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nafex - [NAFEX] purchase flamer and my experience with it

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  • From: Heron Breen <breen@fedcoseeds.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] purchase flamer and my experience with it
  • Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:44:26 -0600


Yes, many landscape/supply places carry this contraption, which is really a
grill
size gas dealy-whopper, a regulator, and the fun end, the flame wand. I have
used
it to pop weed seeds/sterilize raised beds for direct seeding and seedling
transplant, general weeding around farm buildings and the edges of raised
beds once
planted. The other use that I think is unique and really what this idea was
meant
to do in the first place: Weeding potato rows throughout the season, as well
as
incidental pest control, and actually vice versa. The larger, original
contraptions
were front mounted dual tanked multi-burner, at least the ones I've seen, and
you
drive yo tracta down them rows with a good hum of torch going, as the older
folks
would say. The potato plant can withstand 20% foliage damage before root
production
is affected or slowed, so only the very top few leaves are sizzled and
popped,
cooking the buggies too as well as severely knocking back the weeds. Lots of
folks
used them to kill back the potato plants a few weeks before harvest too. The
type
we're talking about straps to the back, wear a thick flannel as that tank can
get
cold even on the hottest day. Heavy too. I guess I just wanted to see if it
could
get where a sycthe or a mower couldn't.
Del, have you tried one of the solid bladed jobbies? They seem awful
effective at
taking out large stuff. Does your Stihl allow interchange with a solid blade?
Also, third hand information, probably proving what a lot of you all do
already, a
friend of mine was speaking with one of the Cummins, I assume the son of the
father
and son duo at Cummins Nursery of Geneva NY, and was told about a observation
made
about rabbit and possibly smaller rodent winter protection. Seems they had
tried
painting with white latex ONLY as the rodent/rabbit protection in a recent
winter.
As a trial, I hope I am getting this right, some trees were left unpainted,
next to
an relatively equal number of painted trees. All of the unpainted were eaten,
none
of the painted. I guess their main problem was rabbits, which I do not have a
problem with, but any easier solution to girdling I haven't heard. What
methods do
the rest of you use? What have you tried that has failed?
Heron Breen
Maine zone 4






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