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Cheap Materials for fruiting walls?

James Landreth

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posted 5 years ago

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I'd like to experiment more with microclimates. I have great growing conditions but my property is a field, and reducing wind and cold as a factor would be very helpful.

I need some ideas for materials and techniques that are cheap, fairly durable, and hold heat well. Thoughts?

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/12/fruit-walls-urban-farming.html

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William Bronson

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Well they won't win any awards for looks, but buckets and barrels filled with water would be cheap, durable, stackable and high in thermal mass.

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James Landreth

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That's one idea for sure. It would be quick and cheap. I was thinking about cob wall overlaid with plaster, or straw bale wall with similar

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William Bronson

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The cob, maybe topped with flat stones, could be good.
Charcoal or lampblack could be used to blacken your plaster.
The strawbale wall would be insulative, but not a thermal mass.

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James Landreth

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I wonder if I can collect rainwater off the roof into a field cistern

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William Bronson

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Strawbales on the north side of the wall, water barrels on the south, roof feeding water into the barrels, and a big olla buried deep in the tree planting hole, feed directly from the barrels.
Maybe grow azolla fern in the barrel and toss in some koi it goldfish.

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James Landreth

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Would a cordwood construction wall have thermal mass? I was thinking of mortaring it with cob

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Mike Haasl

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Cordwood has mass so therefore it has thermal mass. Not sure how it compares to other materials for rate of heat dissipation.

How about stacked urbanite? Or gabion walls of rocks?

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