Phil Stevens

No squirrels in Aotearoa, thank all relevant deities. But we do have rats. Lots of rats. And they probably get a third of my walnuts every year. Maybe 2/3 of my macadamias, which really grinds my gears. And I can put multiple traps out under the nut trees, bait them lovingly with peanut butter *and* fresh nut innards, and they totally give them a pass and keep swiping my nuts. They don't really go for the hazelnuts, which is a bit of a relief.

What I've tried to do recently is pick the nuts from the tree right as the husk shows signs of opening. Then I know they're about as ripe as they're going to get. But this only works on a smallish tree, and in another year or so it won't be an option.

Spoiler alert: it does! Feeding biochar to ruminant animals results in reduced methane emissions, up to 25% in some studies, and in doing so it offers better feed conversion efficiency.

The mechanism behind it is complex but it boils down to some pretty fascinating electrochemical stuff that happens in the rumen. Evidently, as the complex sugars in the plant matter are broken down, free hydrogen molecules get knocked off. The archaea (sort of like bacteria but in their own biological kingdom) use the hydrogen in their metabolism of other components of the soup, and the end product of this is methane. Biochar is very good at snatching up and binding the hydrogen so that the archaea can't use it, cutting off the fuel for that emission pathway. As a bonus, the hydrogen is still available to other bacteria that use it to produce propionates, which provide energy to the animal. Biochar in livestock effluent ponds and sewage treatment systems does a similar thing to the anaerobic digestion and limits methane production there as well.

It gets better, too...when the biochar goes out the tailpipe and into the soil, it modifies the chemical processes that break down nitrogen and prevents the formation of nitrous oxide (a far more potent and long-lived greenhouse gas than methane).

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

John C Daley wrote:I may stand corrected, but I have not seen those issues.
Here is a further link https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/121aa11b-b343-4f91-80aa-0b580cc43b30/47616957.pdf

that specifically states
"...Do not use in drinking water or food systems. "

Thanks for the link, John C. It looks like the manufacturer  removed this statement in newer versions of their documentation (Technical Data Sheet and SDS). Or maybe it's still on the pail label. Regardless, if it was true in 2022 it is still true today.

Unless they changed the formulation, which is not out of the question. The ambiguity of the whole thing is what gets me. They should be clear about it and keep their documentation up to date, since people can and do use rainwater for domestic needs. Certainly in the teeth-gnashing realm, maybe not up to garment-rending levels.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

John C Daley wrote:A google search found this
"No, APOC 243 is not safe for drinking water collection.
The official manufacturer product safety documents explicitly state: "Do not use in drinking water or food systems".

I am as sceptical as you. However, the documents I can find from the manufacturer at apoc.com do not appear to contain this statement.  It's a mystery -- I am not sure where this comes from?

I don't trust anything coming out of Google now. I stopped using it years ago and this could very well be an AI hallucination, especially since there is no citing of the source and it differs from the manufacturer's advice.

AI is peeing in the pool, tainting everything it touches and it's too bad that we now have to go to lengths to avoid it or fact-check it aggressively. I miss the old internet when search engines prided themselves on returning relevant results.

From my memory of using elastomeric paint on my roof in Tucson, it was basically a thick latex paint. I collected lots of rainwater there (for plants, not drinking) and it was good quality -- no off smell and attractive to bugs if I left it uncovered. The roof paints that are sold here (NZ) are acrylic latex and most, if not all, are labelled as being drinking water safe. You might be able to ask the manufacturer, or have some captured water tested.

Annie - I've got an Intensifire. It's been in for two years now and it really makes a difference. Not cheap but I would estimate at least a 25% gain in heat output for the same amount of wood, and zero visible smoke, which is a testament to the efficiency. I have to prewarm the flue when I light on days that it's not really cold out, because the downdraft is working against the weak draw of the chimney. The cast refractory parts are starting to wear a bit and I don't know how long to expect them to last, but Jason did replace the height block for me when the first one failed. The stainless flue extension will probably outlive the firebox.

I feel your pain. Practically every summer I start off with big healthy tomato plants, and then just as the fruit starts to ripen the leaves start to yellow and droop. I recently found out that they really don't like water on the foliage, especially in cooler climates like this one. So next summer I'm going to try some sort of canopy to keep the rain off. Where are you located?

Potatoes can be touchy with blights and many gardeners are adamant that you never grow them in the same bed from year to year. I always miss lots of small ones and have them sprout later, and some of those do as well as the ones I plant from "certified" seed potatoes. I would say to try in a new spot next year and hope they don't get stricken.

Moringa has been hard for me to get to flourish outside the glasshouse, so I don't really have any tips there. And the only thing that stops my rhubarb is drought or winter dormancy...but it's doing well right now (still winter) and we have had several nights down to -3 or more in the past couple of weeks. The plants are somewhat sheltered by the feijoas, so maybe that's why they're happy.

I got some of these seedling bags and a grow mat as a gift:

https://www.floatingpeaks.co.nz/shop/garden-gift

I liked them but they might be on the pricey side. I've often thought about felting some of the many bags of wool I've got into matting, but just don't have the time for it at the moment.

Use it to inoculate biochar by soaking. As a bonus, you lose the stench.

Willows are my "carbon crop" trees. I coppice and pollard them, using the poles for garden stakes and biochar, with the added benefit of fodder for the sheep. I can either feed them directly if I cut in the summer or early autumn for drought fodder, or dry them for tree hay to feed out during winter. For actual firewood, I like Tasmanian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) because it comes up from root suckers without being planted (could be weedy but hasn't been trouble here), grows fast, fixes nitrogen, pollards and coppices fairly reliably, yields a dense, high-heat fuel, and plays nicely with surrounding trees.