[Market-farming] 3pnt flamers, lay down weeders

Ploughshare gjbrever at midwestinfo.net
Thu Feb 7 18:42:15 EST 2008


John H,
   Thanks for the link to this site. They do have some pretty interesting 
equipment.  Couple questions I have on all the walk behind flamers--I wonder 
how much propane they go through compared with the red dragon back pack 
flamer.  With that many burners I would think they would freeze up pretty 
quickly. Any experience. The designs on this UK website are nice because 
they are using larger bike tires than what I have otherwise seen with push 
flamers.  However, I wonder how easy they are to push with the propane tank 
and all the other weight.  It seems a like it may push a little akward and 
wouldn't flame as evenly as some walk behind models I have seen.  But it 
would be nice to get the propane tank off of the back to do flaming.

The video on the "weedmaster" is very interesting as well.  That push behind 
tool bar has some nice little implements like the spiders that I would love 
to have developed for the wheel hoe.  However, it seems like it would be 
much more heavier to use than a Glaser Wheel Hoe.  Perhaps if  I had a draft 
Goat or something it would work pretty well.
I was actually thinking about purchasing another Glaser Wheel Hoe this year. 
The price on them seems so ridiculous though--Peaceful Valley has them 
(steel handles) for something like $350 and they don't even come with the 
hoe.  I use ours quite a bit and a 2nd one would be nice, they just seem so 
overpriced for what materials are there. (Of course my son just bought a 
$150 i-pod, and I thought it was crazy to pay that kind of cash for 
something that small)

Regarding the lay down weeders...It seems like these things I could design 
ahead of my front end loader.  What I wonder though, does laying down make 
all that much difference in speed and comfort on the body?  Anyone have any 
experience using these?
--Gary
P.S.--I don't know if you received my message a couple weeks ago.  I made 
reference, yet again to the study the UofWMadison did.  In particular I 
quoted that even the largest of farmers were only averaging $18/hour--no 
healthcare benefits (except great organic veggies and fresh air), no 
retirement, etc..  Reflecting on the study put me in the dumps for a bit. 





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