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  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: mrkflux AT sezampro.yu, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Re: Home Business, Hypertufa repost
  • Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2004 14:29:34 -0700

sasha wrote:

On Monday 06 September 2004 12:29 am, Tvoivozhd wrote:

I'm pretty sure the prior Hypertufa post didn't make it into the
archives. Hypertufa products are, however a very good home business.






Can paper (like in papercrete) be used instead of peat mos?

Sasha


tvoivozhd---I think it could, at least in part, and there are other natural fibers which should work better than paper, which has very short fiber. Papercrete is very easy to produce, all you need to do is whip newspaper and water together with a motor-driven propellor or multi-bladed mixer, drain off excess water and add Portland Cement.

Peat moss has ideal characterists for hypertufa product appearance, but almost no tensile strength, other fibers are used to provide tensile strength where required, and acrylic latex lends strength also.

It seems to me that various kinds of grass, straw or cornstalk leaves if chopped or run through a powered shredder having a large-diameter screen, three-quarter or one-inch, would produce a fiber that could be used as a substitute for peat moss.. Any of these grasses etc., would have to be dried before shredding.

You would have to experiment to see what variety grass would work best----I don't know what kind grasses you have in Serbia, here we have a waxy-exterior very strong and resistant to weather-degradation fescue, finer and less strong orchard-grass, (clover and alfalfa which probably wouldn't be worth a damn). Farther south they have Bermuda Grass whidh would certainly merit experimentation, as would perennial ryegrass or rye stems---don't know whether you would have to remove the rye leaves or not.

Make up some six-inch square test plaques of different thickness to abuse with a wire brush to see how closely they resemble peat-moss mixes in strength and appearance. You might come up with something better.








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