MC`s Forest Adventure

[germinator]

That's a big mantis..:eek:...can't blame him cuz your garden looks perfecto.

 

[markscastle]

No Boas here. King snakes, rattle snakes, goffer snakes mostly. Did see a small light brown little snake that is slower than ever. Not sure what it was. short, stubby and skin looked like a salamander`s skin kind of.

 

[geologic]

That might be it!!!

If disturbed they cover their head with a few coils,
and stick that stumpy tail up in the air pretending it's their head;
they live inside rotting logs--
and they're very slow moving...

http://www.rubberboas.com/Content/about.html

 

[geologic]

[Addendumb]:

If disturbed they cover their head with a few coils,
and stick that stumpy tail up in the air pretending it's their head;

Rubber Boas are vulnerable to most any carnivorous predator due to their slow nature and lack of active defenses. Other snakes, birds of prey, Ravens, Coyotes, Raccoons, Skunks, Moles, and Cats are only a few of the known predators. The Rubber Boas primary defense against predatation is its secretive nature.
It was previously thought that the reason a Rubber Boa's tail was often scarred is due to their tendency to ball up, and use the tail as a false head when attacked by a predator. Common reasoning though tells us that such a defense is not useful against the predators listed above. Tail tip scarring occurs more commonly from deflecting the attacks of a mother mouse trying to defend her nest as the Rubber Boa consumes the nestling mice. Aggression trials have demonstrated that a Rubber Boa, once feeding, may be undeterred by repeated attacks from a mouse, simply holding the mouse at bay with "false strikes" of the tail as it is flipped back and forth.

===========================

Duh--
everything "we" know is wrong...

http://www.rubberboas.com/Content/about.html

 

[markscastle]

OK maybe I do have rubber boas. That looks just like the ones I`ve seen only the ones I`ve seen are very small.

 

[markscastle]

Just bought a wood fired hot water heater. Thinking I could ether plum it to car radiators with fans inside the greenhouses or just plum it to 55 gal. steel drums with it circulating with a pump for heating in the winter time. was also looking at a wood fired furnace but I think carrying the heat with water instead of air would work better. I will still need to have it away from the plastic so sparks don`t put holes in the plastic. Because of fire danger I`m going to put a spark arrester type cap on the exhaust pipe for the smoke. thinking of building a small cover for it and to keep some firewood handy.

 

[nazarbattu]

Would you ever try to plumb water pipes in a soil beds for roots in the winter? I like the radiater and fan idea, just not sure how I would deal with the condensation and how to use the collected condensation. Im allways learning tons from your thread. Peace. Naz

 

[markscastle]

The heat will take care of the condensation and be exhausted out with the exhaust fans. I was going to pipe the water into two 55 gallon steel drums in each GH. letting the heat from the drums keep the temps warm. They will not be open so no water will escape into the GH`s. it will have to be pumped in and flow out as the water cools down only to be reheated. I won`t have any pressure other than the pump as the collection tank from the greenhouses will not be sealed. From the collection tank it will feed back into the wood fired hot water tank. I can keep an eye out to see that the water doesn`t go down to much from the collection tank and I will be able to read the water temps along the way. I will only need to keep the temps from getting to low at night when the sun is down or on days that the sun isn`t shining well enough to keep the greenhouses warm enough. Even on days that are cloudy red ban of light makes heat. I used to get sun burned snow skiing on cloudy days in my youth. the plastic will hold in some of the heat. the beds are above ground and insulated on the outsides. the insides will absorb some of the heat and hopefully keep the roots warm enough. I thought about running pipes in the beds and circulating warm water through them but it would be hard to keep an even heat along the way. some plant`s root might bake while others didn`t get enough warmth. remember there are two rows of beds in each GH and they are 40 foot long.

I`m thinking of also getting a few 220v heaters for when the generator is on or maybe a few kerosene GH heaters just incase this doesn`t work as well as I`d like. Some Mr. Heater propane heaters and some 7 gal tanks? I could use the same tanks as for the CO2 burners and have them as backup. If I was to do this all over I`d make a double laired plastic cover. A few small fans from the inside lair warms the air in-between and insulates the GH from the cold at night. I`ve seen this done in Alaska and they stayed 86 degrees at night in full Winter weather without heaters. I would also put the greenhouses half under ground and insulate the north wall as no light comes through that area anyway. An Artic design. That would be great for high in the mountains. With the right set up you can grow at any elevation. And LEO isn`t looking for gardens in the high country!

 

[nazarbattu]

Priceless info allways...Danks again!

 

[markscastle]

Well not always. but you might learn something from my many years of mistakes, LOL !

 

[markscastle]

Got good news tonight. My daughter went into remission for cancer three months ago. She just had her checkup and still no sign of it returning. She wasn`t getting any better until she started ingesting hash and buds from my garden. Looks like she might just have beat it.

 

[markscastle]

woke up early so I took my meds and went back to sleep. Now I see it may rain late tonight through the morning. Krap I got to do my chores get some work done and get ready for possible rain!

 

[markscastle]

Well it rained so I went to town early. got back late and slept in again. Just as well , ate something bad in town and been sitting on the thrown all day now. It`s a nice sunny day and I can`t get more than 20 foot from the RV without making a round trip to the dam head! Well the garden was watered well before the storm but I need to replenish the tanks. Also wanted to spray some more milk and water and work some on the end frames. Was hoping to finish them before my son comes up next so we can start work on the office trailer.

 

[markscastle]

Last weekend before my son starts his new job, so not coming up until next weekend. Lets see if I can caught up.

 

[markscastle]

Krap got my work set out for me ! we had a very strong wind storm. Everything came through it ok but there is a very large mess and many of the plants are blown over. Tops, even whole plants. Still not a single broken branch, just need to stake and tie everything. I was going to need to anyway when the buds get big and heavy, just didn`t want to be doing it yet as I`m so behind. I need more water, and to spray and still building on the greenhouses.

 

[markscastle]

I got my daily chores and a tank of water today, filled the mix tank and started some tea. Cleaned a little more of the mess caused by the wind storm. Mostly kept off my feet that were hurting so bad today. I also went on a late fuel run and after the chores in the morning I`ll do one more water run to the spring. That will stock me up on water. Then it` off to find stakes for the garden and I`ll haul off some trash on the way. I`m going to concentrate on staking then spraying the garden while trying to keep up with the water and tea. All work on the greenhouses will be put on hold until I get that caught up. Once caught up it`s gun hoe on the greenhouse. Winter is coming ! I need to be prepared better!

 

[markscastle]

Got the stakes, took me all day . Hard to find stakes this time of year.

 

[markscastle]

Woke up early this morning with a leg cramp. Decided to stay up and have a cup of coffee. around 5am about 5-6 people walked down the road in single file ,walking fast with small flashlights. I strapped up, got my boots on and took the Blazer up and down the road to see what I could find out. Wasn`t LEO because they never leave there cars far from them and I saw no cars. It`s ripper season but there isn`t much out here with the code enforcement having been by. My plants aren`t smelling yet, just starting to flower. Wasn`t hunters, maybe poachers? But never saw 5-6 poachers all together like that. Very strange!'

Got the stakes in and tying up the plants before a good spray down of milk and water, neem and Monterey BT. May add some mild nutes for a folar feed at the same time.

 

[geologic]

Like a pack of coyotes;
down here they come at night--
with the wind or the rain...

 

[markscastle]

Yep but they passed me by. Wouldn`t have got anything yet anyway , just starting to flower.