Lots of dead leaves on the gravel. Seem to recall the groundkeepers at school had a sort of flamethrower thingy like a teapot with a 3-foot spout. Parafin in the 'pot' part, pump it up, release valve slightly, light end of spout, point at leaves open valve some more, burn off leaves, turn off valve. left a little ash but all the leaves went.
Any idea what it's called & where one could instruct one's man to obtain such a device ??
salud!
A weed burner, usually run from a propane gas cylinder these days. They should be available from garden tool suppliers
Colin Bignell
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They seem to be a stock item at Lidl, and the replacement cylinders are also there.
Cic.
flamethrower
Yes, weedburner. Very effective but a few words of caution: gravel pops and shatters if you heat it too quickly, and as you walk over the bit you've burned the hot gravel melts the souls of your shoes! (AMHIK)
AWEM
Thats a tiddly thing, will just about do small areas. The OP's description fits the Sheen X300 paraffin weed burner. I'd have thought it a bit risky taking a weed burner to dry leaves, get a few burning, gust of wind and you have burning leaves all over the place...
But why burn dead leaves? They spend all that time absorbing CO2, and then you want to release it all again? Surely composting has to be a better (though a little more strenuous) option?
Fiver from a good farm auction, fortune on eBay.
Damn useless, but great fun. I have three of the things (and never get round to eBaying that which I ought)
Best thing is a besom broom (i.e. fan-shaped long bristles, not a wooden head) and just sweeping them up.
The same CO2 is released either way.
I got one this year. I used it to burn off weed seeds in the rows I had prepared and was about to sow. Made the weeding over the season much easier.
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Well, I was only showing a source for a propane flame gun suggested by another poster. Personally I wouldn't burn leaves but the flame gun has its uses for minor weed clearing.
The 'Sheen' flame gun maybe the best tool (for its purpose) on the market but have you seen the current prices - about £140-00? Quite expensive for an occasional-use toy!
Cic.
I had one, but not really worth using, more a gimmick. If you read up on them you'll find that to be worth having one needs to be surprisingly high power, the domestic models dont really cut it.
Tried a garden vac too, but the size, weight and extension cord meant it was just as quick to sweep them up. I guess thats why pro groundspeople still just sweep them.
NT
'cept the burning paraffin/butane/whatever will add extra CO2.....
Thanks for your replies.
Not sure whether to follow up on it at the price...
Cheers
Pyrolyse them instead, should break even with leaf mould in the soil at 5 years and thereonafter sequester the carbon for the few hundred years it takes for oxydising radicals the chomp at it.
AJH
Yes, I think that was what I was getting at - I just didn't put it very well! :-)
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Andrew Mawson" saying something like:
Amen.
Deepends how much area you have to keep plant free. Wouldn't take many yards of gravel path to make it worth while. Yeah you could keep raking it but you aren't killing the weeds by raking they'll come back PDQ. Zap the tops with a flame and they don't come back.
We have walking stick weed burner does a great job in the french drains they generally only need zapping twice/year.
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