I'm not sure what Gilmour intended them to be used for. I purchased mine to fertigate faster than I could with a watering can. They *are* faster than a watering can. They will certainly work if you want to foliar feed though you might want something that will give you more of a mist. These don't give a super-fine mist. I found that there are limited options for fertigation: 1) Hose-end sprayers. These are accurate but in order to get the accuracy they significantly reduce the flow with a restricted venturi tube or similar. This allows them to work accurately for most people. These take ~5x longer to water, they cost ~$10-$20. 2) Source siphon systems - these include things like Hozon (~$15-$30) and Mazzei(venturi tube) injectors (around $100 by the time you get a bypass system installed). The Hozon and etc are all at set rates of like 16:1 or sometimes 20:1. Those ratios are too small for my liking. I'd have to refill a 5 gallon bucket with solution too often during the summer. The Mazzei injectors might work better. I didn't try one yet. I don't see how they could give full flow and inject at the correct rate. If someone has experience with them please let me know! 3) "Proportional mixing" systems like the EZ-Flo fertilizer injector. These do not work. They do not mix at the advertised rates. ~$65 wasted. You can waste another $25 trying to get it to work. It still won't work. 4) Dosmatic/Dosatron/Mixrite style pump injectors. These will work as advertised. I bought a Dosmatic 1% yesterday. It's still on the way. The unit itself was ~$260 shipped. It will also require a bypass setup which is another ~$20 if you build it yourself. They also have wear parts that will need to be replace yearly (for ~$10). They will operate at full flow and have adjustable injection rates. They go as high as $500 for some units with more options and higher flow/pressure rates. I've basically tried all of these except the Mazzei style injectors and I'm landing on a dosmatic style system. By the time you try every other kind and find it lacking you've spent 3/4 the price of a dosmatic anyway. With a 500:1 injection rate (~1.5 tsp / gallon) I can water 2500 gallons from a 5 gallon bucket of concentrated solution. This is at full flow with perfect injection rates. It costs more and it makes a little pumping noise when you operate it but it will be worth it to me. Ask yourself this: how much is your time worth to you? If you use a hose-end sprayer you will spend 5x the time watering. If it takes you an hour a day to water instead of 20 minutes that's 243 hours a year. Even if you only have to water once a day for half the year that's 121 hours saved. 3 whole work weeks. This now sounds like a hard sell for a dosmatic but, shrug, I've tried everything else and got fed up. I'll make a video of my installation and show you the Ez-Flo that I had in there before.

I agree, this thread is getting long. Not so much in the number of responses, more the number of pictures. I'll start a new thread but first... Claire, I have noticed that my House Finch numbers are also way down. I had one day last week that I did not see a single HF. That is very strange. My Goldfinch numbers have also been down but not as much as the HF. I think part of the suet issue in my yard could be the feeders. The birds love the one that is attached directly to the tree. I could put anything in it and the birds would love it. I think they like it because it is easy for them to get to. They can hold on to the feeder or the tree. The larger birds like, Red-bellied, Flicker, Harry can all get a good grip and, it does not move. The other suet feeder that I have is smaller, cage style, the size of a single cake of mixed suet and is free hanging from a chain. I see smaller birds like Red Breasted Nuthatch and Chickadees at it but nothing larger. OK...now I'll start a new thread... sooey

I make my suet mixture using suet or lard. I melt the fat in a glass bowl in the microwave until liquid. Then I add crunchy peanut butter, which melts in the hot fat. Then I add the dried ingredients - corn meal, flour, oats (usually ground in blender), ground eggshells, crushed nuts, a little jam or jelly, etc. The mixture is about 1/2 fat, 1/2 dried ingredients - maybe a little more dried. I aim for a mixture that is the texture of Play-doh - it clumps together easily for the suet log, but also crumbles into pieces that I spread in a tray feeder. I made the suet log over 3 years ago out of an old red Pine log and glued lots of perches and branches. It did not have much bark on it - which is fine, except that over time the log has darkened quite a bit, perhaps because of the oils in the suet mixture. Also, most of the perches and branches have broken and fallen off. This birds don't seem to care. If you put perches on the log, this will enable many more birds to eat more easily. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing because with mine, it enables the Starlings and Blue Jays to hog the suet log, and it encourages House Sparrows. My suet log is pole-mounted with a squirrel/raccoon baffle, so nothing gets onto the log but the birds. Here's what the suet mixture looks like - Some Bluebirds on the suet log a couple years ago. They don't eat that much on the suet log any more, because I usually spread crumbles in a tray for them.

Hi Mojave! Thanks for feeding the birds! The birds will see the feeder. They don't have much sense of smell. A Nyjer sock is sort of a specific Goldfinch feeder, and I sure hope that you get them. One of the very best seeds you can offer in order to attract in the most species of songbirds is Black Oil Sunflower Seed. Why not splurge and purchase another feeder and fill it with some Black Oil Sunflower Seed? I like a nice durable feeder that lots of species can easily use. I've posted a link just to show you an example of what type of feeder I love. You can look around your town and choose what you like. Your local Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart should offer a decent selection. I also love my Tractor Supply for birding purchases. Good luck and happy birding!!! ~~Angie Here is a link that might be useful: