My wind turbine generator got cooked...

Thread Starter

Walks-In-Storms

Joined Aug 12, 2013
16
What do you grow in the vertical tubes?
I've tried strawberries - that was the original idea, but it hasn't worked out (115-116 degrees Fahrenheit, plus twenty-five mph winds cook the plants when we use water and graviton, dry out the soil when we put the plants in that) - and several other things like peas, beans, New Zealand spinach, and more. Nothing will grow, so for the present the "strawberry towers" are just hanging there, idle. I've got a couple of ideas, but they will have to wait until I built a new turbine and generator.

Thanks, meanwhile, for your interest.
 

Thread Starter

Walks-In-Storms

Joined Aug 12, 2013
16
Also, "Gopher," the stuff sticks to windshields and the surface of cars so tenaciously that even acetone won't remove it. "Windex" and glass cleaners are useless. When it gets on one's skin (as it did mine one day what a little cloud of it fell on me as I worked on turbine maintenance up on the roof), it is hard in the extreme to remove. I suspect something having to do with plastics production and the manufacturing plant only a mile or so away, but everyone who works there or otherwise knows of what's going on is mute. You can put yourself in danger by protesting too loudly, too - it's all about those jobs the country talks about relentlessly, and the question all has to do with how many people being sickened or killed is acceptable. The law having to do with it all has come down pretty much to the law of the jungle - the fit (and the rich) will survive.
 

LDC3

Joined Apr 27, 2013
924
I've tried strawberries - that was the original idea, but it hasn't worked out (115-116 degrees Fahrenheit, plus twenty-five mph winds cook the plants when we use water and graviton, dry out the soil when we put the plants in that) - and several other things like peas, beans, New Zealand spinach, and more. Nothing will grow, so for the present the "strawberry towers" are just hanging there, idle. I've got a couple of ideas, but they will have to wait until I built a new turbine and generator.

Thanks, meanwhile, for your interest.
Sounds like you need to use something that will retain a lot of moisture (like peat or compost) with drip irrigation running constantly. You could certainly run a small pump from your generator for the water. Make it more like a hydroponics setup.
 

Thread Starter

Walks-In-Storms

Joined Aug 12, 2013
16
Sounds like you need to use something that will retain a lot of moisture (like peat or compost) with drip irrigation running constantly. You could certainly run a small pump from your generator for the water. Make it more like a hydroponics setup.
I forgot to mention that the first effort with the towers was like what you suggest. Water was pumped form the fish tank into the top of the towers, ran down through Graviton clay pebbles and back into the fish tanks. It didn't work: the few strawberries produced were tiny, and a black slime moss we have here swiftly clogged everything. I have a hydroponic system, too, one that grew some fair tomatoes, but nothing else. The problems with that have to do with extreme temperatures, too, it seems, and we're going to try again next season. It's just become dark here, so I'll have to send pictures of the hydroponic system in the morning. Temperature here in the partial shade of our patio was 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a killer( and tomorrow I have to mow the lawn)

Thanks for the remarks - much appreciated.
 

LDC3

Joined Apr 27, 2013
924
I forgot to mention that the first effort with the towers was like what you suggest. Water was pumped form the fish tank into the top of the towers, ran down through Graviton clay pebbles and back into the fish tanks. It didn't work: the few strawberries produced were tiny, and a black slime moss we have here swiftly clogged everything. I have a hydroponic system, too, one that grew some fair tomatoes, but nothing else. The problems with that have to do with extreme temperatures, too, it seems, and we're going to try again next season. It's just become dark here, so I'll have to send pictures of the hydroponic system in the morning. Temperature here in the partial shade of our patio was 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a killer( and tomorrow I have to mow the lawn)

Thanks for the remarks - much appreciated.
I wasn't sure what Graviton Clay Pebbles were, so I did a search. It seems that they are not very firm and tend to break up when wet. This might be why the system was clogged. I'm sure the moss didn't help either.
You could try using Vermiculite (it won't break up) with compost; it should keep the soil moist. Unfortunately, if it's too wet, then the moss will grow, so maybe you will need to run the water several times a day. Some soil moisture meters will activate the watering system.
http://dx.com/p/fc-28-d-soil-hygrom...campaign=436&gclid=CPWhtJG6iLkCFdGj4AodIRoAyQ
If you want to monitor several locations, you could set up an MPU to monitor and activate the watering system.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Arduin...Soil-moisture-sensor-/400465774131#vi-content
 

Thread Starter

Walks-In-Storms

Joined Aug 12, 2013
16
I wasn't sure what Graviton Clay Pebbles were, so I did a search. It seems that they are not very firm and tend to break up when wet. This might be why the system was clogged. I'm sure the moss didn't help either.
You could try using Vermiculite (it won't break up) with compost; it should keep the soil moist. Unfortunately, if it's too wet, then the moss will grow, so maybe you will need to run the water several times a day. Some soil moisture meters will activate the watering system.
http://dx.com/p/fc-28-d-soil-hygrom...campaign=436&gclid=CPWhtJG6iLkCFdGj4AodIRoAyQ
If you want to monitor several locations, you could set up an MPU to monitor and activate the watering system.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Arduin...Soil-moisture-sensor-/400465774131#vi-content
As a matter of fact, and I hate to sound like a know it all, but the clay balls seldom even chip, let alone break up. There is little or no dust, even right out of the bag. The towers clogged, as I said, on account of green and black slime. Removed from the towers and washed, the clay balls have gone back into my grow beds (those in the earlier photos), where they grew some formidable tomatoes. More, I have had the most dismal results possible from both vermiculite and perlite. It draws black and other kinds of Texas slime like a magnet, and I have never been able to get anything else to grow in it. Having no use for it, I matter of fact discarded a bag and a half of the stuff just the other day.

Next, and while I do appreciate your effort to help, I have several soil test kits, both having to do with moister content and minerals. I've just re-mixed all of my container gardening soil by using them, matter of fact - that in order to get the ideal soil content for the vegetables I plan to grow this fall. The problem here isn't in knowing when the soil is dry, it's in being able to do something about it. The temperatures here, together with relentless wind, dry everything out like a blow dryer, a gigantic one, you see. You'll also note that I've shaded the hydroponic garden, that on account of both the murderous heat of the sun and the airborne pollution with which we must live. I have all the raised bed gardens shielded with sun-block screen, too.

Thanks for the help - much appreciated.
 

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Thread Starter

Walks-In-Storms

Joined Aug 12, 2013
16
Like Governor Rick always says, "EPA? We don't need no stinking EPA"
Yeah. Today, the three inches of rain that fell has a pH of 8.4 - 8-8 (very alkaline). More, it's sticky - literally makes one's fingers stick together. A dosimeter immersed in it for four hours ALREADY shows a reading. When we moved here from a place where radiation in the tap water supply was so bad that it killed plants (the reason I bought dosimeters), it was to find that water radiation level was even worse - during one month, six dosimeters placed in sinks, bathtubs, and pails under outside faucets read 120 Roentgens! All of the dosimeters so indicated, and when they were all rotated monthly from one location to another, continued to agree.
We bought $7,000 dollars worth of water conditioning equipment guaranteed to remove heavy metals from the water, and I complained to every, single government entity charged with protection of the environment - to absolutely no avail. I was lied to repeatedly, and one laboratory to whom I sent samples said, "Rots of Ruck with this!"

There's something rotten in Texas.
 
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