Weather Where You Are

[digitS']

What's going on with @Ridgerunner , today?

Tropical storm Christobal is coming in right about where he lives. It will be showing up @so lucky 's doorstep, next.

Flooding?

Steve

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Turned the heat on this morning.

Maybe I'm a wimp. It was 46°f outdoors with an expected high of 62° , clouds and rain this afternoon. The house was 67° __°°°

I think that the plants are doing okay. There is quite a bit of mildew on the climbing rose over the driveway gate. The veggies may not be too shook up because the 80+ weather (1, 90° day) was very brief. There has been too much wind but some pleasant temperatures and sunshine.

Jerked around a little? Well, I could be 500 miles south where Salt Lake City had its earliest 100° on record, yesterday. Now, the nearby community of Park City is under a hard freeze warning of 28° - tonight! How do tender plants even survive?!

Steve

Would you believe that an amendment of silicone exists that helps plants negotiate temp changes? I tell people I read the hydro dope forums for the tips but I know they think I look at the pictures.

 

[digitS']

amendment of silicone exists that helps plants negotiate temp changes

And, powdery mildew resistance! Sheesh. No, I didn't know of any such benefit!

Well, I'd have to be careful about raising pH ...

FS1278: Silicon Needs of Soils and Crops (Rutgers NJAES)

FS1278,

njaes.rutgers.edu

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

What's going on with @Ridgerunner , today?

Tropical storm Christobal is coming in right about where he lives. It will be showing up @so lucky 's doorstep, next.

Flooding?

Steve

Not that much of problem here Steve. It is a weird storm. A lot of dry air has been feeding it, keeping it disorganized. Close to the storm it's been relatively calm, it's way out there that is at issue. They expect heavy rains tomorrow somewhere, but don't know where. @Dirtmechanic over in Alabama is as likely to get heavy rain out of this as I am. Somewhere tomorrow they think the "train effect" will set up, but they don't know where.

Any way I got some wind but not that bad. I've gotten some rain but no flooding. Pretty much a non-event for me except it does rain a lot of the time.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Looks like all we are gonna get is cellular storms out of the southeast.

Speaking of heat that impacts plants, I seriously want to consider a white shade fabric for a 20 or so tomatoes I set in black grow bags. Any sources for such an item?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like all we are gonna get is cellular storms out of the southeast.

Speaking of heat that impacts plants, I seriously want to consider a white shade fabric for a 20 or so tomatoes I set in black grow bags. Any sources for such an item?

I have not ordered from this source but am seriously considering it. It's the best looking online one I've found but no real experience with them. I want them to put the tape and grommets in.

Knitted Shade Cloth Archives - ShadeClothStore.com

shadeclothstore.com

 

[Dirtmechanic]

@Ridgerunner thanks for that. i bought a grommet punch cheap some years back, it looks like this.

The edges can be rolled and punched but the grommet has to be sturdy and sharp or its trouble. The cheesy ones with the kit bend too much.


For weatherproof canvas tarps and such I also bought a heavy duty Singer 44 series sewing machine. That way I can just leave it setup with heavy needles and outdoor thread rather than take over DWs machine and fuss with all that. Funny story, her old machine literally caught fire on the kitchen table. Motherboard burnt or something like that. I have never seen a sewing machine go down in flames .

Anyway, my latest maintenance interest was re-waxing washable tarps and such. I still have not sorted all that out. I intend to go by a tack shop and see what the modern cowboys use these days. This shade cloth project should be easier with the gear I have if they are expensive for custom sewing.

 

[flowerbug]

@Ridgerunner thanks for that. i bought a grommet punch cheap some years back, it looks like this.
View attachment 35815

The edges can be rolled and punched but the grommet has to be sturdy and sharp or its trouble. The cheesy ones with the kit bend too much.


For weatherproof canvas tarps and such I also bought a heavy duty Singer 44 series sewing machine. That way I can just leave it setup with heavy needles and outdoor thread rather than take over DWs machine and fuss with all that. Funny story, her old machine literally caught fire on the kitchen table. Motherboard burnt or something like that. I have never seen a sewing machine go down in flames .

Anyway, my latest maintenance interest was re-waxing washable tarps and such. I still have not sorted all that out. I intend to go by a tack shop and see what the modern cowboys use these days. This shade cloth project should be easier with the gear I have if they are expensive fir custom sewing.

for the best life from such things you want a really wide edged rings, otherwise they seem to always come off.

Mom has a nice heavy duty sewing machine that may eventually be repurposed for more serious work.

 

[ducks4you]

@Dirtmechanic , between my 3 DD's and I we have 5 regular sewing machines, 2 HD (like the one you described) machines, 3 sergers and one, old, needs just a belt, 1960's sewing machine in a table. I keep meaning to get a new belt for it bc it only has a straight stitch and a zigzag stitch, but it would be The Thing to use for leather. Good for you getting your own machine!!
Btw, get your own scissors, too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't do enough grommets to make it worth buying another heavy duty toy though the price of that one looks interesting. If I saw something for $30 I'd wonder how good it was. but it might pay for itself on this project. Not if I buy a sewing machine though and I'm not sewing that much by hand. Not sure how much I'd trust any tape I can get hold of to hold over time.

I've always used the kits and a hammer. My last grommet project was to modify a grill cover where they used Velcro to hold the cover on. Velcro was a waste of time.

The problem of course is that the wind tears the grommets out. A trick I learned is to not rigidly tie them if you can help it. You generally have to fix the corners but instead of using a zip tie through each grommet I weave a rope through the grommets on a side and wrap that around a support as I go. That evens out the pressure on each individual grommet so one is not taking all the wind. That's saved me many a tarp.