Newbie Needs Help

[Roy]

New PM fan and I have the 2" section of water pipe and am considering the Naturline 2 level Gourd Rack System. Am I on the right track and what type of gourds should I consider.

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Roy,

You are on the right track.

Natureline Gourdracks are a good product. The Natureline gourdracks don't get the PR that, say, Lone Star or Bird Abode racks do.

You can put anyone of the major brands on this gourdrack pole as it was intended to handle any of the major plastic brands of gourds.

Terry

[Karl Pesson]

Roy
The natureline is a good product ,but you may have trouble with the 2 inch water pipe. I believe natureline uses 2” EMT for their poles and it will most likely not have the same outside diameter as the 2” water pipe. I would verify the pole diameter before you order the rack.
Karl

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Karl and original writer,

Natureline does recommend both.

From Natureline:

The Natureline Outdoors Gourdrack is designed to be mounted on a vertical pole and to be raised and lowered with a rope and pulley system. The system is designed to be mounted on a pole made of 2-inch conduit (EMT*) or 2-inch water pipe, or a Natureline OUtdoors Sectional Pole. Note: PVC water pipe will not properly support the gourdrack systems.

*EMT conduite (also known as "thin wall" is the recommended pole material. In areas of high or sustained winds, some landlords are using intermediate wall or heavy wall (also known as rigid) conduit. Our rack systems should work equally well on each of these.

Hope this helps the original writer or this note.

Terry

[Martin Gal]

Roy:

I have the Natureline gourd rack and have been very happy with it. I used 2" EMT pipe to mount it. They sent me a connector so that I could join 2 10ft sections of pipe together.

I have natural gourds, not plastic ones. The only trouble I had was that the hangers provided by Natureline (they look like shower curtain hooks) don't fit the holes in my natural gourds, so I used plastic coated wire to attach the gourds to the hangers. My first year, I had 2 SY martin pairs and fledged 6 young out of 8 eggs laid. Last year, various problems unrelated to my Natureline rack conspired against me and I didn't get any martins to stay, but I have high hopes for this year.......

Welcome to Martineering!

Kathi

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Kathi,

Welcome back, Martin Gal!

Yes, I know what you mean. But, I think that the hooks do a good job. I did speak with Jim Kilpatrick about his gourdracks and hooks during the hurricanes and he told me that the shower type hooks straightened out like a straight line.

For those who want to use electrical wire, gauge #16 is good and so is gauge #14. The lower gauge number you go, the more overkill the wire is. You can't go wrong with the electrical wire from the hardware.

Terry

[Roy]

Terry, Karl, Kathi,

Thank you for your help and suggestions. I am now operational. The Naturline double gourd rack works fine on 2" water pipe. Set up with a small marine winch and 8 each Excluder II and SuperGourds. Waiting for first sighting of PM's.

Roy