Now this has been a good lively discussion!
It sounds like you know your sheep. Training and restraining of them certainly
makes for interesting projects and discussions. However, I do believe that
concerns over the virulent strain of E.coli and other fecal contaminants should
not be undere
You laugh, but following the E. Coli incidents with apple juice in the U.S.
in the late 1990's, the FDA began to study the problem, visiting orchards
and cider/ juice operations. It is said that on one fact finding expedition
to an orchard, government officials were Horrified... Horrified to fin
Sheep and other livestock? What about wildlife? It isn't unusual to find deer
droppings in orchards in my part of the
country, and wild birds standing on apples in the trees as they peck at them
(and leaving their droppings as well), and
squirrels, and rabbits, and mice ...lots of wildlife
>From my view, anyone that purposely allows animals to graze in apple
orchards is putting the WHOLE apple industry in jeopardy! After all this
industry has gone thru with e-coli and cider, we cannot stand another
industry disaster. Apple are apples to most consumers, so what happens to
one farm
If you run livestock in your orchard and your orchard is a U-Pick orchard,
just don't let your liability insurance company know you have livestock
among your trees. Ours requires the orchard be fenced in to keep livestock
out!
Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchar
We are in northern Illinois and have the same problem. We use a phosphoric
acid injection system once per season to clean out the system. We have 7 wells
around the orchard, but use only 2 for irrigation with 2 pump houses. The
system is not very expensive and we picked it up from Trickl-eez
A new issue of the Illinois Fruit and Vegetable News (Volume 13, number 7)
has been posted on the web.
To reach the home page for the Illinois Fruit and Vegetable News (with
links to all issues and additional resources), use the following link:
http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/ifvn/index.html
For dir
One product is Iron Out. I use it to clear a dehumidifier drain hose. Also
in a water softner to clear iron deposites. If you have a way to pump a mix of
water and Iron out and let it slowly drain through it should clear those big
clumps of red sludge.
I had a trickle system and gave it up becauses of this problem.
Injecting sulfuric acid was the best for my situation. I got 5 gallon carboys
of pure 66 degree baume H2SO4. I got four left you could have. Cost you more
than its worth to get it shipped.
Karl
