guess is over-watering. More plants are killed by too much water than anything else. ;) Neither the perlite or a "little" timed release fertilizer should hurt them. Give them a few days to see if they recover. Meanwhile lay off any additional feeding and go very easy on the water until they get re-established. Hope this helps. Dave

Hi, Floridays (you a Parrothead, by any chance?) Everyone has their own favorites and a lot depends on the types of birds you might have in your immediate area, but for me, the things that have worked best over 40+ years of feeding birds are the following. Keep several feeders around the yard, placed close to, but not TOO close to nearby vegetation, shrubs, trees, etc. Birds like to have a place to escape to, but shrubs that are too close will give predators a place to hide, so they will be wary of those. And having several types with a couple of different kinds of foods will widen the variety of birds you will attract. Of all the feeders I have ever used over the years, by far the most popular is a tray. You can buy several kinds of tray feeders to mount on poles, or you can make a simple one with a wooden frame and a bottom that is perforated enough to let rainwater (rain???? where????) escape. Tray feeders will accommodate large and small birds, and they all seem to enjoy them. You will need a squirrel baffle on the pole to keep them from emptying it ten minutes after you fill it. It's okay for the squirrels to get SOME food...squirrels gotta live, too. But it's not going to make anyone happy if they pig it ALL. Some of your feeders should be less hospitable to larger birds, so the little ones have a chance. Many small feeders have limited perches that larger birds can't hold onto, or won't be comfortable on. A couple of those are great. Remember to offer plenty of water. Birdbaths are essential, even if you do something as simple as put a garbage can lid on the ground with water in it. I have as many water sources in the yard as I do birdfeeders. The extra bonus with good birdbaths is that you will attract even those birds who don't go to feeders. They ALL need water. As for seed, many commercial mixes are fine, but the favorite seed of the biggest number of birds would have to be black oiler sunflower seed. Safflower seed is a good one for feeders that squirrels can reach because most of them don't care for it much, unless they are truly desperate. Cardinals, titmice, and several other birds DO like it. And any good mix is fine, but beware of cheaper mixes with lots of MILO in them. (It looks like little round BB's.) I've never seen a bird eat those. They are just filler in the mix, to my mind. I have lately begun to spend a bit more and buy the hull-less mixtures. Less waste, no mess to clean up (anything that hits the ground is eaten by the doves), and no sprouting under my feeder. It IS more. But it goes much farther. I get both hulled sunflowere seeds & chips, and a mix with hulled sunflowers, peanuts, and smaller seeds. The birds love it. I even have wrens and some warblers trying it out, and they are primarily insect eaters. And don't forget your hummingbirds. In Zone 9 areas, they are back for the summer now (if they ever left, and there is a lot of debate & new info on that topic). Mine are in my yard daily, and sipping from both my coral honeysuckle & other plants, and my feeders. There are commercially prepared feeder mixes that only contain natural food coloring available now. (You don't want the ones with Red Dye #whatever in them. It's not good for the hummers.) Or you can make your own. Boil 4 cups water to 1 cup sugar, and let cool. Never use honey or artifical sweetener in place of the sugar. Honey can be deadly to them, and artifical sweetener will starve them. That's everything I can think of off the bat, but if you have more question, give a holler. Nothing improves a garden like birds & other wildlife. Welcome to what I hope will be years of enjoyment for you. Marcia

Hi rembetika and welcome! With respect to refilling - it all depends on your weather (temperature, humidity in particular) and where the feeder is hung (sun or shade). When it's cooler, the sugar/water can often be just fine for a number of days. But when it's hot and humid, this encourages bacteria to grow (often introduced by the birds themselves) and that can spoil the solution - even if it doesn't appear to be cloudy as yet. When it's cloudy, that's often after the bacteria colony has multiplied so much that they visibly cloud the solution with their numbers. I think putting it through the dishwasher might depend on whatever you use for detergent and whether it is actually rinsed well to get any residue out - particularly since some of the smaller glass ones have a pinched neck and may not get rinsed as well as say a drinking glass. With respect to the sugar - plain white granualated table (cane) sugar is fine. Other types such as turbinado or lesser processed cane sugar with molasses isn't recommended. The "hummingbird sugar" sold commercially is often sold with a dye (FD&C Red 40), where the long-term effects of that on this bird is unknown and thus it's not recommended. Plus the commercial products like that end up costing more than plain cane sugar anyway, so might as well go with something very simple.

Like tsheets mentioned, organic ferts(whether it's compost, guano, worm castings, or the traditional "meals" are going to be difficult to optimize(break down) in small containers. If you have large containers like drums or whiskey barrels, it's not so much an issue. One thing I've learned though is that if you go the synthetic route, a lot of them don't have calcium and magnesium. So, you may want to go with the foliage pro or supplement with some lime or gypsum. Kevin