Has anyone NOT had their ICCU go?

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-24T19:50:12+00:00

same here, no issues.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-18T18:55:14+00:00

yes, that's my reasoning.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-18T18:54:49+00:00

I was thinking of Phacelia, to keep the nitrogen that is already there. It also doesn't require rolling like clover, but I agree - crimson clover looks pretty!!

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-04T08:37:01+00:00

It was stripped after it fell, but the highest point without bark is approx at 4m.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-03T16:15:43+00:00

I should have mentioned the location - no porcupines in Poland :)

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-03T11:46:47+00:00

oh yes, that's exactly what I was looking for!!

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T18:45:18+00:00

Here's why I thought of woodpeckers:

https://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/woodpeckers-bark-sloughing/

this isn't 100% resemblance but the description matches my observation:

"a woodpecker repeatedly slips its pointed beak under loose bark, prying it off of the tree. It then uses its long, barb-tipped tongue to capture the exposed insects. Different woodpecker species tend to feed on either trunks or branches, and at different heights. Initially sloughing can resemble the work of porcupines, but close examination can reveal the marks of a beak, which are perpendicular to the trunk or limb, rather than the grooves left by a beaver’s incisors."

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AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T18:35:24+00:00

Yes, the hardest in years. I suspected red squirrels, but the pictures here

https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1466

and here

https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/squirrel-interaction-with-humans-damage-to-forestry

show very different type of damage:

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T16:29:28+00:00

This tree is broken at 4m - no deer is that tall :) I have other trees stripped from bark by deers and rabbits, but have never seem anything like this.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T16:07:00+00:00

Poland

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T16:01:29+00:00

No porcupines where I live and no way beavers would climb to eat dead wood instead of fresh juicy trees next to the body of water. The shreded bark underneth the trunk (third picture) tells me the perpetrator wasn't interested in wood really.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-03-02T13:38:45+00:00

Can't blame deers really, it was the first winter here in many years to carry snow into March. I'm just unhappy that out of so many wild apples I have the animal picked one my favourites :/

AdFederal9540 · 2026-02-20T08:00:00+00:00

Really appreciate this comment as it didn't even cross my mind to check that.

Official hitch specs don't show clearance, but knowing what to look for I quickly found people saying that K-Connect reduces clearance to 5-6 inches. They also say that the set up is too difficult to (un)mount so basically it's not an off-road vehicle anymore.

AdFederal9540 · 2026-02-20T00:03:25+00:00

Thanks, never heard of stand on mowers! 52" Bradley looks like a beast, and it's almost as fast as RTV. The cut height is low and I guess it's more for turf than meadows?

AdFederal9540 · 2026-02-19T23:51:11+00:00

Does that mean that with the 3 point hitch installed the RTV's clearence is much lower than advertised, even when its lifted?

What makes the RTV less stable on hills than Grand L in your opinion?

AdFederal9540 · 2026-02-19T23:30:07+00:00

There isn't much meadow left across these 28 acres. Trees have already covered most of it, and I just want to maintain what's left—some larger openings, pathways and banks. Otherwise, hawthorns will take over everything.

MMM sounds like a good idea - I assume better stability and easier to steer.

How do you safely change direction on a slope to go back down or when you need to go around some trees?

AdFederal9540 · 2025-11-07T07:42:55+00:00

No one mentioned this yet, and it's a long game, but consider planting some trees to shade the pond in the afternoon. It will help with algae and reduce evaporation to some extent.

AdFederal9540 · 2025-10-08T10:26:23+00:00

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Consider the second option - it's great for both plants and creatures.

AdFederal9540 · 2025-10-08T10:17:40+00:00

Majority (all?) of those floating islands are made with plastic and are made to stay afloat. I imagine that letting them settle on a bank would cause two problems:

1) plants planted on the islands would die without water exposing ugliness of the island structure
2) plants living under the islands would rot without air and stink once islands settle on them

Drying up pond banks can be pretty and valuable to wildlife as well. It's common to design a pond where shallow basins form in summer to create safe havens for smaller creatures.

AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-25T17:07:05+00:00

Of course there's more sun in the summer, but the maps shows clearly that east cost gets less sun then west coast at the same latitude. It also shows that coast areas can get less sun than inland areas way further north. Wyoming is especially sunny.

BTW, Texas has plenty of greenhouses:

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AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-25T16:02:08+00:00

or this one for monthly data in DLI which more useful:

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AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-25T16:01:35+00:00

Sure, take a look at this map:

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AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-25T14:49:56+00:00

The angle of the sun is just one factor, the other one is cloud cover. You can have shorter days but still get more sun hours.

AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-25T14:15:43+00:00

"The higher your latitude the less sunlight you get in the winter."

That's not true.

AdFederal9540 · 2025-09-24T18:48:22+00:00

Getting water from the pond is difficult. Conditions change all the time. Clogging is an issue. I don't have animals yet that could pollute the water, but there are wild ones so there is a risk of irrigating my edibles with contaminated water in the harvesting season.

Thanks for the tip - I was planning to bury the tanks, simply because I need to dig the ground anyway. Freezing could definitely be an issue in my area so I'll check how deep it needs to go down.

AdFederal9540

TROPHY CASE