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Little_Ghost_again
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The problem as I view it isnt really about the herbicide. The Scottish Government spend huge sums trying to control both Rhododendron and Ragwort,
they are bot a massive problem here, so I thought it would be better to turn a problem into a solution. In my perfect world the Rhododendron would be
chipped and dried and used in bio mass boilers after the compound was extracted.
This year I have never seen anything like it!! Ragwort has been blanket covering everything, two years ago when we moved here i didnt see a single
plant, we had loads in Devon. This year all summer I have seen literally fields of the stuff. I think for me its more about turning a negative into a
positive, I also love the science behind extracting and trying to isolate a compound.
I tried to recover the acid I waste but broke a condenser and destroyed a flask in a saucepan with sand, the acid also broke my hotplate! so thats 2
hotplates I have destroyed with acid so far. I am going to have to learn better I cant afford to keep foofing up and making these stupid mistakes. I
seriously thought pyrex could handle heating standing on the pan bottom with sand around it, I had the hotplate up a little over 3/4 max and it was a
new flask.
The condenser i dont get at all! the water was around 5c and I had it enter the far end (colder end), maybe the condenser had a crack or something.
I wont be doing much work with acids etc until I can get a good fume hood, the one I built just isnt good enough. I am thankful I was at the other end
of the workshop when it went wrong, but I doubt I can keep getting lucky indefinitely.
Dont ask me, I only know enough to be dangerous
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aga
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How do you Know 100% for certain ?
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Little_Ghost_again
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It isnt anymore as I have opened and used half of it, so I expect it is now .something lower.
But origanaly it came from a good supplier with paper work
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Little_Ghost_again
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The small flask I had put aside has done some interesting things! I will post the pics in the morning rather than try and explain
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aga
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Photos are good.
We all like photos.
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Little_Ghost_again
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You will like these 
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aga
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Cool !
It will be Very nice to see any photos of actual chemistry experimentation.
[Edited on 3-10-2015 by aga]
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Little_Ghost_again
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does this count? http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=58890
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Little_Ghost_again
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Quote: Originally posted by hyfalcon  | | Try spraying your ragwort with a 20% solution of acetic acid. Best herbicide that leaves no long lasting residue. Plant in the same spot you sprayed
today, tomorrow. |
This sounded great! the local council spend a fortune on very nasty and expensive herbicides with this stuff, as we have ponies I wasnt happy seeing
Ragwort appear in the field. So I did spray some the other day with 20% acetic acid.
Have you actually tried this on Ragwort before? How long does it take to work? Several days later the Ragwort seems fine, no sign at all that its
dying or affected. I appreciate this is now the dying of period so maybe its more effective in the spring when its in the growing phase, there also
seems to be a kind of very fine waxy layer on the leaves.
If you have actually had success using this with Ragwort can you remember roughly what time of year it was? i would genuinely be extremely happy if i
can use this to kill it off. The stuff we have to use at the moment is awful and we cant let the animals back in the field for a couple of weeks.
I will definitely try it again in the spring just in case its the wrong time of year for it to work. There would be many grateful farmers out there if
this works.
I will still try and see if I can extract the rhododendron stuff though, seems like it has some interesting compounds all the same. The one bonus I
did notice was acetic acid kills off creeping buttercup! I was surprised how quickly that goes brown when sprayed.
Next on the hit list is Dock! Anything less toxic than some of the herbicides being used gets my vote.
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Little_Ghost_again
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sorry for the quality of the pics! its not my camera and its set to take RAW format pictures, your supposed to open them then tweak the colors. I cant
get them right so I just open in PS and screen shot them.
I split the waste from the second try into two flasks, the idea was I was going to see if I could get anymore Iodine out of it, the colour is wrong on
this pic it should be a lighter pink than the next shot.
This next one has been left and there is tiny amounts of iodine still forming (the black flecks), each day there is a couple more.
I tried it on the shaker and I tried bubbling in air but it dosnt make the Iodine appear any faster.
So this one is going to be left for now.#
in the washing beaker there is still some iodine but the state of my gloves makes me think its worth letting it dry first then trying to get it out.
my hard won yield was tiny!! but here it is all the same
a slightly closer pic
Its already been said elsewhere its a mess and I made mistakes, I maybe kidding myself I am learning something, but you what I dont give a shit I at
least have a go and I am having fun!!
Any comments feel free
sorry about the colours but I havnt a clue how to mess with this camera and I wouldnt even if I did know lol
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Little_Ghost_again
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update the pink flask is still dropping out iodine! not alot but slowly I am getting tiny crystals fall to the bottom, it seems to be getting faster
as more water is absorbed into the solution.
[Edited on 9-10-2015 by Little_Ghost_again]
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