Franklin West

You can eradicate that mulberry on your fence... but you have to dig deep. I had one about that size growing out of the foundation of my house, when I bought it. Someone had just kept cutting the top off, and it proceeded to grow thicker instead. I started digging about 3 foot out from my foundation, and everywhere I ran into a root, I would clean the dirt from around the root and cut it with a sawz-all or hand saw. When I thought I had got most of them, I tried to pull it out with the truck. That failed, so I went back to digging and hand cutting. Ended up with a 3' deep hole, but I pulled the sucker out and it hasn't returned!

#1 Kinda looks like Pyrus - some ornamental type (Ornamental Pear). Does it have airy white flowers in spring? Do the fruits get larger or change color? A picture of the whole tree, so that the form/shape of its top might help.

Just purchased the download from this site:

http://www.rocketstoves.com/

I wasn't really planning on having my thermal mass above ground. I had hoped to have it in ground. Seeing as how we have so much rock and sand, my thought process for surrounding the vent pipes was to create a mortarred rock channel in the ground, that houses the 6" exhaust pipes. Then fill around the pipes with pea gravel, and cap the top with cement paving stones. This way, I could access any deteriorated areas to make repairs, and they wouldn't be burried under a bed of plants.

Though I suppose I could build above ground if I have to...I would have to be solidly set on how I wanted my floorplan for the house to be permanently. That could be slightly restrictive. hmmm....

Thank You Allen & Laura for your detailed responses!

I will definately have to think of how to secure the exhaust ends to make them critter resistant. I am already having nightmares of every snake in the neighborhood moving into my exhaust and thermal mass.....the mice, and other 4 legged furries make a mess of everything, but they don't freak me out. The rattlesnakes seem to love the greenhouses, especially the new babies....I try to "live & let live", but there is also my liability insurance to consider if a customer steps into a nest of baby rattlesnakes.

I don't know a lot about cob, but having heard that it doesn't get along with water, I was not even considering its use. From the moment the house gets fired up to heat, it will be in FULL USE. There will be hanging baskets on the bows and centerline. The floor will have annuals that can grow in shade and cooler soil temps. The benches will have seedlings and tropicals, early crops of flowers. I am interested in turning the back half of the house into raised beds to do some veggies....but that's not something we are as knowledgeable at doing. We are container growers. We grow annual flowers and potted veggies for sale to home gardeners. We also do heirloom fruit, perennials, shrubs, trees, native (species & cultivars), etc...

Where can I get the book on RMH by the Jacksons? I looked on amazon, and it's like $100.

The hoophouse on the far left is the one I intend on heating. We have lots of softball-sized and smaller rocks. We also have copious amounts of sand.....almost zero clay of any kind. When we excavated, we ran on one ribbon of clay that's almost not even worth mentioning. We found far more beach sand, and we are nowhere near a beach. And lots of rocks!!!

Hello All,

I am totally new to all of this. I just happened to stumble on this site via some loosely related greenhouse culture stuff. My Mother and I started up a small garden center on her property last year. We have four hoophouses. We do seasonal plants, natives, hybrids,.....we would like to get one house heated so that we aren't beholden to buy annual veggies and flowers in the spring from one the wholesale producers. We are both living on shoestrings, and with the business still in start-up mode, we don't have a lot of cash to throw at a wasteful gas furnace and all the electrical and such that conventional greenhouse heaters require. Not to mention, I think there must be a better way of heating one of those goliaths, than gas!

We would likely need to have it heated starting February 1st. I am in Southern Michigan, it has rarely dropped below the teens here in recent years. Last year we had a zone 7b sort of winter...my rosemary survived in ground (super amazing). I wouldn't want night temps to drop below 50. I am ok with living in the greenhouse for a month or two, to keep fires fed through the night. Daytimes, are obviously less of an issue as long as the sun is shining. I have a bunch of 350gallon water barrels that I was thinking of putting inside the greenhouse...or along the west wall (south wall is obstructed by hill) thinking the mass of water would be additional thermal source of heat....

Questions:

1) How many 55gallon drum style rocket stoves would I need
2) With the aformentioned style of stove, how many lineal feet of in ground exhaust pipe, would be supported
3) In the greenhouse, there will be water penetrating the floor...is that going to rust the pipes out?
4) If rusting from water penetration is a concern, can I cover the radiant channels that the pipes are layed in with polyfilm to divert water? Or would the film melt?

[I am envisioning the exhaust pipes being under the walkways in the greenhouse. Filled with rocks and pearlite, capped with brick or cement paving stones....so that the system can be accessed and repaired in case of rust]

5) Can I build an exhaust system that is entirely a brick tube underground? What would be the problems I would incur with that?
6) How frequently will the fire need to be fed?
7) How often must the system be cleaned to prevent burning my place down?
Has anyone had any problem with rodents moving into their exhaust pipes?

My other thought was to build a lean-to on the back of the greenhouse, hang reflective blankets and put a wood stove in the room (mom has one she removed from the geodesic she built in the 70's). Then just blow the warm air through the house with fans....But I don't have electricity down there and am still using 14g extension cords to run small things like a power drill. Would hate to burn moms house down with a bunch of fans overloading plug at the house.