| Thermoweed |
| 76 Middlecave Road |
| Malton |
| North Yorkshire |
| Y017 7NQ |
| Contact: Richard Pearson |
| Tel: |
01653 690088 |
| Mob: |
07769 655564 |
| Email: |
enquiries |
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| Powered by Calor LPG |
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Facts Worth Knowing About Thermal Weed
Control
Why use thermal weed control ?
- It is environmentally friendly, there is no air pollution,
and no chemical residues remain in the soil.
- Its use is independent from wind and rain.
- There is no preparation of poisonous chemicals, no decontamination
of man nor machine, and no need for record-keeping of used
chemicals.
- It is easy to operate and much faster and cheaper than
weeding by hand.
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| How does thermal weed control work ? |
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Weed before treatment
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It is sufficient to heat parts of
the plant especially the leaves up to 70 degrees C to damage
the protein. If a plant is heated up to 100 degrees C, all the
cellular structures are destroyed also. In both cases vesicular
breathing ceases and the plant dies. To check whether a leaf
has been heated up enough, and in order to find optimum working
speed, a finger pressure test can be applied. If you squeeze
a leaf that has been exposed to heat between your thumb and
index finger, a dark green mark should become visible.
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| The time required for the flame weeding to be effective depends
on several factors. If the foliage is wet it will take more
time for the heat to get to work on the plant. The leaves of
a young shoot can be heated up to 70 degrees C in a fraction
of a second. Fleshy and hairy leaves need longer exposure as
do creeping weeds. Plants that have undergone heat treatment
have a darker colour and appear limp. |
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When is flame weeding most effective?
The optimal time for thermal weed control is early Spring.
Weeds in their early stages of growth (2-4 leaves) are still
small and don't have reserves stored in their root system.
If treatment takes place when the weeds are flowering considerably
more time and energy are required.
It is advantageous for the next season if you can burn in
the Autumn. This will destroy or severely damage weeds
seeds and prevent them causing a problem the following year.
It will also kill any resting disease spores such as mildew
and sclerotinia.
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Weed 3 days after treatment |
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