Phil Swindler

This is the side and bottom view of a Sweedish shrink pot.
The cylinder is made from a fresh green branch or log.
The bottom is made from wood that has already dried and shrunk.
As the cylinder dries it shrinks and grabs the bottom tightly.
There is no glue or fastener of any kind, just the 2 pieces of wood.
I got the idea from an episode of Roy Underhill's The Woodwright's Shop.
It's not water tight, but, makes a nice storage container for tools, pens, or something granular.

I like drip irrigation for closely spaced things like carrots, radishes, or leaf lettuce.
For plants further apart, like peppers, tomatoes, and squash, I put down PVC pipe.  I put hose connectors on one end, capped the other end, and drilled tiny holes where the plants were going to be.  I put it about 8 inches (20 cm) from the plant so the stem wouldn't sit in a bog and rot.  
The first year I had the spacing the same on the entire length of each run of pipe.  The plants near the hose got WAY more water than the ones at the other end.  Since then I put the holes further apart near the hose connector and closer together on the far end.
20 feet (6 m) is a good length of PVC for me.  Any longer than that and the plants at the end don't seem to get enough water.
I'm thinking I'll switch to quick connectors in the near future.
I do the used carpet mulch in some parts of the garden.  I put the PVC under the mulch.  If you lay down organic mulch you want the PVC covered with mulch to cut down on evaporation.

I do agree with morning watering if you are spraying it in the air to reduce evaporation.

S Bengi wrote:

Thermal Buffer
If you add more thermal mass to your house it will help

Insulation
If you add more insulation, then your AC will not have to work as hard

This video was just posted this morning.  It's kinda long.  But, in it he shows a fascinating method for moderating the temperature swings in his shed.  It would take some time and expense to set up.  But, it looks like it might be able to moderate building temperatures for years with no further energy input.



On his channel he has experimented with some other interesting heat reflective materials.

One thing to keep in mind is - those ground temperatures are based on the average ambient air temperature over the last century or two.
So, the warmer the climate and the warmer those average ambient temperatures are, the warmer those ground temps will be.

Here in Kansas you can call the county extension office for information like that.
I would guess other states have something similar.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Some caution should be used in this--not sure what materials will hold calcium chloride, but it seems it eats through metal.

Also, if it is boiled, it melts and then forms a solid block on cooling, so it will be useless.  

I think air drying is better.  It could in fact buffer and act as a humidifier in winter??  If not, is there some other substance that would work better (and not mold)?

He's got a point.  We used it in the bottom of desiccators to absorb moisture from the air.  We dried it before every experiment.  And, kept it in glass jars, and, the desiccators are glass.  I would either use glass jars or maybe try plastic buckets.  The calcium chloride you buy as ice melt comes in plastic bags, so plastic is probably fine.  
Drying it before it gets mushy is way easier.  For high school we used small enough amounts that a glass tray in a toaster oven did the trick.  I've never used a house type oven, just toaster ovens or incubators.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Well I always trust someone on the internet, especially with the name Swindler (just kidding and sorry, I'm sure you get that all the time, but for the rest of us it's the first).    

Not as often as my Dad did.  He was Reverend Swindler.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Wow, score one for Reddit:

"Calcium chloride, which you can buy as a ice melt product in many places, was used in bulk as desiccant/dehumidifier before A/C and electrical dehumidifiers were common. Application of it for this purpose was often as simple as having a 55 gallon drum filled with the salt placed in the area that needed dehumidifed (warehouses, silage silos, cold rooms, etc.).

Completely dry calcium chloride will absorb about 3 times its weight in moisture at 90% relative humidity - in which it can literally become a wet slurry, being so effective in absorbing water from the air. In comparison, common silica gel only absorbs about a 1/3 of its weight in moisture before being too saturated. Heating the salt at 212'F+ will drive off the trapped moisture and make the salt reuseable again.

Given a room with 1000 cubic feet air volume at 80'F and 80% relative humidity, there's about 1.4 lbs of water moisture present. So about half a pound of dried calcium chloride will absorb most of that moisture.

Do note, calcium chloride generates heat as it absorbs water. Whether this effect will be great enough to affect attempts to cool a space, I'm not sure."

--https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/1340iot/anyone_have_experience_using_rock_salt_as_a/

they recommend calcium chloride, about 1.5 lbs will be enough for a room 10x10x10 at 80% humidity.

But a drafty barn?? is the draft more helpful or more harmful? is it condensation that harms photographs or just humidity??

I spent 24 years teaching high school chemistry.  I haven't checked the numbers, but, the idea is sound.

It's been years, but, I recall reading that the South American terra pretta is believed to have included biochar and very well composted manure (possibly human).  

I did some experimenting with growing herbs in my own attempt at terra pretta in planter boxes.  The well composted manure I used came from a horse corral.  
The "Fresh" stuff under-performed the control.  The control was soil from the garden.
The year old batch produced plants that were noticeably larger and more robust.  I don't remember the numbers, but, I'm thinking I was able to harvest about 1/3 more herbs from the year old terra pretta than the garden soil.  My unsophisticated palate couldn't taste the difference.

May Lotito wrote:Freshly prepared biochar can sequester nutrients making them not available for plants. I tried charging charcoal in compost tea for hours prior to making potting mix. The plants with biochar added actually were smaller than control without biochar. That makes me wonder how to effectively charge the charcoal so it is not inhibitory.

I've read that this inoculation period needs to be a few months long.