April 29, 2007
I got the Farm Store brand weed-n-feed which has all the same active ingredients as Scotts brand fertilizer or TruGreen. I hope it works at least somewhat.
Here's my spreader. It's the John Deere Backpack type one. It has an electric motor that spins the spreader rather than being ground driven.
This pigtail is hooked up to the battery all the time.
The toggle switch turns the motor on and off. The lever opens and closes the gate to let the fertilizer drop or not. In the closed position....
The gate is closed...
Back here...
We get a little crack for the stuff to go out.
This thing is a great example of a time when a really brainy designer sported all this great thinking, but really has never used anything like this him/herself.
1. The capacity is large, and great for that, but the thing doesn't cone down to the gate at the bottom, so you have about 20 pounds of material left in the hopper when it stops flowing and you have to start swishing it around by hand. I've been thinking of ways I might modify it to do better in this area. If they cone'd it down and added 3 inches in height, they'd have equal capacity AND functional.
2. The gate lever stop is good. Forward for off, back to the stopper for on.. easy... except... you get a lump of material in the gate, the flow stop. Move the stopper to max so you can Open->close the gate to get the blockage out of the way.. Happens a bit, not a lot, but renders that gate stop useless.
The backpack part and electric drive are great. Note to John Deere: I'd love to participate in the development of the ideal spreader, give me a call.
Does it make you dizzy? This is what I put on. I was expecting a sand-like weed killer stuff. I'm not sure this will adhere to every weed along the way. Sure hope the broadleaf plants are gonna die.
Have you ever had Sun Tea? First, talk your friend in Utah into sending you a quart of salsa. Spend a couple days on a bag of chips knocking that out, then wash the jar. As an aside... I have a pile of Ball brand quart canning jars and this Kerr one. The Ball jars weigh a substantial bit more. I'm hoping to send it back to Utah this summer filled with Sydney's Best Ultimate Red(tm). In the mean time, fill it with cold water.
Add the Tea Bag. Preferably Maxwell House brand owned by Kraft. We need the money!
Set it out in the sun for the day.
The darker it gets, the more sun it absorbs, the warmer it gets, the darker it gets, repeat. This makes a tea rich in the essential Vitamin H2O. In the heat of summer, this goes a little better than it does in 70 degrees with wind. It sure was a nice day out though.