Potatoes

[GaryD]

Hi,

Jan, who spends her days looking for opportunities to keep the economy afloat, bought some seed potatoes from Green Harvest......so I made up a small enclosure from a couple of recycled fence panels held together with zip ties.

I lined the base of the enclosure with weed mat (we have nut grass here) before putting in a couple of bags of potting mix and a bag of well-composted cow manure. I planted nine potatoes and watered them thoroughly before mulching the bed with some spoiled lucerne hay.

If the potatoes go the same way as other 'taters' that we've grown, they'll probably get poached (in the form of chat potatoes) long before they get to be very big.

In one of my less lucid moments, Jan persuaded me ("They're only a small tree") to plant a white mulberry tree in one of my concrete raised beds. Twelve months later, the seedling was 3m tall and growing like bamboo. With a great deal of effort, I managed to grub it out before it really took over.

I'm about to refurbish the raised sheet mulch garden beds. Now that we have plenty of rainwater (and even some rain) around the place, I'm going to get these beds going. Along with square foot beds, these sheet mulch beds proved to be the equal of anything I've ever seen in the way of aquaponics grow beds.

Gary

[nick]

like that idea for the raised bed, simple yet effective,


Nick

[Dufflight]

Nut grass. You need pigs. Just put the pen over the area with the nut grass and they will happly dig out the entire plant and give the soil some manure and a good turn over. There are a lot of smaller types of pigs that may work well in a backyard setup.

[GaryD]

Hi Dufflight,

I agree entirely......but the area I'm talking about is very close to my back door. What small breeds of pig would you suggest?

Gary

[Dufflight]

Miniature pot bellied. For meat you may have to go a little larger.

[djs-sa]

Hamish got some seed potatoes also from green harvest and I planted them in old tyres from the tip.

1 layer of newspaper(4-5 local rags)then a handful of hay place the tyre down then put 5 seed potatoes inside the tyre then filled with hay till just covering the spuds and the shovels of decomposted cow sh#t on top.
once growing you need to keep adding hay and cow sh#t and when you reach the top of 1st tyre you simply add another tyre on top and keep adding hay and cow sh#t

when i have time i'll take some pics to explain it better

[GaryD]

Hi Dale,

I've seen lots of people do the tyre thing but I must confess I'm a bit unsure about the stuff that is likely to leach out of tyres.

We usually grow potatoes in half plastic drums but I'm hoping that the extra light will enable us to produce more this way.

Dufflight......it would have to be a different pig to potbelly ones. Jan would never let me send one to slaughter.

Gary

[djs-sa]

Gary the potatoes dont even touch the tyres! and if u could see the inside of these tyres they look brand new
if you were worried about that issue all it would take to avoid contact would be to line the tyres with newspaper

also if ur worried gary do you think commercial potatoe havesters u stainless steel tractors to havest thier crop? let alone leaking engine oil hydrulic fluid etc etc...

why are u so worried about the tyres compared to all the chemicals farmers apply to thier crops. as I'm sure you cant say u grow all the food you eat can you?

[djs-sa]

I should also say we cut the side walls out of the tyres on both sides

[Dufflight]

Lot of people use tyres as soil gb's. Tractor ones are handy also. I don't think there would be a lot of leaching. Tyres are recycled into garden hoses(seeping) and we bury these around are plants. In AP its the closed loop that makes small amounts of stuff build up.

[djs-sa]

gary what is the weed mat made from??????
bet you dont know and just use that because brought it from a garden store thinking its food grade?????

newspaper would have stopped all grass and weeds growing thru and would be free as we all get the local paper for free

[GaryD]

newspaper would have stopped all grass and weeds growing thru and would be free as we all get the local paper for free

I agree.......and it would have been my usual choice.

As for the tyres, the jury's still out. Tyres break down over time....chemical sealants are often used to effect temporary repairs to punctured tyres.....and tyres (by their very nature) run through all manner of things that I'd rather not have in my food.

Gary

[Bubba]

..why are u so worried about the tyres compared to all the chemicals farmers apply to thier crops.
Don't know your argument holds up there DJS :)
Surely the aimis to minimise the nasties in our diets? It's exactly because I can't avoid the **** in purchased food that I want to minimise the nasties in food I grow.

Garry what are circlular growbeds? Are they concrete pipes you cut up?

[GaryD]

Hi Bubba,



Garry what are circlular growbeds? Are they concrete pipes you cut up?

They are an 8' length of pit pipe cut into four 2' deep sections......and they are are 5' in diameter.

We operate them as raised sheet mulch beds.

Gary

[GaryD]

Hi,


Don't know your argument holds up there DJS

I agree......the poor practices of conventional farmers doesn't justify abandoning concern about prospective toxicity in some materials.

While I'm unsure about whether there are any toxic substances in weed mat, I am very clear that some of what is in (and on) used car tyres is not the sort of stuff that I want on my food.

Gary

[djs-sa]

well....... when im dead next week I will write from my grave and tell you it was the used tyres around the potatoes that I ate.

[GaryD]

.....and I'll look forward to hearing from you to that effect.

[djs-sa]

Many products are made of, or contain PVC. Here you can find out what everyday products contain PVC.

Pipes - Rainwater guttering and drainpipes, water supply pipes, sewerage and drainage pipes, protective pipes for cables.

Approximately 90 percent of PVC pipes produced are waste pipes, protective pipes for electricity and telecommunications cable and underground drainage pipes. The rest are found in buildings as waste pipes or as mains pipes.

Pipes are made from rigid PVC (or unplasticised PVC - uPVC). Lead or tin stabilisers are often used in pipes, and red-brown pipes contain lead pigments. PVC-Free Pipes and Ducts are available.

Electricity cables, telephone and data cables - PVC coating is commonly used in cables and lines for the transfer of electricity and information. PVC in cables is one of the most hazardous uses of PVC for the environment and for human health. Fires involving PVC cables result in releases of hydrochloric acid and dioxin. Flexible PVC that contains plasticisers is used for PVC cables. Alternatives - PVC free electrical cables and wiring

Garden furniture and products:

Hosepipe - Garden hosepipes made from PVC usually contain the phthalate DEHP. Phthalates are released to water during use, but the extent of such releases is not known. PVC free alternatives are available but are generally more expensive.

Tables and chairs - The least expensive garden furniture is usually u-PVC. There are numerous alternatives in wood and metal.

Tarpaulin - These are used for covering purposes, for example over garden furniture and within the building sector, for lorries and storage tents. They are made from yard goods, for example nylon or polyester, with a PVC coating of soft PVC, usually containing DINP. Phthalates may be released from tarpaulins in production, by washing, into rainwater and to the air. Alternative materials include flax canvas and polyethylene - possibly reinforced by polyamide threads. Other alternative materials could be polyester gauze or polyamide gauze with a coating of thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). These alternatives will currently be more expensive as the production machinery is based primarily on the production machinery of PVC tarpaulins.

Paddling pools - Inflatable and non-inflatable paddling pools are made from soft PVC, as well as swimming wings and rings. There are currently no direct replacements for these products. A solid polypropylene pond liner is a more expensive option for a paddling pool.



SO what pvc fitting do we all use now???? maybe the used tyres aint that bad after all seeing it aint a closed loop system

[GaryD]

Hi Dale,

I'll repeat what I said before.......while I'm unsure about whether there are any toxic substances in weed mat (or PVC), I am very clear that some of what is in (and on) used car tyres is not the sort of stuff that I want on my food.

What I got out of your post on PVC is that I should not burn PVC (and inhale the fumes) or suck on cables......both of which I undertake not to do.

Gary

[bunya boy]

Really; Dale & Gary. . .Go Girls !. . . fight you buggars. . . I hate peace!

Seriously; When I finally get an AP system up and running, I will be building an earth filled tyre dam wall to hold water for grow out of larger Fish. It will be constructed on Earth Ark principles and then lined with either an EDPM pond liner, Bentonite, D.E. or something similar.
The re-use of used tyres is, to my mind, an environmentally responsible and practical exercise. The small amount of any production type of Toxins will be long gone by the time they are re-used and any residual toxic substances will surely be sealed in by the natural rubber substrate over time. Contact contaminants picked up by normal road use will surely be of an insignificant amounts and should be washed off with normal external storage. I mean, I enjoyed a plate of Chicken Feet at the Yum Cha and I definitely know what they have been walking in. . . Pig's Trotters would come under the same banner, as long as they have been prepared properly, there isn't anything left on them to poison you! Unlike the silly Sumo's who stupidly eat Fugu and occassionly die from it's toxins, and you have to be licensed to prepare it!
I don't have any definitive studies to show that used vehicle tyres contribute to any toxicity in food crops that come into contact with them. I can only relay other practical observations, that have not reported anything of a poisonous nature, especially when they are currently being used whole and untreated in many "recycled" living environments such as housing walls, water tanks, terraces for cropping and dam walls.
Recycled tyres in Australia are also used, when shredded or pulverised and the steel wires removed (without any other pretreatment) to manufacture floor coverings for Hospitals and Commercial Kitchens. These only contain raw recycled tyre 'rubber', a bonding agent and colouring! Surely if this sort of material has been approved by Health Regulators for use in these sensitive Health and Food service areas, they can't be all that bad!
Anyway, that's my two bob's worth for today.

Cheers IanK ;)

[djs-sa]

well I receive that info from trade school awhile ago and couldnt find the other document but a sparky died from pvc poisioning because u said it, he chewed on pvc cable every day at work.

As your strongly againgst used tyres I understand that but why dont you find out whats in that weed mat if your concerns are so strong about toxic sustances in these such products?

[djs-sa]

good post Ian
:):):):)