Allotment Stuff > The Basics

Anyone here use a Flame Gun?

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Hugh_Jones:
Actually, Tim, I`ve always found that one of the effects of using the hood is to spread the heat further outwards, and any plant life within 2 feet on either side, and several feet in front, of the burner is likely to be severely damaged - particularly if there is any hint of a breeze to waft the heat about.

I Bought my first Sheen gun in 1948, but it did not have a built in pump (supposed to use the car foot pump), so in 1959 I bought the model I`m still using regularly.

Don`t expect to clear off a heavily weeded patch in one go, it isn`t intended to and it won`t. The gun works by exploding the stem cells of the plants so that the plants collapse, and the trick with heavily weeded areas is to flame the weeds once to do this, leave them for a week or so to dry off, then flame them off. Done properly this will also incinerate all the weed seeds lying on the soil surface.  Small weeds, as Tim says, will burn off in one go, and paths and drives can be cleaned up very easily. I also flame all my seedbeds before sowing to kill off surface weed seeds.

The gun is also very useful when potato blight has struck.  As soon as you have cut off and removed the diseased haulm, go over the ground with the gun and kill off all the spores before you lift the crop - this stops the spores getting into the spuds as you lift them.

It also comes in very handy for starting bonfires, sealing up cracks in tarmac drives, and bending/straightening/brazing of metalwork about the garden.

tim:
No argument, Hugh. At least without a hood, you have a better view of what is happening? I seemed to recall that, with it,  the sideways effect was reduced.
Do agree with the light hand, followed by another flash-over. = Tim

Hugh_Jones:
Dunno about yours Tim, but I found that every time the hood hit a stone (or even a clod) it bounced upwards, releasing a burst of fire in all directions.

Forgot to mention - it`s also very handy for dealing with underground wasps nests (at night of course).

tim:
You have clods and rocks in your beds?? = Tim

Hugh_Jones:
I often feel that I have rocks in my bed when the arthritis bites, Tim, but I was actually referring to the wilder bits of the garden, which we allow to remain `natural`for the benefit of wildlife most of the time, but clean off every few years when they get too wild and start to spread back into the garden proper.

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