| Click to Post a New Message!
Page | [ 2 ] |
| | |
|
Tractor for Wildflower Bed
PLK, I had a funky thing happen to me one evening when doing my yearly field burn. Although just my teenage son and I were doing it we always started at the down-wind end of our flat and level field and only very small areas at a time. We burn about 10 yards at the end of the field and then start 10 yards in front of that and so on. Working our way back across the field until we have 40 yards of border at the down-wind end. At that point we go to the other end and start the field. This has always been an uneventful project until one year, as I was backing up, lighting the grass with a rake filled with burning hay, the ground gave way and I found myself struggling to keep from being swollowed up by the field itself. The surrounding sod was giving way and I had to stop struggling to keep it from giving way any further, all the time the fire was growing near. At the last minute, when I had decided it was better to risk the unknown and drop to my fate rather than endure the fire, my son handed me his rake and pulled me out. Turns out I had an underground stream that ate the sand out below the sod, forming a pit some 30 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter. I have driven over that spot hundreds of times and can only reason that this was a recent occurance. Just goes to show that you never can tell. No matter how careful you think you are, some crazy thing can bite you bad. Make sure you have plenty of help when burning. The local fire department is still telling this story 8 years later as a good example of how well made plans can still go wrong...
|
|
 Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Tractor for Wildflower Bed
Now that is a terrifying story...
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Tractor for Wildflower Bed
Stephen, I have assisted my father on several field burns. While the growth results of a successful burn is amazing, I have come to the conclusion that man cannot unleash a more unpredictable force. Each one of these was a "hard" earned lesson; plow, disc or till a totally enclosed firebreak, never predict the wind, have on hand a backpack sprayer of water, carry drinking water preferably on the hip, and have PLENTY of help (this is the most significant next to a complete firebreak). Each burn will be a unique experience. The most alarming thing to me was seeing my 70 year old father exert himself as hard as I was during one of these breached fires. I am threatening to take away the 1070 I bought him if he continues to burn. Burning is a sound ecological principle, I just don't want him doing it anymore.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Tractor for Wildflower Bed
I've followed the Wildflower thread with interest. We have 80 acres of farmland that we're restoring to prairie. Burns are an important part of the process but as you've said, very risky. Here's a good book: The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook by Stephen Packard and Cornelia Mutel (Eds), Island Press/Society for Ecological Restoration, 1997. There's an excellent chapter, "Conducting Burns" that explains ring fires, head fires, flank fires and more. It's almost time for prairie burns here in the midwest. We plan to burn another 20 acres. Annette
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Tractor for Wildflower Bed
Thanks for all the suggestions and just wanted to let everyone know how I'm doing on the wildflower project. First, the field (East TN) was burned with the help of a local resident who had burned before. Then I rented a Kubota L3600 (35 hp 4WD gear-driven) and double 14" bottom plow and plowed about 1/2 acre. This was pasture land and as far as I know had never been plowed. Luckily, there were very few rocks. The dirt looked so good I rented a 4' tiller later the same day and tilled the 1/2 acre once. Then I broadcast spread about 2 lbs. of red poppy seed (mixed with sand) and rolled it with a water-filled 600 lb. yard roller. That was yesterday, and it is raining today, so mother nature is helping! Hope I'll have a field of flowers in a month or two to report on.
|
|
Add Photo
Bookmarks: |
|
| |
|
Page | [ 2 ] | Thread 24871 Filter by Poster:
1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
|
()
Unanswered Questions
Active Subjects
Hot Topics
Featured Suppliers
|
Gas Generator Weather Protecti
12-24-2016, 05:00 
Reply
Digg It 
Del.icio.us