permaculture

[Karen Chisholm <kc@saki.com.au>]

Around 05:02 PM 10/05/04 +1000, Janet Wyllie sent:
> Yeah right, blackberries growing out of paths are not friendly.  there are 
> more than 4000 bricks now, thermal mass, fire  break, keeps the floors 
> clean etc.  Boiling water I have tried and it works but you never finish 
> the area before you have to start all over again.  flame throwers I have 
> tried but scared myself silly and burnt down..oh well heaps of things

Long time lurker here - but I think I've finally found something I can make 
a comment on.

We've tried both hot water and steam with middling success - but have had 
great success with our flame weeder.  The noise takes a little getting used 
to and you do have to be careful where you point it; but it's very 
efficient, quick and very effective on all sorts of weeds, including 
blackberries, holly and all the other dire things that we have around here.

We run the flame weeder over an area and then heavily mulch straight away 
and we find we're not getting much regeneration at all (provided we get 
that mulch down straight away).  In areas where we can't mulch (brick paths 
/ walls etc) we find that we have to redo once or twice a year depending 
upon the nature of the weeds.

We're not thrilled with the idea that the flame weeder uses kerosene so we 
try not to use it frequently or for any long periods of time.

Regards KarenC


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.679 / Virus Database: 441 - Release Date: 07/05/04