LS GOLIAD WITH ADD-A-RACK OR LS GOURD RACK

[Kenneth Hicks]

I am having a continuous debate with myself over which to purchase. Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Kenneth

[John Barrow]

Hi Kenneth. It is painful for us to watch your struggle in choosing between two excellent products. I have used both extensively and will offer some observations that might affect your choice, but you cannot go wrong with either.
APPEARANCE: The goliad is a beautiful work of art. It costs more, is more valuable and enhances the appearance of your yard moreso, in my opinion, than would a gourd rack.
COST: The add goliad/add a rack combo costs significantly more, depending on how much you spend on gourds and you will also want to make or buy nestboxes, perching rails and a few other additions that add to the cost. Natural gourds are going to serve you best, and their final cost normally exceeds or parallels the cost of good plastic gourds.
FLEXIBILITY: You already have a heritage farm quad pod, which I think more closely resembles a house than would a LS gourd rack, and offering the gourd rack would give more flexibility than does the goliad combo. However, there are areas where martins seem to prefer a house and having the combo offers the best of both worlds.
FUNCTION: In my experience, I have been more successful offering gourds to attract martins as breeding pairs at my colonies. Usually I expect 95-100 percent occupancy of the gourd rack That's at least 15 of 16 gourds occupied. I will also achieve full occupancy or 7 or 8 on the add a rack, but have never achieved more than 8 of 12 occupied in the goliad even outfitted with porch dividers. They are more easily dominated than gourds, but I accept incomplete occupancy as a good thing, as it leaves room for new fledglings to stay--which many do--and for migratory PMs to stay en route north.
OBSERVATION: While both systems offer good viewing of your colony, the gourd rack probably offers better overall visibility as one side of the goliad will always be hidden. However, if you have a chance to intercept martins in migration, which you very likely do, the goliad combo is a magnet to migrating martins. At both of my colonies, but especially Port O'Connor, I have had as many as 200 migrating martins land on the goliad combo, while at the same time there may be only a dozen or less on a nearby gourd rack. The fights for an open space for the night can be disruptive to the established colony, but nonetheless, it is a spectacle to behold. While some of my friends have changed out to only gourds, I keep at least one goliad combo at each location to draw in and observe migration.
WIND RESISTANCE/WEIGHT: My goliad combo is much heavier and catches much more wind than does my gourd rack-with natural gourds. This is important along the coast where high winds occur from time to time. The goliad combo should always be lowered in the face of high winds where the gourd rack has done well at its normal level. I install all of my poles 36 inches deep and buried alongside a treated 4X4 in 3 sacks of concrete. I then attach the pole to the 4X4, which is cut off just below the winch level, with a stainless radiator clamp. The effect of this is to take pressure off of the bottom and most susceptable joint.
S&S CONTROL: In my experience most of my problems with S&S have been in the goliad and not in gourds.
MY CHOICE: If given your choice, I would go with the gourd rack. However, I still would keep up and enjoy the goliad combo because of its value and beauty. I helped design the add a rack and the first 3 combos were custom made by lonestar for me. I thought then, and still believe, that it is the finest product offering the best of both worlds, and if I didn't already have some goliads up, that might be my choice-I don't know. You will be happy with either product you choose. You can't go wrong.

I've probably said a lot more than you wanted to hear, but if you have questions on my opinions, observations, please email me.

Best of luck. John

[Kenneth Hicks]

John,

Thanks for the comments. I feel like the goliad with the add-a-rack would offer the best combination of housing & gourds, however from the numerous responses on the forum it appears that gourds whether plastic or natural are preferred by martins.

Kenneth

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Kenneth, I think in Texas, and the south in general, gourds are very much preferred. I had both, the gourds were about 90% full, the wooden T-14 house was 25% full over a 3-year period. I took down the T14 because the sparrows & starlings loved it, and they didn't bother the gourds very much.

[Kelly Applegate~MN]

Hi Kenneth-

I purchased a LS Goliad a few years ago (with the old style pole which has X connectors). I also purchased the add-a-rack for it. I was not comfortable with the amount of weight stress put on the pole and winch. The house itself is light but add the weight of the nest trays, the add-a-rack, and 8 gourds with nesting material and it seems to be dangerously heavy. Keep in mind, I have the old pole system, so maybe the new poles are less flimsy. Also, my martin friend Ron Seekamp made some modifications to the house which he felt were neccessary. The corners of the porches are extremely sharp so he knocked out the rivets, flattened the corners and re-attached them making the porches safer. He was scared that fighting males would knock one another into the porch corners, injuring themselves. He also modified all the entrances to his special adjustable crescent entrance. He is also a firm believer that landlords should have fewer compartments per pole because it is less disruptive and quicker to do nest checks. Currently I just have the house only on the pole because of the weight issue, it would be scary if the whole setup plus an add-a-rack and gourds came zipping down the pole!

[Kenneth Hicks]

Well I bit the bullet and purchased the Lone Star Gourd Rack and a variety of plastic gourds to hang on it.
I will report back to let ya'll know what kind of results I have.

Kenneth