DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[perchie.girl]

right, mine isn't under pressure so I used a female adapter with a hose bib adapter on mine, it doesn't have a washer. The nipples don't work under pressure anyway so it is fine and doesn't leak.

Thats wonderful..... I have pressure... But then I dont use nipple waterers either. All Tank floats everyone. Good on low house pressure and lower Tank pressure...


BTW when my tank is full its 3000 gallons. Water comes out the faucet about two or three inches and falls to the ground.... LOL.

deb

 

[OScarlet]

We rented a ditch witch one time and it didn't work well on the hardpack. We found a bobcat (DH corrected me and it wasn't a bobcat, it was a sit in compact excavator) and a jack hammer were the best way to dig a ditch in San Diego "soil".

 

[perchie.girl]

We rented a ditch witch one time and it didn't work well on the hardpack. We found a bobcat (DH corrected me and it wasn't a bobcat, it was a sit in compact excavator) and a jack hammer were the best way to dig a ditch in San Diego "soil".

LOL.... we dont have soil.... um er Mostly dont have soil. there are a few areas that do.

Most areas of San Diego are:

Clay..... Rock hard with cobble stones in it.... When wet it can suck the shoes right off your horse.... seen it happen. Thats the one that needs Dynamite .... um er back hoe.... LOL.

Sandy riverbed.

Decomposed granite

My area is Decomposed Granite. While its difficult to get the surface cracked especially where its packed down by vehicles Once the surface is broken Its noticeably easier to dig. A pick works to crack the surface. But a ditch witch works quite well unless there is an unseen boulder under there.... Some of mine are School bus sized..... Sigh.

This is what my land looks like along the road that goes through it.


this is what my land looks like around the house

this was before I put up pipe corrals. The tree marks where the sceptic tank is and the water access. The photo is taken about two hundred feet from the house. On the right hand side near those rocks is a hose bib.... unfortunately across on the otherside near where the photo is taken is now my horse corral I would love to extend the water from those rocks across the road to the the horse corral....

deb

 

[OScarlet]

yeah we are the poway conglomerate/clay area. When it was in the "topsoil" (anything from 2" to 8") it was too soft and floundered and then it hit the rock solid stuff or a stone/rock and veered off all over the place. The excavator worked well most of the time and saved so much time lifting out the soil, but sometimes the back hoe wasn't strong enough and we needed the jack hammer and it would even blunt the blade. Sounds like yours is easier than ours. We needed a french drain across the back of our modest sized house and were quoted in excess of $10K for it because noone wanted to dig it.

 

[perchie.girl]

yeah we are the poway conglomerate/clay area. When it was in the "topsoil" (anything from 2" to 8") it was too soft and floundered and then it hit the rock solid stuff or a stone/rock and veered off all over the place. The excavator worked well most of the time and saved so much time lifting out the soil, but sometimes the back hoe wasn't strong enough and we needed the jack hammer and it would even blunt the blade. Sounds like yours is easier than ours. We needed a french drain across the back of our modest sized house and were quoted in excess of $10K for it because noone wanted to dig it.

And you NEED french drains in Clay if you want to have any kind of yard..... Because if you dig a hole to plant a tree its just like putting it in a big clay flower pot... The only way you do it is dig the "pot" twice as deep and big around and fill the bottom with gravel and be careful not to over water or you will drown the tree. I really hate clay.... Most of the gardeners I know in the Santee area use raised beds with hauled in soil.

At home in Jacumba Where my house is the gardeners do the same for different reasons. DG is a really good draining medium and If you can get it loosened up and keep it loosened up pretty darn good for growing things. horse manure works pretty good for that. Gawd knows I have a Bandini mountain of it. LOL. But the reason raised beds are used is because they have to have the bottoms lined with hardware cloth or even tin to keep the desert critters from harvesting your garden. My neighbor builds a chicken wire cage big enough to walk around in just to grow tomatoes.

deb

 

[PrimroseMom1]

And you NEED french drains in Clay if you want to have any kind of yard..... Because if you dig a hole to plant a tree its just like putting it in a big clay flower pot...  The only way you do it is dig the "pot" twice as deep and big around and fill the bottom with gravel and be careful not to over water or you will drown the tree.    I really hate clay....  Most of the gardeners I know in the Santee area use raised beds with hauled in soil.  

At home in Jacumba Where my house is the gardeners do the same for different reasons.  DG is a really good draining medium and If you can get it loosened up and keep it loosened up pretty darn good for growing things.  horse manure works pretty good for that.  Gawd knows I have a Bandini mountain of it.  LOL.  But the reason raised beds are used is because they have to have the bottoms lined with hardware cloth or even tin to keep the desert critters from harvesting your garden.  My neighbor builds a chicken wire cage big enough to walk around in just to grow tomatoes.  

deb

I have lots of clay. I am not far from the Mississippi River. I learned how to make French drains by watching videos on YouTube. After my first peach tree died in the clay. I dig a mondo hole filled with gravel and good dirt. Second one died anyway, but some things grow here and I put mt blackberry in the same hole and it loves it. Lol

 

[Leahs Mom]

I love these long threads, so much good info and fun to see, but it's almost impossible to find info in them at a later date....unless you have hours to page thru the whole thing.
Maybe someone knows a way to search them that has proven effective that I am unaware of?

Besides using the photo gallery, you can search in a specific thread.

Don't use the big search box at the top of the page. In each thread, right under the thread title there are several links (unread posts subscirbed search this thread).

Click on the "search this thread" link and you can use keywords or if you use the advanced search you can also search by poster as well.

 

[aart]

Besides using the photo gallery, you can search in a specific thread.

Don't use the big search box at the top of the page. In each thread, right under the thread title there are several links (unread posts subscirbed search this thread).

Click on the "search this thread" link and you can use keywords or if you use the advanced search you can also search by poster as well.

Yep, thread search is pretty laborious too.
This forum is one of the most difficult I've used to get search info, and I've used a lot of them, ..... too much chatting.
That's just my opinion, as I'm not much of a chatter.

'Advanced Search>Titles Only' is the best to use here, and even then, a lot of wading thru yakking.

If I find something here I like and want to keep for future reference, I copy and paste it to one of the informational documents I create to save stuff.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Yep, thread search is pretty laborious too.
This forum is one of the most difficult I've used to get search info, and I've used a lot of them, ..... too much chatting.
That's just my opinion, as I'm not much of a chatter.

'Advanced Search>Titles Only' is the best to use here, and even then, a lot of wading thru yakking.

If I find something here I like and want to keep for future reference, I copy and paste it to one of the informational documents I create to save stuff.

I've done cut paste print for fermented feed, vaccinations, illnesses, etc.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I've been looking at a LOT of watering systems. Which nipple attachment is best? Saddle, push in or screw in?



edit: I bookmark all the helpful things, or things I want to come back to. I have a special folder just for chickens.