Preparedness for when

Uniscots97

DawnW wrote: »

Perhaps it is worth advertising the new and good condition items on facebook, or putting on ebay?

I think I might Dawn, its just annoying.

muffin_man_7

GQ nice t hear your good news makes for a good start to the week take care mm

paidinchickens

That's really good news GQ :j

Would anyone mind if I lined up bailiffs along side politicians to give as offerings to the fire gods? Not that they have threatened me but they have brought someone I love dearly to their knees today.

My cat had a tick on it the other day, as blood suckers go I prefer the one that was on my cat!!

PiC x

PS Stronghold (the new flea stuff) does not work on ticks

craigywv

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

When I first grew toms I used to have trays and pots of seedlings everywhere, but then I found out that when they get bigger you can take cuttings-with most varieties you remove sideshoots anyway. These root unbelievable easily, simply pinch off shove in a pot of compost and water. These grow fast and as their "dna" effectively is the same age as the original plant, they develop and flower at the same time. Saves all the seedlings now . I have two of each variety I am growing and will take extra cuttings later to increase numbers. I also found a smaller number of well looked after Tomatos seem to do better and produce more fruit that too many plants.

My first year I think I had 36 seedlings and grew on about 30. Now I grow about 6-8 seedlings and with cuttings will grow on about 12 ish.

But have fun anyway, my trouble is I hate throwing away seedlings so always feel I have to grow them on once planted :rotfl:.

Ali x

GREAT ! thanks for that piece of info I shall deffo take cuttings just to try out! if things work out I shall have a glut of toms, as last year I didn't do too bad out of 8 or 9 seedlings so this year I wanted to grow a lot more so I could make base sauces and freeze enough to do me without buying any at all . thanks again. GQ that's brilliant news I so happy for you piece of mind is fabulous xxxx

[Deleted User]

My set up with Jump Starter, and CFL, got me to thinking, could you use the same idea (but on a larger scale) to go completely off grid, electrically?

What I'm thinking of might not be possible, if you live in a major town or city, but perhaps if you lived in the back of beyond, like say the Scottish Highlands.

This is a 110Ah leisure battery.

It costs around £80.

Five of them, running in parallel, would give you 550Ah.

This would be sufficient to run my 8W CFL, and my Notebook, for some 150-ish hours.

Suppose you put a 12V, 200-ish Wattage solar panel on your South facing roof?

Such a solar panel would, under ideal conditions, supply about 17 Amps.

With judicious use of the current (CFLs, low wattage 12V fridges, etc.), I reckon said solar panel could keep the batteries charged.

Indeed, you could supplement the solar panel, with a small wind turbine (winds tend to be strongest when the sun is weakest), or even a small water wheel, if a suitable fast flowing stream passed your home.

Any thoughts?

jk0

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

My set up with Jump Starter, and CFL, got me to thinking, could you use the same idea (but on a larger scale) to go completely off grid, electrically?

What I'm thinking of might not be possible, if you live in a major town or city, but perhaps if you lived in the back of beyond, like say the Scottish Highlands.

This is a 110Ah leisure battery.

It costs around £80.

Five of them, running in parallel, would give you 550Ah.

This would be sufficient to run my 8W CFL, and my Notebook, for some 150-ish hours.

Suppose you put a 12V, 200-ish Wattage solar panel on your South facing roof?

Such a solar panel would, under ideal conditions, supply about 17 Amps.

With judicious use of the current (CFLs, low wattage 12V fridges, etc.), I reckon said solar panel could keep the batteries charged.

Indeed, you could supplement the solar panel, with a small wind turbine (winds tend to be strongest when the sun is weakest), or even a small water wheel, if a suitable fast flowing stream passed your home.

Any thoughts?

The problem is related to what I mentioned regarding the limited number of full charge/ full discharge cycles of lead acid batteries. (Around 300 if you're lucky.) Therefore you are likely to find that it is cheaper to use mains electricity.

[Deleted User]

You wouldn't be discharging fully though, would you?

It would be more like a car battery and charging system, and in a car, a battery can last for years.

Notice I said "I reckon said solar panel could keep the batteries charged.", as opposed to recharging them.

Indeed, during the day, the batteries would be pretty much floating on the charger.

guineapiglet

Hi,
just popping up to say that the lidl by me has waterproof coats for £9.99 for adults, insulated coats for kids £4.99. Hiking rucksacks and fishing gear.

Got myself and OH coat to keep in the car as I am one who at the first sign of warmth is out of a coat (can't bear being bulky) and for OH who won't wear anything but a hoodie.

The kids coats don't have hoods so will look for a waterproof hat. The umbrellas are already in the car.

Hiking bag looked good. May talk myself into getting that. Loads of fishing gear rods, sets, nets which if I had any clue about using would be good.

Oh just remembered for those planning to cycle away from shtf there were saddle bags

hope that helps someone

D&DD

Craigy did you have time to do any fruit cuttings in the end?? I found out loganberries can be bent over and tip rooted too (I usually just move a clump) I suppose it makes sense as they're a blackberry hybrid after all.Well done on the seed sowing success!
I'm soo behind this year but finally have little signs of life.


GQ oh what wonderful news for you, hope the screwdriver did the trick! You deserve a stiff drink after that.


My lot are all arriving downstairs for TWD and my connection is awful tonight anyway so will catch up properly in the morning

jk0

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

You wouldn't be discharging fully though, would you?

Guess it depends if you want to live like a monk Bob. My house consumes around 4 units a day on day rate electricity. Maybe half of that is during daylight, so that's 2 units a day (2000 Watt hours) to come from your five batteries.

Your batteries can store:

12Volts x 550 Ah= 6600 Watt hours, so you are draining them by one third every day. So if they last 900 days, that means they are costing you 44p per day for 4 units. Now that may sound slightly cheaper than mains electricity, but how much have the solar panels wiring, and inverters cost you, and how often will you have to replace some part or other?