Am using a supershroom and my last 4 critters were all Giants - am getting despondent that no Jacks are coming to my garden

Right - but your first five visitors to your current plate were all Jacks.  Overall the ratio of Jacks (55%) you have had on this plate is not bad, and you still have 6 feeds remaining.  If I look at the total numbers of Jacks and Giants you have had spotted so far you have had only 9 Giants compared with 23 Jacks.  That's 72% Jacks overall.  This plate could still go either way - if you only get Jacks for the remaining feeds then this plate would match roughly with your overall ratios.  If you get a mixture of Jacks and Giants, or only Giants then this plate is just an unlucky one.  It all evens out in the end.

Bananacles and Hippiponchos and 8 hrs 5 mins left on bean sprout

Which gives you several more chances for Jack to come.

The supershroom only partially deters the giant - I know it's frustrating, but it's pretty normal to get a mix of giants and Jacks.  The first half of your plate was unusually good :)

You're right Tracey; TY.

You got another Jack, so your ratio of Jacks on this plate has gone up to 60%.  The worst case scenario now (if the remaining visitors are all Giants) is that your percentage of Jacks could go down to 40%, which isn't fabulous but I've seen worse.

Jack's Back - that's all I care about - percentages are weird, as I always finish with 2 or 3 pairs of magpies (seeing as the treasure is designed to last longer than the bean sprout)

True, but on this plate the very worst result you could now get would be 6 Jacks out of 15 feeds (40%), which would happen if you did not get any more Jacks.  Although that would not be a particularly great result, it also is not the worst result I have seen with a supershroom, so overall you are getting good results.

Oh cool, you got another Jack so you are up to 7 (and the worst case scenario for this plate is now 46.67% Jacks).  Please excuse my nosiness - I am fascinated by statistics and also perception of what is a good / bad plate, and how that is affected by *when* each of the wildlife shows up in the sequence.

For example, I have noticed that if the Jacks and Giants show up alternately throughout the plate, people seem less annoyed / frustrated / concerned than if they get blocks of consecutive Jacks and Giants, even if the overall results are the same or even worse :)

I don't want to jinx anything, but you now have 8 Jacks so your worst case scenario is now up to 53.33% Jacks with 3.75 hours left on the beanstalk, and 3 feeds left on the superfood...

I'd say the situation has recovered nicely so far :D