Joshua Hipple

Judith Browning wrote:Not a silly question at all. Everyone has a different method. I think you could keep all two or three if you carefully separate them and repot. I tried peat pots once and did not like them...if you are using peat pellets I guess you can't separate the roots so would have to pinch out all but one. I grow several things from seed and make wooden flats to do so. When I transplant from these I am able to gently separate the roots and all survive. I think we are 'sold' a lot of unncessary planting equipment. Everyone used to grow in flats and then transplant to a pot or into the garden. I make the flats out of one by four pine boards to fit whatever size tray I can find to set underneath to water from. The bottom is one quarter inch hardware cloth or screen and lined with plain paper.
One of the joys of seed saving is almost perfect germination, so there is no need to plant two or three to a pot. Later when the plants are larger I do select for hardiness and type, etc.
I would plant green beans right in the garden at the proper distance and not try to transplant at all.
Dont hesitate to ask any question here!

Yea, i think if i try to seperate them, i may rip too many roots out and they might all die...

ok, so maybe a stupid question. i am growing things like tomatoes and green beans from seeds. Typiclly i put 2-3 seeds per peat moss pod. I have noticed that most of the seeds germinate in every pod.. should i cut 2 or the 3 out and just have one plant? or just leave them all in? i know if you buy a tomato plant from a store it will have just one plant in there. I hate to waste them if I dont have to, but i also want to grow them properly..

i am very new to gerdening, so this may be a silly question for most of you.

thanks in advance

Miles Flansburg wrote:They don't look to bad. Give them a little more time and see if they keep growing.
Have you planted tomatoes before? Need any more help with them?

this is my first year with really going all out on gardening. i have attempted in the past. but failed. so any tips are certainly welcome

I left my tomato plants outside last night and we got a frost, (although last time i checked the weather we werent supposed to). I left them out and this morning they were all wilted over, they were sitting on my porch all night. are they most likely all dead? Or do i have a chance?

thanks
HERE IS A PIC....
they seemed to have perked up a bit after being in the sun for a few hours

you must not be making too big of batches of beer. I am also a home brewer and i know that 5 gallons of wort is hard to bring to a boil. I do 10 gal batches on an all elec setup.

Rufus Laggren wrote:Details of your particular house would be very relevant here. You own the building, have full control of it, right? Also the presence of code enforcement in your community is relevant and any plans you may have for selling the house in the medium/long term.

Thermal mass is.... MASS. <g> It's going to weigh in proportion to its effectiveness. The first obvious thought is to build a good foundation up from the ground (your basement?) to hold whatever is going to really heavy and hot. Structural wood floors can be built to carry a lot of weight but considering you want thermal mass also, building up with masonry probably makes more sense. I believe there may be pics on site here of somebody who built their foundation up from the basement. "Search" is your friend.

The immediate area around the "fire box" needs to be fire proof.

To get the most from your heat you want it to radiate from the center of the space, not from against one wall - that wall gets toasted and the heat then proceeds to the outer yonder. But I know, sometimes a central location is not practical.

Just the most basic thoughts. Those that actually know will have to advance your answer from here on.

Cheers

Rufus

yes, i do own the house and I do plan on selling it someday, that may be a while though. i would love to buy some land and move off the grid. but that may take a while. The way my house is set up, it seems it would not be feasible to have it in the center of the room. maybe i'll eventually take a few pics of my place to show what im working with

here's what i was thinking... i know there would be very little thermal mass. but i only plan to use it as a supplemental heat source, not a sole heat source. so i would just be needing the additional heat during the day

do you think this would work? does someone already make something like this i could buy that you know of (i lack a welder)

New here to these forums. I have a few newbie questions about building a rmh for my house.

My two biggest concerns are the weight and the heat of it.

I have an old wood frame house and i need to make this as light as possible, im not sure how much one of these could weigh when finished.

My other concern is the heat it will produce on the back wall it sits next to. I like the idea of the wood frame. In fact, i can't think of a better way to build it in a house like mine. but i would like to know how hot the wood would get.

This isn't something i could make too big either, not only due to weight but just taking up such space. so i may have to have less thermal mass

also what would i use as the thermal mass? i dont know if there is much clay in my ground around here, and concrete from what i understand isnt great to use, and it weighs so much!

and what is the "chimney" part in the combustion chamber made out of if you arent using fire bricks?


Im also not against paying for rmh plans, but I need to make sure i can even build one before i buy anything. If i had alot of money to spend, i would get a new furnace first,lol.
Heck, i would gladly just donate as well..

thanks for the help in advance!