Source:
Weed 'Em and Reap Part 1: Tools for Non-Chemical Weed Management in Vegetable Cropping Systems [DVD]. A. Stone. 2006. Oregon State University Dept. of Horticulture. Corvallis, Oregon. Available at: http://www.weedemandreap.org (verified 17 Dec 2008).
This is a Weed 'Em and Reap Part 1 video clip.
Watch video clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA0t04aeNTw
Featuring
Joel Reiten, Bejo Seeds. Cottage Grove, OR.
Audio Text
This is a Hoaf infrared flamer. It’s a little bit different from some of the open flamers that you might be used to seeing in the past. This particular unit is manufactured in Holland. It was specifically developed for organic agriculture there. What makes this unit a little bit different than some of the open flamers is the contained heads that have a high-efficiency burner and then they have the polished chrome deflection plates that deflect from the flamers down towards the ground. Even though it’s called an infrared burner, it’s somewhat of a misnomer. It’s infrared from the standpoint that it is using reflective technology to reflect that heat back down to the ground.
This is so that it can trap that heat in a very specific confined area, not let it out. It saves heat, makes it more efficient and brings the temperature underneath this hood up more rapidly and keeps it at a uniform high temperature throughout the use of the equipment.
This is basically “the brains” of the equipment with the automatic ignition; it’s really a safety factor. The grower can sit at his tractor and control the amount of gas that’s going in as well as controlling the ignition system, which turns the flame on and off. It’s much safer than going back with a lit match and try to light your burners.
We’ve got three different lights here to monitor what’s going on. The failure light comes on when any of the burners would shut off. Then just the ignition green light and the gas green light to just ensure that both systems are working. We initially looked at this technology to destroy foliage on top of young plants in the fall for a disease control method and then we have started to use this for weed control in the spring.
