What did you do today?

[wtnhighlander]

Foundation repair saga continues. Had a half-load of dirt delivered yesterday.

That's 10 cubic yards, 13 tons weight. With Cody breaking it loose and me loading the wheelbarrow with a corn scoop, an hour later we had about 85% of the necessary area built up 2-6" for drainage.

But there has to be 8 or 9 tons of dirt left. Looks like I'll be filling every gopher-hole in the yard....

[Tom King]

You're probably going to need to save some for when that settles.

[wtnhighlander]

It will settle some, but I plan to distribute all this before it has time to form itself into a giant brick. Shoveling loose dirt is work enough, hard-packed clay is terrible. Even worse, trying to work it wet. May as well be trying to shovel pottery clay.

Tom, if we were neighbors, I'd be asking to borrow your tractor by now! 

[Coop]

Ross, and excuse me if you mentioned it, but what did foundation repair consist of? Here in Houston, most houses are built on concrete slabs. About two months ago, I had to have my house leveled which consisted of them digging around the perimeter and jacking and putting in piers. 

[wtnhighlander]

@Coop, the repair steps consisted of digging to below the concrete footing in 7 placed, and using a hydraulic ram to force a column of concrete cylinders into the ground to the point of refusal. Then steel shims are used between the column and footing to level it up. They also installed some screw-jack supports in the crawl space to relieve pressure on an internal pier that was cracked.

Removing the tree and re-grading for drainage will keep more issues from arising, I hope.

[Tom King]

19 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

It will settle some, but I plan to distribute all this before it has time to form itself into a giant brick. Shoveling loose dirt is work enough, hard-packed clay is terrible. Even worse, trying to work it wet. May as well be trying to shovel pottery clay.

Tom, if we were neighbors, I'd be asking to borrow your tractor by now! 

I would have charged you $3 for fuel, but I would have done the operating.  Nobody drives my tractors but me.

[Chestnut]

Used my 36" F clamp for the first time in a long time.

Dropped my arbor nut with the collector running. To heavy to make it up the vertical run unfortunately.

[Chet]

5 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Dropped my arbor nut with the collector running.

That would have made a lot of racket if it would have gotten pulled through the entire run.

[Tom King]

Especially when it hit the impeller.

[JohnG]

Continued to wage war against the poison ivy on our property, and continued our path back to the creek. 

[wtnhighlander]

@JohnG, what is your 'weapon of choice' for fighting that war?

[JohnG]

6 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

@JohnG, what is your 'weapon of choice' for fighting that war?

Well, I’m new to fighting it in large scale like this, so I’m still learning. I got a big jug of 41% glyphosate and have been using a potent mixture. I’ve sprayed maybe 8-10 gallons of the mix over the last couple months. It works pretty well, but does take a few days to a week to kill it though. 

My first target was along the borders between our fields and woods, where it seems to thrive. Once I got that knocked back I started working on making access to the creek. I’ve sprayed a couple large (maybe 20’x20’) patches of it but have otherwise been focused on the path itself. For that the most effective has been the mower  I set the deck low and plow through it (and anything else in my way). Then I go back later and spray anything coming back up on the path and some of the patches along the path. 
It’s well established. There are some areas where it’s 3’ tall and then there are some 2-3” vines going up trees. 
 

[Chestnut]

That sounds awful. are you going to try and seed some ground cover to take it's place or just let nature do it's thing?

[drzaius]

A couple of things about using glyphosate; it should take at least a week to kill, more likely 2 weeks and spraying while the most foliage is intact will be far more effective at killing the roots than after mowing.

[Tom King]

For large vines, I shoot them in two near the ground, with a 12 ga., and treat the stump with Tordon.  I don't want to get sprayed with the sap, so the shotgun gives some stand off distance.  I don't think you can put enough of anything on the foliage to kill those big vines.  I've tried.  This is the right time of year for Tordon.

It comes in squeeze bottles.  You don't dilute it to spray.  The bottle is the applicator.  It has blue dye in it, so you can see where you put it.  You need to apply it soon after the stump is cut.  It works on freshly cut tree stumps too.

https://www.amazon.com/Tordon-RTU-Herbicide-QT-Size/dp/B008QYMNU2

[Tom King]

On the foliage, I spray a mixture of Glysophate, 2,4,D,  and Imprazar.  I've not found one of those, by itself, to kill it for good.  They can be sprayed separately.   That's also the only combination I've found that will kill Johnson grass. 

I always add a little surfactant too.

[Tpt life]

Glyphosate is not great for woody plants. It will kill herbaceous plants in hours, but only really affects the leaves of woody plants. Once they brown, very little is transferred to roots. While cutting and treating stumps comes with its own issues, that is by far the most effective eradicator. 

[JohnG]

2 hours ago, drzaius said:

A couple of things about using glyphosate; it should take at least a week to kill, more likely 2 weeks and spraying while the most foliage is intact will be far more effective at killing the roots than after mowing.

Thanks for the clarification, I should have been more specific. it’s a few days to a week before there’s visual evidence of the spray working. Probably closer to 2 weeks before it’s really dead like you stated. And by the time I get out for another round of spraying the path after mowing, it’s been a couple weeks or more and I only spray stuff with leaves since glyphosate is really only effective there.

[Chestnut]

I've used the active ingredient in this product with good results on woody weeds that 2,4,D doesn't kill.

https://www.amazon.com/Ortho-Chickweed-Clover-Concentrate-16-Ounce/dp/B00F4JS3SS/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3U83X0WUETWNH&dchild=1&keywords=weed+be+gone+concentrate&qid=1601914620&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=weed+be+gone+co%2Clawngarden%2C182&sr=1-7

I mix the above with 2,4,d for yard weeds, and it works great. It's eliminated the creeping charlie from my yard.

But if Glysophate isn't killing them I'm not sure if it'd be better than that. You must have some hard weeds as Glysophate kills everything I've applied it to.

[Mark J]

3 hours ago, Tom King said:

For large vines, I shoot them in two near the ground, with a 12 ga., and treat the stump with Tordon.  I don't want to get sprayed with the sap, so the shotgun gives some stand off distance. 

And I gotta believe that's a lot more fun than clippers.

[drzaius]

How persistent is the toxic stuff that makes poison ivy noxious? Does it last beyond the point after which the plant is dead?

We don't have it around here, so I have no experience. We do have stinging nettle & I can tell you that it is nothing to be messed with. Just a very light graze against it will yield an instant, painful rash that can last for days.

[wtnhighlander]

13 minutes ago, drzaius said:

How persistent is the toxic stuff that makes poison ivy noxious? Does it last beyond the point after which the plant is dead?

We don't have it around here, so I have no experience. We do have stinging nettle & I can tell you that it is nothing to be messed with. Just a very light graze against it will yield an instant, painful rash that can last for days.

The urioshol (sp?) oil that causes the ivy rash can linger all through the winter months, and is present even in the woody parts, to a lesser degree. One should never, NEVER try to burn off poison ivy, as the smoke carries droplets of the oil, which can cause a reaction in the lung tissue, sometimes resulting in death.  The oil is best removed from skin and clothing with generous application of soap and water as soon as possible after exposure. Alcohol or other solvents can actually facilitate the absotbtion of the oil and cause a stonger reaction.

Interestingly, the same oil is found in the tree / shrub used for the production of traditional Japanese lacquer. Appatently some part of the production process renders the irritant (mostly) inactive.

[Chestnut]

Made a bowl blank.... I'll doubt I'll finish it. Not doing this again. Not what i find enjoyable.

Really don't want to clean up this mess either. I gonna suck at least 3 tools up with the DC that are buried.

[Chet]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:12 PM, drzaius said:

Just a very light graze against it will yield an instant, painful rash that can last for days.

Been there done that.  When I was a boy scout we were on a back packing trip and I started losing my footing on a down hill stretch, I reached out to brake my fall and ended up grabbing a hand full of stinging nettle.  I couldn't close my hand for about five days.

[JohnG]

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

The oil is best removed from skin and clothing with generous application of soap and water as soon as possible after exposure. 

Physically scrubbing is very important as well, and cool water is ideal. 

The rash can show up in just 1-2 days or can take a week or more, and then can last  as long as 2-3 weeks. Since the rash is an immune system response, some people react more severely than others. While some people don’t react at all, that can change over time and “immunity” can be lost. My wife never used to react to it, but then got it for the first time a couple months ago.