Does anyone have experience using the propane hand-held torch kits from Flame Engineering out of Kansas, or other brands for that matter? I'm considering purchasing one to control weeds on my half acre of asparagus. It's a back-breaking job to hoe and I don't use herbicides.

Thanks

Bruce

-- Bruce (rural@inebraska.com), November 20, 2001

Answers

Bruce no experience with weed control. But here is what we use to burn piles of brush and clean fence lines. We have a flexible wand we attach to the valve of the tank of the gas BBQ grill. We picked one up at an local equipment company for about $13.00. Works like a champ! Carole

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), November 20, 2001.

Out here in Kansas a place that sells U-pick asparagus plows right over theirs. The tops are removed in the winter and the roots are deep enough not to be hurt by a shallow cultivation. They also cultivate every couple of weeks in the spring right after that section has been picked. In the summer, they just let the weeds grow. It occurs to me that if they seeded the land with alfalfa seeds during the last cultivation that the soil would be more improved when the land was plowed, instead of just having weeds to turn under.

-- terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), November 20, 2001.

Yes, I have one and I use it as one means of weed control. It is not the be all and end all of weed control but it is effective.

-- Laura (LauramLeek@yahoo.com), November 20, 2001.

Terri:

Could you repost your comments under a separate thread titled Asparagus? It is really interesting and I sure would like folks interested in asparagus cultivation to see it.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 20, 2001.

I used a borrowed roofing torch (talk about fire power!). Found it easy to use and very helpful when clearing out a patch when I don't have the time or energy to dig and "sift" out the weeds with the fork. Won't do much for the roots of really sturdy perennial type grasses, but fries everything else really well. Terribly cathartic too, because if a particular weed or clump has been giving you trouble for a while, you can just stand there and toast it vindictively. Maniacal laughter is optional, but helps to keep observent neighbors from rummaging around on your property at night.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 21, 2001.