Gourds to attract birds

[mensplace]

It used to be that in the country you could see tall poles with many crossties loaded with gourd birdhouses. With a little searching I was surprised to find how many art forms now seem to have replaced the simple birdhouses such as gorgeous painting, carving, engraving and many kinds of embellishments. Well, in walking through the kitchen I spotted a very old, rather small birdhouse style gourd, but found the walls to be fairly thin after drilling the hole. I understand that there is a considerable variety of different shapes, sizes, and even wall thickness; some up to an inch thick.

I love birds of all sizes and found that even larger owls will nest in the larger gourd varieties if a size that would allow a 5 inch hole were provided. Anyway, this all struck me as an interesting outlet that would serve the birds, the garden and even give me a positive outlet for my painting and carving. BEATS SITTING! I could even see combining some of my interest in studio/fine art B&W photography based on the curves , textures and contrasts. This may sound silly to some, but when you can't get around much an interesting outlet is a blessing. Too, I would just love to follow the nesting and raising of babies in the wide varieties of mid and large sized gourds. I hope its not to late this year to grow a few.

Has anybody out there ever pursued such? I made one birdhouse from the ten year old relic, but would love to find several of the range for larger or more interesting varieties and can't wait for next year's inhabitants. That gives me something to work towards and to look forward to.

Being a total newcomer to such, at least I can try to grow a few of each to provide seed for next year. Not sure if the site I read based upon THEIR gourds and other variables is really worth the significant cost of shipping boxes of pre-grown specimens is really necessary or worth the cost. Too, one gourd of each would provide ample seed for the future if the quality isn't really all that different, Could anyone out there offer a sanity check along these lines? Should I try the state's Ag Review for sources or is there another better source. It would seem that time would be a factor too. Other resources for seed and further learning. NOT trying to mooch seeds, as, unless I am wrong, these would seem to be rather specialized in terms of size, shape and wall thickness. I'm open to you ideas and suggestions. This is all new to me, but sounds like fun with the potential for lots of areas of experimentation. What I don't want to do is just order lots of seed only to waste a year I don't have.

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by mensplace

It used to be that in the country you could see tall poles with many crossties loaded with gourd birdhouses. With a little searching I was surprised to find how many art forms now seem to have replaced the simple birdhouses such as gorgeous painting, carving, engraving and many kinds of embellishments. Well, in walking through the kitchen I spotted a very old, rather small birdhouse style gourd, but found the walls to be fairly thin after drilling the hole. I understand that there is a considerable variety of different shapes, sizes, and even wall thickness; some up to an inch thick.

I love birds of all sizes and found that even larger owls will nest in the larger gourd varieties if a size that would allow a 5 inch hole were provided. Anyway, this all struck me as an interesting outlet that would serve the birds, the garden and even give me a positive outlet for my painting and carving. BEATS SITTING! I could even see combining some of my interest in studio/fine art B&W photography based on the curves , textures and contrasts. This may sound silly to some, but when you can't get around much an interesting outlet is a blessing. Too, I would just love to follow the nesting and raising of babies in the wide varieties of mid and large sized gourds. I hope its not to late this year to grow a few.

Has anybody out there ever pursued such? I made one birdhouse from the ten year old relic, but would love to find several of the range for larger or more interesting varieties and can't wait for next year's inhabitants. That gives me something to work towards and to look forward to.

Being a total newcomer to such, at least I can try to grow a few of each to provide seed for next year. Not sure if the site I read based upon THEIR gourds and other variables is really worth the significant cost of shipping boxes of pre-grown specimens is really necessary or worth the cost. Too, one gourd of each would provide ample seed for the future if the quality isn't really all that different, Could anyone out there offer a sanity check along these lines? Should I try the state's Ag Review for sources or is there another better source. It would seem that time would be a factor too. Other resources for seed and further learning. NOT trying to mooch seeds, as, unless I am wrong, these would seem to be rather specialized in terms of size, shape and wall thickness. I'm open to you ideas and suggestions. This is all new to me, but sounds like fun with the potential for lots of areas of experimentation. What I don't want to do is just order lots of seed only to waste a year I don't have.

In Wyoming, I had about 30 gourd houses hanging. I grew and used the bigger varieties like bushel, large bottle, snake, etc. It took about 2 years for the birds to move in. I hung mine in a row of semi dwarf apricot trees that I could view through my kitchen window. I originally painted all of mine in bright tropical colors but within a couple of years, most of the paint was gone. Wyoming wind and the bushy branches of the trees as well as extremes of weather took every speck of paint off of them eventually. Sparrows loved them and were the only birds who stayed at our ranch year round.

Where do you live? Most gourds take a pretty long growing season. I had to start them in the greenhouse to have any chance of them getting big. Seeds are available all over the internet. Try Ebay or Amazon.

[mensplace]

Brokenbar, Thanks for the input. It would be easy to just order seeds, but I wanted to be sure to identify the correct sizes and varieties as my searches called for holes between and inch and five inches and different wall thicknesses to carry the varying weights of the birds and their offspring. Several sights that specialized in gourds wanted you to just order the gourds and have the huge boxes shipped. Too, I didn't really need a collection of too many varieties and too many seeds. Used to be you could just order a mixture of large seeds, be would these necessarily be those bred for strong walls, etc.. Of course, this may all be a moot point if its already too late to plant them here in GA..

[Worth1]

It is way too late to plant gourds in GA.

You have all winter to figure out what seeds and type you want.
From what I have seen it is the swan and bottle gourd you want.
A person would think an Ostrich egg would make a great birdhouse.
Well lookie here.
Worth

[mensplace]

Worth,
THANKS for saving me a lot of wasted effort! Just trying to think of things I could do to keep the mind occupied. I've sworn off politics, economics, news and too much reading. Now back to planning for the fall and winter garden. Just sitting here is NOT healthy.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by mensplace

Worth,
THANKS for saving me a lot of wasted effort! Just trying to think of things I could do to keep the mind occupied. I've sworn off politics, economics, news and too much reading. Now back to planning for the fall and winter garden. Just sitting here is NOT healthy.

The gourds have to grow, mature dry out and the plants themselves die and dry up before they are harvested.

Just sitting here is not healthy for me either.
I have got to figure out a way to get out and meet people.

Worth