No, you can put soaker hoses anytime, they are just laid on top of the soil. I did slow drip system and tried a few different ways and they all have some problems. What type you want depends upon how much area you have. If it is a small area, chepaest way to go would be to get 1/4 soaker tube by raindrip or something (from Home depot/lowes, $4 for 50 foot). If the plants are far apart, don't need soaker hose, instead get 1/2" black poly tubing and add drippers to it where ever there is a plant. On a large scale, use "drip irrigation tape" , mail order only. Good luck. But your bloom dropping problem may not be just water. If these plants just started blooming, it is common for first few days because they don't get fertilized so they drop. Calcium deficiency can do it too. You fed the plants with sounds like too much nitrogen fertilizer and that could do it too. Feed "bloom fertilizer" the one with the middle number high, phosphorous, you can use liquid foliar spray or just put it on soil.

Renee, I've been using infrared nest cams since 2004. Are you recording the video as it comes in??? If you are and want to edit the clips, I use windows Movie Maker which is free and good enough. BTW, while they are building their nest, you'll see the female bringing nesting material IN and see if the male comes in and takes 'stuff' OUT. I currently have a nest building pair who have had me in stitches with their antics..they're not making much progress for some days the male takes out as much as the female puts IN! If you see that and can record it, let me know. I'm trying to find out if this is common behavior or not. I have someone in NC who has video of this behavior. You can see the videos I've made of each day of 4 days of nest building the link below. Have fun! Linda... Here is a link that might be useful: Bluebird videos/other birds, too

Diana, First,you should only be checking the box in the afternoon,The morning is when the egg laying takes place,you don't want to flush her from the nest justs before dark either,It may be difficult for her to fine the box in the dark which is really not good.Now about the 2 eggs,She only lays 1 egg per day until her cluch is layed,she will not start incubation until all the eggs are layed.If you check the box tomorrow afternoon you should have 3 eggs.when she is done laying (maybe a few more days)she will begin incubation.At that time I would limit your monitoring unless you suspect a problem.If you know when she lays her last egg you can caculate the hatch day,12-14 days later,give or take a few days.It is best to write down these important dates,for your reference.Please visit the link below for lots of info.Keep us posted Matt Here is a link that might be useful: Bluebird link

Well, having an absent father turned out to be the least of Mrs. Blue's worries. A few nights ago something got into the box and removed the eggs ... clean as a whistle. They were probably a week from hatching. One morning the latch on the door was turned, when I opened the box to check it out, the nest was tilted slightly forward, eggs gone. No evidence anywhere of anything. It was just like Scottie had "beamed them up". A little later the male was there checking it all out. It just breaks my heart. It had to be something with hands to turn the latch, remove the eggs, and close the door back. The only thing it could have been is a raccoon or a human. In this new neighborhood, I just cannot believe a raccoon is anywhere around. The male and the female come back to eat every morning, but I guess they're both off raising the previous brood now. They never have brought them back to feed. I removed the nest, even though it looks like it's never been touched ... since there were no babies trampling it down. It's actually in good enough shape that if I put it back she might use it, IF she gets the urge to raise another family this season. What do you think? Do you think that this was probably her last brood for the season?