[MAIPC] portable pressure washer

[Richard Gardner]

 I have suggested that the local PA Game Commission employees take their vehicles to a car wash between sites. It is easy to see how invasive plants have been transferred from one location to another in the scattered sections of land they own or control. 
We would also need a "shaker" before and after leaving a gameland or forest for vehicles driven by hunters and other people who drive the gamelands. 
Then there is the issue of logging trucks and fracking vehicles. 
In PA there are very few differences between the exploitation of natural resources in state forests and the gamelands. None of these differences appear to be significant. As far as I can tell the only real difference between the two is the administration which controls either organization.
The new transgenic chestnut being pushed to "save" the American chestnut - why? Don't people ever take a walk and actually try to understand the ecology before destroying it? Our yard is full of C. dentata from seeds I collected during walks in the fall - usually after a rain. What I see is C. dentata beginning a comeback after other tree species clear room by dying of various issues such as sudden oak death, Emerald Ash Borer, and ... . The key to producing seeds is direct sunlight on the apical ends of the branches of mature trees. The key to seeds opening is a light rain when the burrs are turning brown. An interesting observation is that the burrs in such a way that birds like crows and other corvids can pluck the seeds from the trees before they hit the ground and rot.
A last thought on this is that I seldom see C. dentata trees more than a few yards off established trails. When I have done transects or bushwhacked between trails there is almost never C. dentata trees. We are now walking a firebreak which is perhaps 3 years old - I have yet to see a C. dentata tree of any age along it, unlike the older trails we walk.
                                                    Richard Gardner
    On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, 01:08:59 PM EDT, Gover Jr., Arthur Earl <aeg2 at psu.edu> wrote:  
 
  It might be easier to do this with compressed air rather than compressed water.
I would assume you can find a compressor powered by an internal combustion engine rather than an electric compressor. Or, rig the needed converter to go from vehicle DC-power to amps-AC you would need to run the compressor.
Be well.
Art
Penn State Wildland Weed Management
116 ASI Building
University Park, PA  16802

(814) 863-9904
(814) 863-6139 FAX
http://plantscience.psu.edu/wildland

On Aug 26, 2020, at 11:35, Jensen, Mary K <Kate_Jensen at nps.gov> wrote:
Has anyone had any experience using a backpack pressure washer or other small portable pressure washer to clean tractors, mowers, etc between sites to prevent the spread of invasive seeds?
thanks!
**************************************************************Kate Jensen
Ecologist and IPM Manager
Valley Forge National Historical Park1400 North Outer Line Drive
King of Prussia, PA  19406
phone: 610 783 1035
fax:610-783-5384
kate_jensen at nps.gov
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
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