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Post by braveheart on Jul 25, 2015 5:52:04 GMT -6
If freeze thaw I always do.But if bone chilling cold I just run the wax dirt.
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Post by trappnman on Jul 25, 2015 5:52:35 GMT -6
it does help jim-keeps the moisture from leaching up into the dirt. Dry peat serves the same purpose- a handful of peat in the bed first gives you the same sort of barrier.
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Post by jim on Jul 25, 2015 6:13:24 GMT -6
Thanks guys.
Jim
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 10:41:06 GMT -6
I am putting up some dry dirt/sand, first time for me. Does it help to use waxed paper in bottom of set in freeze/thaw conditions? Jim I used the "waxed paper under trap" back in the early-70s and learned that isn't for me, especially if I get rain OR a snow cover that melts and then freezes which for me is a thing that can happen the 1st night I set traps. When waxed paper is laid in the bottom of the trap bed AND if there is some kind of moisture above the trap, that moisture soaks down to the waxed paper and lays there to soak into the bottom of the dry dirt bed & cover! Then you get a freeze, that now moist or soaked dirt freezes so what have you accomplished? You added a moisture barrier under the trap with the waxed paper and it stopped and held moisture allowing freezing to happen. Moisture barriers work in both directions! Now though I've not used waxed dirt, only peat and I use peat from day one, there is no moisture barrier under the trap and both the waxed dirt and peat do what they're suppose to do, allow moisture to flow down through the covering and bed all the while remaining dry and since it's dry, it's not going to freeze! This is only my opinion BUT it's based on my experiences, others my have differing experiences. |
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Post by trappnman on Jul 25, 2015 10:47:45 GMT -6
true, I can see how that could be.
I wasn't too worried about moisture coming down through the dirt and collecting on the wax paper, because if it soaked the dry dirt then froze- it didn't matter.
I did use it when ground was wet- after an early melted snow- but then clear skies and freeze thaw- and found the paper did prevent the moisture from wicking all the way up to the trap-
I prefer, and have used, peat for the same purpose for some years now
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 11:30:35 GMT -6
Peat's ability to allow moisture to run through the depth of the peat layer leaving a "dry path" that has no moisture to freeze is an important asset in a secondary way. There have been times I've run out of peat late in the season and had to buy a bale or two so I found out that this ability for moisture to preceipate quickly through peat an added advantage. Any moisture in a bale of peat will be found in the very bottom of the bale and if it's below freezing, that moisture will be frozen and the rest of the bale above the moisture will be bone dry. Makes for quick, good-to-go resupply!  |
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Post by trappnman on Jul 25, 2015 12:04:52 GMT -6
interesting that you can get it in the off season- around here it disappears until spring- 1 year was tardy and went to buy it in late aug and could only find it at a garden center...ouch.
thought I'd start getting traps ready this week, and still might- but had a couple of farmers call me, so will be trapping them to at least mid week. but soon...starting to get the itch seeing corn doing so well, peas picked and plowed...squirrels eating nuts off of the chestnut already
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 12:44:16 GMT -6
Yup, Lowe's always has bales year-round and most of the time Home Depot and they're all stored outside only a mile away. Menards is where I buy mine normally though it's stored outside, it's completely weather protected 20 mies away. I did have a not so pleasent experience this spring when I bought my peat at Menards. The peat was stacked two bays high and I'm all wired-up with a heart monitor so I ask for help getting some bales. Well they send over this young and quite chunky gal to help me. She ask what do I need and I said 6 bales of that peat. She looked at the peat stack and gave me the "evil-eye" look and started whining!! I just stood there like an old dummy but kept my mouth shut and smiled. The gal wandered around a little looking for a ladder which she dragged over and struggled to put up. She gave me another one of those pissed-off looks and went up the ladder to the top of the lower bay. Getting off the ladder wasn't pretty and I had to turn my head because of the ass-crack exposed definately wasn't pretty and later I thought maybe that's why she showed it to me. Sort of like giving me the finger using her ass. She pissed and moaned shoving the bales around and letting them fall to the floor but none broke open. Lucky for her because I would've sent her back up after she came down to replace the broken ones. I can tell you that if that had happened I wouldn't have got an ass-crack in the eye that time!! |
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Post by northof50 on Jul 25, 2015 20:08:49 GMT -6
Those peat prices seem steep. 9$ for a 4 cu ft here
BUT THOSE 2 cu are easier to handleI use nothing but imported peat........ At those prices HOPE YOU SQUEEZE THE SCOTCH out of it before you use it.(dry it) |
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