Woutah Maze

Does anyone have any experience with this company and/ or does anyone have any comments on their "rocket heaters"?
W

Hugh Hawk wrote:I grow clumping Bambusa oldhamii in my Mediterranean climate here (500 mm rain) and I don't water it anymore.  I gave it a bucket of water a few times a month over summer in the first 2 years but now it seems to do fine by itself.  Oldhamii is a good variety as it is versatile, it makes good long poles but the shoots are edible as well.

Bamboo is quite expensive to buy here, I paid about $80 per plant.  I guess the running varieties could be better value - they'll spread themselves more vigorously, which can be a good or bad thing.

Hi Hugh,

i'm considering growing oldhamii as well here in central Portugal, but the last thing i want to do is introduce another invasive species. I know that it's a clumping bamboo, so that shouldn't be a problem, so I was wondering what your experience is (considering it's a hermaphrodite) with the bamboo spreading itself?

Kind regards,
W

Hi Denise,

incredible project that must have been what these guys did there in the jungle! Thank god our channel is already there
By now, we've more or less decided we'll either go with pipes, tubes or some sort of liner. Now to find the cheapest option which could be reliable for as many years as possible!
We already had a brief look at pond liners, but then forgot about it as we imagined some sort of closed tube/ half open PVCish channel would look much better - not thinking about cost of course. We are indeed now exploring channel liners again.
By the way, we don't have much head either, but still think one of the products by powerspout might be suitable for us!

@ s. ayalp. Would be a very good option indeed, but I'm afraid about the cost.. At certain places in the channel where often rocks fall down there are already some corrugated pipes but I believe those cost about 15 euros/ meter? That would be 4,500 euros just for the pipes.
Cheap for companies, governments etc. Not really for individuals if you're trying to get hydro just so you'd never have to use your generator anymore.
Prices like this keep bringing us back to the cheap plastic tubes which still look like the best option, even if you'd have to replace them every 3 years let's say. Having said that, the fact that i posted my question here on this forum, is because I'm hoping that someone still has a great alternative up their sleeve! ie a much, much, much cheaper version of the smart ditch

The amount of water going through the pipes itself shouldn't be a problem as we can regulate the water at the dam quite well.

W

ps: we had/ have some issues with our off-grid solar system recently, but I'll keep updating this thread.

Hi David,

the soil of the channel currently is quite clay-ish so that would indeed be the most permaculture-like solution. However... looking at it from a practical point of view this would require a lot of maintenance because of our lovely fellow creatures making holes and tunnels etc etc. Combined with the fact that we can't have our backyard being wet because of the fruit trees, we're looking for a more permanent solution.
In the past clay was indeed used, but back then there were 11 mills so a combined community effort to help each other out meant that this was feasible. I also have a nine-to-five job to take care of as the mill is not my source of income
Stone and cement sounds interesting. Any useful links for that by any chance? What would you think about the weight/ pressure this puts on the channel and possibility of earth movement causing cracks?

W

Hi all,

about 300 meters from our house a little dam was built many many years ago and from there a little channel of about 1m wide (attached) runs alongside the hill and then comes down alongside/ underneath our house (restored water mill). Perfect for our plan to get a micro hydro installation installed which will completely remove the need to occasionally need to use a generator if it goes very cloudy for 3 days without wind (Portugal!).
We had to open up the dam some weeks ago as the channel (with an old irrigation tube) was leaking so much our fruit trees in the backyard were drowning.
So, we started looking at all possible solutions to get this (more or less) water tight. Budget over let's say 15 years is the main factor and so far the only feasible solution we found is to replace the old tube by a new one (ie http://www.plastiagro.pt/detalhe/2830/).
The downside is that these tubes don't last very long (especially if a medium sized rock falls on top of it) and it's not easy, not to say impossible, to replace a damaged part of the tube. As the channel runs alongside the backyard we also need some way to get some irrigation pipes connected to the channel. So we'd have to replace this every 3 or 4 years, tolerate some leaks and it's not the nicest looking solution.
Smartditch, a great product, but not even close to budget. At least a 0 too many in their price
Concrete canvas, sounds a brilliant solution. I made an enquiry for a quote, but I fear the price.
Concreting the channel, no machinery is possible and this could way so much the channel would need a looot of prep work
Half PVC tubes might sort of work, not ideal though as the channel has bends and is still quite expensive for a mediocre solution.

So here we go folks, any questions, let me know. I welcome your sensible suggestions

W

Hi Linda,

I lived on the continent and never really had any serious dry skin/ eczema problems; then I moved to the midlands in 2010 and quite quickly started having very similar problems as you describe. I tried out all sorts of creams and moisturisers because after a shower my skin felt like it was going to burst. The problem is that the more you use these, the less your skin can breath making the problem long term worse (soap is evil!)
I even ended up taking anti-histamines non stop to alleviate the itchy feelings on my back.
I recently moved abroad and within a week all my problems disappeared. I couldn't believe it myself.
So my advice would be to buy a device which can take out the minerals out of the water before it reaches your shower!

If you're sure, the water isn't the problem, then please ignore my reply of course!

What the best solution is for that, I wouldn't know though...

Kind regards,
W