Eric Hanson

Ahmet,

Actually, nice job with a full 10 meters—that’s a decent water head to work with.

I used drip irrigation from Dripworks.com, and you might consider constant flow emitters as opposed to pressure compensating emitters.  the constant flow emitters will emit a very consistent flow over a given length (maybe 7 meters or so, I would have to check).  They can work from a very low head of just 1-2 meters and sometimes even less.

But at 10 meters you might be in the range for pressure compensating emitters which are very, very precise and can make some very long runs.

As far as critters pecking or chewing holes, I would think seriously about getting some solid pipe from the tank down to the ground—and then bury a bit underground.

Hope that helps,



Eric

R,

On my DSLR, the autofocus has to be turned off with a separate switch.  

Again, on mine, I have have full manual control of things like exposure.

Even if on auto settings, I aim directly at the blue sky, press halfway and don’t release, then aim at intended targets and press fully.  This locks the settings on the blue sky but now aims at intended targets.  It took me a while to figure this out.


Eric

Hi R,

I guess that I, too, love Skying, but my preferred medium is photography.  And I share your frustration with getting the color, brightness, saturation, etc. correct.

Do you have a DSLR?  I seem to remember that we had a discussion a loooong time ago about you getting one.  If you do, you could do a couple thing.

1). Adjust the white balance.  By far, that modification alone has helped me take accurate pictures of clouds and views of the sky.

2). The other option is to use a patch of blue sky as the white balance.  I have used this with lesser cameras and generally gotten good results.

My favorite sky views are early sunrise—I like the way the red rays of the sun light up the underside of a cloud layer.  It takes very specific conditions.  But if I just point at a bright red or pink section of sky and fire, then the automatic white balance reads the brightest source of light (the bright pink/red in this case) and determines that’s white and the outcome is not at all impressive.  These two techniques helped me a lot.


Eric.

Hi Mikel,

I feel better if I can make my corner better without having to intentionally hurt any other corner.  If I can recycle, that’s a little point in my corner but not a negative in any other corner.  I love to make my topsoil from woodchips which I decompose with Wine Cap mushrooms.  I have hurt no one, but my soil is magically better.  And I need no artificial fertilizer.  I don’t even need natural fertilizer like bone or blood meal.

I try my best to stay self sufficient on my patch of ground.  I am not perfect.  But perfection is a foolish goal—by its very definition, it’s is unattainable.  I do strive for excellence,  but I am human and I will fail sometimes.  Good,  Failure is the best teacher and I will learn from my mistakes and be better in the future.

I can’t, nor would I, tell you what to do.  My suggestion is to do the best you can with what you have where you are.  And if you have some guilt for what could have been done better—good!  You can do better next time!

I wish you the best of luck.  And if you need to come here and vent, by all means do so.


Eric

Another thought, not so much for the OP, but for anyone building on a lot, or any parcel of land—I would have purchased a tractor either at the time I purchased the land or maybe even before.  There were so many times during construction (9 months) that I wished I had a tractor with a loader, box blade, rough cutter, maybe grader blade (which was a necessity later anyway).

Just a thought,



Eric

I would have started wood-chip/mushroom gardening immediately.  Of course, I only figured that out after a lot of inquiry here on Permies.  The short version:  I don’t till at all, and I make my own topsoil from woodchips/mushroom mulch.  If you want more info, let me know and I will walk you down the rabbit hole.


Eric

I definitely agree with getting shade on the unit.  It’s cheap and effective.  I personally like a wooden fence-like structure (broad, thin pieces of wood stapled together—it allows airflow but blocks almost all direct light).

Also. Consider some living structure (vines) climbing up a fence.  Just leave room for access and carefully watch for stuff that will fall into the unit.  An occasional hose-down and wash-out is also good.  It keeps the unit free from stuff that blocks heat flow and drops efficiency.  Also, make whatever light-blocking barrier you create big enough to block light from many angles.



Eric

Paul,

You are right--I missed that info in the beginning--oops!

Just pleased that anything I could offer was of any use.



Eric

I was also going to suggest an alternative to the banana jacks.  Banana Jacks are convenient and easy to hook up, but they are wild dangly things and can accidentally contact unexpectedly.

I have been moving towards Anderson PowerPole connectors.  They are becoming standard connectors on my electrical builds.



Eric

I will chime in here—I definitely get the hot summer temperatures and the summers often get a drought period.  

I live in Southern Illinois which is in a frustrating place for establishing grass as it is south of the northern areas where bluegrass rules.  We are also north of the area where southern heat loving grasses reign supreme.  The zone I live in is called the transition zone and getting a lawn established is this area is definitely challenging.

For starters, fall seeding is absolutely crucial.  The grass needs to get started with warm soil and as winter comes, soil moisture will be retained and the grass itself never completely quits growing over the winter, starting spring with a root system established.  Spring seeding will get a start but the fine little root hairs will crash in to the intense heat of summer, dry out and die.

Water is absolutely everything.  I hate to admit it but I poured a lot of water on my lawn via sprinkler.  My advice:  go for a sprinkler that is heavy duty, metal, and covers a large area.  The coverage is less likely to have bare spots.

Probably you will need straw.  

Be patient

For my zone, fescue is standard but there are a few custom local blends that include heat tolerant blue grass cultivars.  Bluegrass and fescue together make a very nice mix if you get the right bluegrass—common Kentucky won’t do it for a bizarre reason.  There are some Texas-Kentucky hybrids that are excellent.

Again, be patient.  And then be patient some more.




Eric