Re: Nectar Ratios Revisited

Whew. I'm still trying to figure out how to dilute the 1:1 ratio, that evidently keeps forever in the fridge, so that it ends up ~1:4 :-D

Pat (am I supposed to put Central Virginia in my signature w/each email or is the lon-lat enough?)


Eric Miller wrote:

How do *you* measure the ingredients of hummingbird nectar? That question hit me after some experimenting last week with a few measuring cups and a scale in my kitchen. I came up with the following conclusions:

One cup of granulated sugar weighs about the same as one cup of water. I weighed both then confirmed with some online references. Water =236 milligrams, Granulated Sugar = 226 milligrams.

On cup of granulated sugar occupies approximately the same volume in a liquid mixture as 1/2 cup of water. For this conclusion, I used a two cup measuring container and put in one cup water and one cup sugar. Total volume, 1 1/2 cups. I put in another cup sugar and total volume came to 2 cups.

So back to the question and its pertinence to the sugar/water ratio. If you pour one cup of sugar into a container and then pour in four individually measured cups of water, you have a 1:4, sugar/water ratio. This ratio will accurately describe the weight ratio of the ingredients as well as by the common method of dry volume measure for sugar and liquid volume measure for water.

If, however, you put water into a container and fill it 4/5 full and then pour sugar in until it is full, you will have a 2:4 nectar mix (twice as strong as 1:4).

If you pour in 1/5 of a container with sugar first and then fill it with water, you will have a 1:4.5 (2:9) nectar mix.

If you use a 32 ounce (4 cup) container and put in one cup sugar and the fill the rest with water, you get a 1:3.5 mix.

If you put three cups water into the same container and then fill with sugar, you get a 2:3 (and very syrupy) mix.

After screwing up and doing a 2:3 mix (I had intended to put out a 1:3) of sugar not labeled as cane sugar (beet sugar maybe?) and putting it in my feeders, I had a hummer extravaganza last week (more than I have ever had at this time of year before) and I noticed that after 5 days in 95 degree weather, the nectar in only one of the feeders (5 total)started to sour by yesterday, and only slightly. I guess that extra sugar was good for something besides keeping the hummers happy. But I'm back to the 1:3 mix as of yesterday to see how many days before it starts to smell like cheap wine. I'll probably stick with it anyway as the other mix will deplete my sugar fund a little too quickly.

Eric Miller







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Relevant Pages

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  • Nectar Ratios Revisited
    ... How do *you* measure the ingredients of hummingbird nectar? ... One cup of granulated sugar weighs about the same as one cup of water. ... measuring container and put in one cup water and one cup sugar. ...
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