permaculture

["Kathy Evans" <evansdk@earthlink.net>]

How have these fire weeders been tested? It does seem probable that it is
not apples to apples as compared to a natural burn of two foot high
flames....in terms of WHAT burns, as in the buffalo/prairie grass/fire
relationship, and HOW it burns, in terms of a hot blue flame coming from
above and not following any natural course, and how long the flame is
there, and what time of year, and how often, and what conditions allow the
natural burn versus the condition, "I think I'll go use my fire weeder this
afternoon," and so forth. So so hard to mimic Mother Nature. 

Kathy Evans
evansdk@earthlink.net



> [Original Message]
> From: <lbsaltzman@aol.com>
> To: <rkelly@bigfoot.com>; <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: 12/18/2006 3:53:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Tending the Wild, Wood Ash
>
> Because California indigenous people burned regularly, the fires weren't
extremely hot or big compared to wild fires. Apparently the flames were
about two feet high. How this compares to a propose contraption, I have no
idea.  Somehow I can't quite get behind the idea of using such a device on
the land. 
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: marshall_mush@yahoo.com
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Tending the Wild, Wood Ash
>
>
> Just last night I was talking with a friend who
> was curious about  "fire weeders" -- propane
> powered contraptions that you use to burn out any
> weed seed.  (You wheel along like a vacuum and
> everything under the hood gets torched.) 
>
> I wondered whether such heat also killed
> beneficials in the soil, or whether those deeper
> in the soil quickly repopulated the top layer
> that was burned.  
>
> Now that I think of burning as a tried and true
> technique, I wonder again whether these fire
> weeders, propane consumption aside, are a pretty
> good idea.
>
> Thoughts on the topic, anyone?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob
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