R. Ford

Ok, so i decided this year I was going to take a shot at doing some air layering. My first victim subject is a pear tree that produced like mad this year. We moved here in May and the house and property had been unoccupied for 35 years previously, so this tree hasn't been trimmed in at least that long. I picked a few new growth branches that were about pencil size or larger and did them like normal. I also had a branch that was growing out of the side of the main trunk about a foot from the ground that is around the size of my wrist. It grows straight up into the middle of the tree. I decided that it would be one that would need to be trimmed, but instead of trimming, I wanted to try to air layer it. I got a one and half gallon container so that it could try to make plenty of roots. The branch is probably ten feet tall and has a few other branches coming off of it. I'm not even sure this is possible to be air layered, but I figured i haven't lost anything if it doesn't work. My oddity is that of this giant pear tree, all of the leaves have already turned colors and fallen off of it, EXCEPT the branches that i air layered. They are still beautiful and green. Is this normal? I did use aluminum foil around the plastic containers that I air layered with to help seal in some moisture, and i was guessing that maybe they are keeping the roots inside warmer in the sunshine, but then that would also be bad when we've had 30 degree nights already, the foil would make the roots colder. Anyway, any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Give it a shot with a long soak and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per lb of beans. Then rinse well and add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to your cooking water for them. Try not to put anything acidic in there with them until they are the tenderness desired. If they still wont soften, they may be too far gone and would be a good candidate for the compost pile.

John F Dean wrote:This begs the question, how many BTUs are needed for a Wok?

25k is recommended for stir frying with a wok as far as restaurant design goes.

If it were me, I would build the rocket heater to heat a large volume of water with an open(ish) top. Something along the lines of a 200 gallon box with a large opening in the top so that there is no way to build pressure. Then I would run a separate coil inside the vat of water to heat the flooring. There would need to be fail safes of course, just like any other system, but this could mostly eliminate a lot of the worry. Only downside is the need to add water as you cook some off.

Tereza Okava wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:I so want to be able to cook with a wok the way that it is 'meant' to be utilized.

I know this is not the question, but if you want to do wok cooking you need more firepower than the average US gas stove can give you.

A rocket stove, even a little dinky portable one (or a jerryrigged one made out of big tin cans, or bricks, or mud), however, CAN do that for you.
Just a thought. (nudge nudge)

edited to add:
(I do a lot of wok cooking so I bought a stove with a specific wok burner. I call it the "afterburner" because it's got 3 fire rings and HOLY CRAP it gets hot. An industrial kitchen burner might work as well. It is absolutely essential for the 'wok hei' taste you want, and there doesn't seem to be any real alternative.)

You are right about most gas stoves not really having enough heat for a wok. I use the fish cooker burner outside when i need to use the wok.

Sounds like you have an infinite switch/s that is stuck. It uses a bi-metal piece to control when current is applied to the burners. Look behind the burner knobs or if you have a control panel. They are easy and cheap to replace if you can source them for your particular use.

Ok heres how to get rid of the rats. This trap works well and i've got rid of a few infestations this way. Cut a metal or plastic 55 gallon drum length way so that you get sort of a trough. Drums are cheap, but you could use anything you have on hand. An old watering trough or bathtub would work just as good. Lay it on it's side, open side up and drill a hole in each end of the drum centered about an inch down from the top. Get a 1/2" piece of pvc pipe (it's cheapest, copper would also work, but not iron as its too heavy). Cut the pvc  so that it is 16 inches less than the length of the drum. Now you will need a good stiff wire. I like to use some household bare solid copper grounding wire, but you could also get by with some rope or bailing twine in a pinch, even a piece of rebar would work. Tie the wire to one of the holes you drilled and then run it through the pvc pipe, and attach it tightly to the hole on the other end of the pipe. So now you have a pvc pipe suspended above the empty barrel. Screw or hot glue a piece of wood or cardboard to the pvc pipe. The piece needs to be about 6 or so inches long, and about 3 or so inches wide. a 6" piece of 1x4 works great. Screw it so that it is perpendicular to the pvc and centered. Place some peanut butter on both the top and bottom of the board. Lastly place the trap where you want to catch the rats at, put about 6 inches of water in the bottom of the barrel, and lay a board like a ramp from the ground up to the center of the barrel on one side (not the ends). The rats will smell the peanut butter and go up the ramp. At the top they will smell and see the peanut butter on the board, but they wont be able to reach it, so they will attempt to hop to it. When they land on it, the pvc pipe will spin on the wire, dumping them into the water below. Because of the water the rats can't jump out of the barrel and will be trapped. Empty daily, and refresh the peanut butter. This is the basic idea, you can adapt it to whatever materials you have on hand. You could use a 3/4" piece of pipe and then use a piece of rebar instead of the wire etc.

It's easy to catch them on the roost. Just let them go to roost then grab them by the feet and flip them upside down. If they are too high, such as in a tree branch etc, then push a wide board like a 1x8 or 1x10 up to their chest. They will step up on the board naturally, and then you can lower them down to yourself.

I love my fiskars set. They seem to require much less force to trim branches than the other loppers i have when comparing them side by side. Keep them sharp and lubricated. Fiskars makes some really nice and ergonomic cutting tools if you haven't tried them out before.

I run a furniture factory that builds solid pine furniture.  I handle everything from hiring to product design and ordering materials.  We have just under 80 total employees. It's hot factory work,  but I have all of the sawdust and pine off cuts you could dream of and normally make at least 100 gallons of biochar a week (this is one pickup load of pine off cuts).  I hope to build more kilns and start to sell/ barter my biochar locally.