Unregistered how's it going?

stargazer

I direct seed melons and squash. I find that vines dislike being transplanted, even if transplanted when just emerging the direct seeded ones generally out produce the transplants.

I still have good big (fresh, not frozen) butternut squash left from last year, maybe 30 or 40 lbs. Probably had 500 lbs. to start. We eat it every day. Pie for breakfast. I have to replant this year, had 100 ft. but the cold kept it from growing. Bugs or slugs or animals ate it up. Maybe two or three plants left. Again, it may be too late, unless we have a late fall and a hot summer. Looks doubtful, supposed to stay cool and wet for awhile. I don't care too much for global cooling.

I went to Florida for three days this March, I loved it and especially the people I met. I wanted to move there. Can't go for the winter, I do snowplowing. I'm not sure buying a place and going there for the summer and Maine for the winter would be too smart. Even the little birdbrained song birds know better than that!

I loved trees when I was young. Wanted to be a tree surgeon but foolishly did not study for it in college. Back then everyone took trees for granted, my dad couldn't understand why I loved them so much. I planted close to a million trees with a shovel, it was piece work and I was very fast, and more importantly, had the highest survival rate. I never planted less than a thousand a day, sometimes two thousand. Now some of my outdoor work is guilt free cutting trees down. I'll never cut enough to offset what I've planted. I now take trees for granted, just when everyone else thinks our life depends on trees. Guess I live my life backwards from most others.

Bob Tooley

Our mills all had the circular blades with insert-teeth...hit a nail and you'd be in the sawdust pile picking out the teeth-pieces... It was fairly 'commercial' at the trap mill,...we'd save the logs from the trees we'd taken down through the summer and cut them through the winter. We also built three camps in Rockwood from the boards, so we made money by taking the trees down, cutting the lumber and later, from building and selling the camps... talk about being in the 'wood business'.. from start-to-finish product... I think it diminished my 'respect' for trees... sort of like respecting cows while you're working in a butcher shop... I saw most trees from the 'board-foot' prospective more-so then for what they actually were, and how much money they were worth all along the line...Don't get me wrong...I'm not a tree hugger, but I'm also not a tree mugger, and instead I try to fit into that finite area between the two...
I was wondering if you used portable coldframes over them during the cool, damp period and removed, or opened them up on good days. That might give you a better control over their growing conditions when they're the most critical...and they could be re-used in the fall to extend the season for a longer growing period.... I know a guy who uses a 32'x96' Criterian plastic greenhouse to start his garden then rolls up the sides during the summer and closes them down in the fall... and there are a number of 'hoop houses' just sitting in fields from 'failed' commercial attempts up here,..so it would be pretty cheap to pick up.

stargazer

I remember that on my uncle's mill the circular blade was cupped, and it would straighten out when spinning. If you fed a big log into it fast and slowed it down the thickness of the lumber would vary from end to end.

I kept throwing away nice logs, that's why I got a mill. Sure can be nice. I was paid to cut a 90 foot fir grown in a tight spot in a inside corner of a house with wires all around and a raised drive into the barn. The trunk was too big to take to the dump. So I sawed it up, not expecting anything since it was full of branches. But, it made really nice wide boards that I used for flooring in the loft of my boathouse. Double pay on that one.

Sometimes I saw up something I cut to get out of the way, then use the lumber to build something I've bid on. Triple pay! And good profit on the build job with free lumber. Seems to help me love trees even more. I hug them when I climb them.

Bob Tooley

I put an addition on my last post you may not have seen regarding using coldframes

stargazer

Interesting concept! Guess you would have to supply the water on that roll up greenhouse, unless you could remove the roof. It takes two hours of watering to equal 1/2 inch of rain. Six hours to do my garden in three sections.

I'll admit to trying to garden as cheaply and efficiently as possible, but more control would be nice. I like the idea of putting the walls back up in the fall and building a fire in there on cold nights. CO2 haters don't seem to know that CO2 is a fertilizer and a necessity for plants.

Bob Tooley

He removes the plastic during the summer and in the spring and fall he lets the solar energy warm the ground during the day so it's released back during the night... I think he was using fans more then heaters since frost won't form in a moving air mass, but I think he realized there was going to be a night when his growing season was going to end real abruptly... (I think the water volume I heard was it takes 32,000. gallons to equal one inch of rain on one acre of land...and it takes one inch of rain to equal one foot of snow....)

I also remember some of his cold-crops were still being harvested at Christmas one year... I was going to try it years ago, but it never materialized.
I also had plans of covering the frame with black plastic during the winter and putting black plastic over the ground so the entire unit would become a huge solar panel, or 'bag'... for partially heating the house during sunny winter days... The concept was to make one thing do double-duty and it was something to keep my mind working whenever I couldn't be.... Something along that line may be one of the 'edges' we need in a slowing economy, so though I get away for the winter...it'd be interesting to start thinking along the ol' non-conventional paths again.. I'd assume you could put some sort of heat-absorbing objects inside the enclosure to store additional heat and extend the interior temperature-use period during the winter... and remove them when you use it as a greenhouse in the spring... Either way...the framework is cheap and plastic is a moderate cost which can be re-used for a number of years... also make a good storage shed for some things in the winter, firewood, yard tools, etc.,...a multiple of uses.. Sun's out, day's warm... we're going kayaking in the Bay today......trees and other stuff are on hold.....

stargazer

What a pleasure yesterday was. A taste of summer. Bob, how was the kayaking? A double or two single kayaks?.

I replanted my squash and melons, and tilled between rows and some new rows I'd hoped to plant today.

Got so warm I wanted to go swimming and maybe sailing, but was afraid I'd loose my chance to work while the garden was dry and the lumber I sawed the afternoon before was not rain soaked.

I framed up a dock, using full dimension 3x8 framing. I painted the joints before nailing it together with big hot dipped cabin spikes. Painted the edges in the dark. Hoping to brace it and flip it today, then board it in and paint the exterior.

Ha! Ha!

Back to drowning in the rain. Seed will probably rot in the cool and wet. Went to town today and bought a bunch of lettuce seed. Thought I'd plant something that actually likes this kind of weather. When it dries again enough to walk in the garden.

Bob Tooley

We went in the ocean near Old Orchard for a while but the wind came up as the tide came back in, so we headed up to Shaw Park off 236 in Gorham. We have a double Old Town kayak and it's real peaceful to travel close to the shorelines without disturbing the ducks and all their new ducklings, etc.,.
Rain is only giving us brief breaks, but after Monday, the rest of the 15-day forecast looks pretty good. Noticed a lot of Dutch elm wilt in the smaller elms along 236 so it's still active... I've got to go up to Bar Harbor til next weekend, so I won't be on here too much... Dock sounds good...the garden may be another thing unless the ground gets drier and warmer for a little while...

If you want to go more direct via standard email, mine is: this-tree@maine.rr.com

stargazer

It will be nice if it dries up. I'm beginning to think I might not need to haul the dock to the lake, just set it up right here in the yard.

I did think of adding board walks through the garden, and I mean actually! Think I will add some where I will want to wade (walk) after heavy rain, like along my lettuce/salad rows. Last summer we had those torrential tropical type rains, and I could not get to the salad on many days. I can use some free slabs from my mill. I set it up by the garden so I could use the sawdust in the garden, might as well use the slab too.

Sorry to hear about the dutch elm wilt. Hope they are not the new supposed resistant varieties.

I know what you mean about the tranquility of boating with paddle and sail, and the wildlife you can observe. To me, motor boats are for business only, not for pleasure.



I looked up type of wood for oars on the net. Spruce is best for light use, ash for heavy use. For cheap plain flat 8ft oars, one set, made right here in Maine, spruce was $254. For ash, add $299.

Maybe I should make some, I could whittle them out with a jackknife for that price.

Lesley

Hello. I dont really know. I am kind of lost.

john.jose@loudoun.k12.va.

I will figure this site out soon I hope.

treevet

Welcome John and Leslie. It is easy to navigate. Just don't get frustrated and ask questions.

WendyC

Hi. No questions right now, but I'm glad to find Tree World. Looks like a lot of good information...and some great smilies.

treevet

The best I think. And welcome.

Bob Tooley

Stargazer,

I pulled an 'old tree man's' stunt the other day... I've kept Castine and Blue Hill's elms alive for nearly forty years...and Tuesday, I told them to find someone else because I was semi-retiring.. The lack of available materials and cost cuts are going to surely render the elm program as helpless...so you pull out while you still can... and you keep your reputation intact... It follows the old proverb....'success has many fathers,...but failure is an orphan'... and it's better to be the former then the latter..............especially when they start emptying out your doctor's bag of tricks... I've made it through this year without any disease showing...becomes visible around June 7th or so...so this is a good time to call it quits...

gophertail

Things here on the Canadian prairies are good other than we're in a bit of dry spell. Spring was late with a couple hard frosts into June. Some forest fires in the north, nothing terribly noteworthy. I registered on this site because I bought a used mac 110 chainsaw and the thing has been a beast since I got it. I guess I shouldn't be so Scottish and buy new but I don't really have that much work for the chainsaw. I pulled the whole thing apart and now hoping to tune the carb. Seemed like before that the throttle was stuck wide open because when I would start it was race like mad and smoke out the garage. Anyways, if anyone has some tips or a service manual that I can download somewhere that would be great. Thanks

Bob Tooley

Gophertail, welcome to the site... some of the guys on here have chainsaws for right arms, so you're certainly in the right place... I have a policy with chainsaws,...I won't go near them and they won't come near me...so I'm not even going to pretend to know your saw problem...

max999

Good just studing for some exams monday

kiwi_tree_steve

So i found out the other day that i passed the last exam i had left, and im just waiting for assignments results now( prity sure ill do ok in these). so the WINTC Advanced Cert in Arboriculture (Level 4 i think) is in the mail so to say, and im Stoked!!!!

__________________
"You have to feel and touch a tree" Shigo

phill ellison

well done mate, good on you

Eric Frei

Good on ya, now come here and cut this tree down!

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Bruce Hopf

Congrats on the passing of your Final Exam. Great accomplishment. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Bruce Hopf

49 Pages? Look at where we are now! 58 and still going. . Must be related top the Energizer Bunny. . Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

newguy18

going well,i drove my 60 ford truck today,I'm finally over my hangover.

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Have your say join us today.


old schooler

Martin

Good, playing with the kids while I cruise through treeworld and get ready for another week of early shift in our dry timber. Turn 30 tomorrow. Uh Oh.

i6pwr

Did I use someone else's username? I cannot PM anyone, or ask a mod a question about the acct, but I stumbled on this thread.....either way...it's going well and glad to be here.

Eric Frei

Yes, there has been some permission and promotion changes.

Posters under 10 posts have less privileges now.

Some new members were joining and then PM'ing people, soliciting etc, common thing on forums, so a few things were changed to discourage that activity. It was also the driving force behind a new rule, 2.2 which states.

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i6pwr

I hear ya......no prob.

Treeson

Reduced a large Magnolia grandiflora on thursday and friday. some bloody lopper had been in few years before and made a right meal of it. was great not having to clean up the brush though.
Spent majority of sunday at the climbing wall -paying for it now!

Guyaurora

Very well, thank you. How do I initiate a new question and send photos?