Vann Cho

Toby Hemenway wrote:Black locust is at least as long lasting in the ground as redwood. It contains high concentrations (up to 4% by dry weight, which is a lot!) of an anti-fungal compound called taxifolin, plus  flavonoids that also inhibit rot. I haven't seen evidence that this stuff leaches from the wood in harmful amounts, so I'd be comfortable using it in a garden. I've read that if children chew the bark it makes their tongue burn, but not much more than that. I'll bet redwood or cedar bark isn't exactly delicious either. The challenge would be finding enough lumber for a raised bed.
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The leaves are said to be good fodder

The leaves are what I want to ask about. This fall I made couple containers of liquid fertiliser (JADAM Korean technique), with the main component being black locust leaves. There are other plants in there, but it's mostly black locust leaves.

There is information on the web stating that: "The leaves are rich in tannin and other substances which inhibit the growth of other plants"
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=robinia_pseudoacacia

Upon "researching" further (meaning reading whatever I could stumble upon), I found that the main culprits for inhibiting the growth of other plants in black locust, are: robin, robitin, and robinine, which I first thought was flavonoids but in fact they are toxalbumins.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308086447_Toxalbumins
Toxalbumins are complex proteins found in certain plant species that are toxic when ingested, inhaled, or administered parenterally. The most common plants containing toxalbumins are Ricinus communis, Abrus precatorius, and Robinia pseudoacacia. Although R. communis and A. precatorius concentrate the toxin within their seeds, the toxic lectins of R. pseudoacacia are found in the bark, seeds, leaves, and roots of the plant. The toxalbumins are summarized in Table 1. The primary toxins in these plants are ricin, abrin, and robin. They are classified as ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP) and will be described in further detail later in the chapter.
Robinia pseudoacacia aka Black Locust.


So my dilemma is how good does robin and other phytotoxins decay in fermentation or anaerobic decomposition in water or ground.
Is it safe for garden plants to use black locust leaves JADAM liquid fertilizer on them? Maybe it's safe for biochar and new ground preparation, or will it become safe after some time spent decomposing? Also, can the branches (when chipped) be safely used as mulch in raised beds?

If anybody can shed some light on this, I'd be thankful.
I'm quoting Toby, but really I am asking if anybody knows or has an educated guess on this subject.

thomas rubino wrote:"batch box" with a high heat glass top

Ah, I think I get it now. My guess is you were speaking about Peter van den Berg's Batch Box Rocket Stove.

Hmmm, that sounds right... The smoke from the fireplace is oxygen deprived, so it would choke the combustion inside the rocket stove.
BTW couple of years ago I sow a photos of project something similar to this one. Only that one was a fireplace which exhaust smoke was fed horizontally in adjacent rocket stove. Unfortunately I can't find it for the life of me.

And yes, it is too much of potential problems just for the viewing pleasure of the open fire.
I couldn't picture your idea on "batch box with a high heat glass top". But these are the other ways I've come across, for viewing the fire insire the rocket stove:


http://youtu.be/g-Gjztwtokw?t=343


http://www.canadianoffthegrid.com/beauty-mass-rocket-heaters/

and others.

Hey @Satamax Antone

That's an interesting alternative, but not really applicable to my idea. For what I would like, is to combine two separate combustion's. One - the open fireplace for viewing enjoyment, which would 'connect' with a rocket stove. Exhaust of the open fireplace would go straight in the the rocket's feeder (positioned vertically above the open fireplace).
Rocket stove should be lighted first, making for active air draft. Only than is wood in the fireplace lighted, sending it's smoke inside rocketstove's air intake (down side of the feeder).

I was tossing some ideas, wondered if combination of Rumford fireplace, and rocket heater would be possible.
My first idea is something like this:




Any comments and suggestions?

This is something I am interested as well (minus activism and teaching time). What would be an estimate of 'free time'?

^^
That brings some nice ideas, tnx.

@thomas rubino that's mighty fine advice, m8. Will use that tire "trick" for sure. It will help with less frequent bending and log positioning when splitting.
Unfortunately 0.5 meter logs will still be pain to split on small enough pieces sized for the feeder of small rocket stove.

I think should go with 0.33meter lengths (~13"). That would be much easier for splitting, even as the shorter lengths would mean more tending and more frequent feeding to the rocket stove. Can't have it both ways.

Glenn Herbert wrote:In the US, purchased firewood generally comes in 16" (40cm) lengths, more or less, and is split to fireplace/woodstove size. Is it expected where you live that firewood customers will cut and split the wood themselves? Or do stoves generally use 1 meter unsplit logs?

If you do have to cut the wood down yourself, 0.5 meter pieces are probably on the long side but if the wood is straight it will probably work. You definitely need small pieces, finger to 2-finger size, for kindling to get the fire well started, but according to Ernie and Erica, after the fire is burning well you can use wood up to a size that only maybe two pieces will fit in the feed tube at a time. This will burn a bit slower and last longer between loadings than kindling.

Here, wood comes in form of 1 meter unsplit logs. After that it's my concern to pay somebody to saw and split the logs, or do it myself. Stoves are regular sized, 12" or 16" lengths of wood. 1 meter logs would do for some mighty big woodstove!
Tnx for the input, unfortunately it seems that things are as I was afraid - wood for rocket stoves needs more processing time. More if the rocket stove is smaller.

I am looking to build smaller size rocket heater. No mass due to weight concerns, just the rocket stove part. (I might try setup a water based central heating, but that's another story)
The one thing I haven't managed to understand - is how do you get your wood logs prepared for burning in rocket stoves with (relatively) smaller size? That is, aside from burning fallen branches.

I live in urban area, and I have no big property with trees. So no big stash of fallen branches - I would have to buy my wood. And it would come in form of thick logs that are 1 meter (1yard) long.
Now lets say 1 meter is a bit too long for normal feeder, so half meter will have to do. The question is how do you split those half meter (1.64 feet) logs onto small sticks?

Manually, I guess it would be very tough job to do (due to the size and height, and pure volume of wood needed for whole winter). And tough job, due to having to split those thick logs in many small sticks that would fit in (relatively smaller size) J tube feeder.
Any obvious solution that I am missing somehow?

Yeah, I downloaded it too. On the same browser, after many tries.
My take is that the host/server is cutting off the downloads, for some reason. OS/browser unrelated.

Tnx.