Some of you who enjoy drinking your favorite locally brewed beer may be overjoyed to know that the trend toward brewing organic beer is one that is growing.
While exhibiting at the Virginia Biological Farming Conference in Richmond this past February, I met someone from our area that grows organic hops for some of the finer micro-breweries in Nelson County, Virginia.
The question of flame weeding naturally came up in the conversation and while I didn't know any growers who flamed their hops, I was determined to find out. Here is a video that I feel demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of flame weeding on one of our nations oldest and favored crops. Note the fact that the burning plant reside has a limited burn life - It will use its own fuel and then, (as the author of the video states in his comments on the YouTube post) "Added benefit: combustion of weed material provides an immediate source of potassium to the hop crown area!" Also note the safe practice they have implemented where they have tilled the soil between rows to keep the flames from spreading.
The flame weeding torch you see being used in this video is available at www.WayCoolTools.com

Let me introduce you to the Red Dragon Poultry House Flame Sanitizer. An old fashioned technology is now a new and improved way to eliminate pests, disease and ammonia from broiler house operations while reducing or eliminating the need for costly chemicals and time consuming, labor intensive wind rowing. Operating at one-half mile per hour, the poultry house sanitizer consumes approximately 47 gallons of propane to treat a 16,000-square-foot house by safely heating the litter to 1400F. This temperature effectively kills pathogens which cannot develop resistance to cell-rupturing heat. It is easily pulled behind a typical small farm tractor with a three point hitch, and is safe and economical to use.

Hands down – this is the best way to get your poultry house back up on top of the payout scale!

Chemicals are losing effectiveness in controlling poultry diseases such as Avian flu, LT, salmonella, E. coli, and coliform. Research on the effectiveness of the poultry house sanitizer conducted by Dr. Susan Watkins at the University of Arkansas showed that exposure to heat dramatically reduced pathogens. The results of this research confirm that heat is a consistent pathogen killer, as these microorganisms cannot build up a resistance to its cell-rupturing effects. 

Windrowing is one currently accepted way to handle persistent disease problems in poultry houses. That means 8-10 days until you can start your next flock of birds, and a lot of extra labor. The typical temperature ranges from about 135F, up to a maximum of about 170F, depending on moisture content and the amount of time the pile is left standing. These temperatures are not usually adequate throughout the piles to kill pathogens and pests. Meanwhile, ammonia levels in your house increase as does the need for additional ventilation and chemicals like PLT or A7. Darkling beetles also tend to increase, necessitating the use of even more chemicals. Growers are tired of the extra work and less than optimum results from windrowing and are ready for safe, quick, effective flaming!

Just about every grower has seen improvement in their flocks with the Flame Sanitizer or have maintained their top performance level. Farmers who were at the bottom of the scale in flock quality and were losing money came out on top after the first flock! Another benefit is the amazing reduction in the number of darkling beetles, while flaring off ammonia and drying out the litter in a very short time, only a few hours. All of this with only one or two passes of the tractor through the broiler house after de-caking. If you want to be really thorough, you might till up the litter and make another run through. There is no need to remove the old litter, another cost savings.

I’ve seen it- improved performance in your poultry house with only a few hours work. What are you waiting for?

Most notably, the growers are seeing increased livability in the third and fourth week, when they most need it. The 30-35 day livability rate is important because high mortality at that age has a direct negative effect on feed-conversion rate and the grower’s bottom line.
The poultry house sanitizer also flames off the ammonia vapors in the litter, allowing for the first three weeks of production to be virtually ammonia-free.

Think about it

Before: walking into your poultry house and needing to hold your breath on the way to turn on the ventilation fans.

After: Breathe comfortably with the fans off and the doors shut.

All without costly chemicals.

Your birds will appreciate it, too.

Poultry growers in Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina or South Carolina call 877-353-7783 or email for a free informational DVD and literature. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the benefits of the Red Dragon Poultry House Sanitizer.

Are you tired of chemical warfare on your farm?
What you need is FIRE POWER!
Control weeds, harmful insects and diseases without chemicals using safe, economical, efficient, non toxic propane gas.


Reduce or eliminate exposure to toxic chemicals for you, your family and your animals and crops!

Welcome to the Earth & Sky Fire Power blog.

This is where you will find more in-depth information about our products, how they work and how they can help you reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals or antibiotics on your farm.  We will be posting videos, pictures, testimonials, scientific studies and more as time permits.

Our products include:

Vegetable bed shapers designed for lower horse power tractors perfect for small or large scale farms.

Green house construction tools for building your own high tunnel houses that stand up to high wind conditions.

Row crop flamers for controlling weeds in the crop rows as well as between the crop rows.

Vegetable bed flamers for small or large scale vegetable farms – Pre or post emergence flaming, excellent for use on carrots, beets and other crops.

Vineyard and Orchard flame weeding equipment.

Alfalfa hay field flame weeding equipment to control weevils, eggs, larvae, dodder (Cuscuta and Grammica) as well as broadleaf weeds and grasses.

Potato vine flamers for pre emergence flaming, early emergence weed control, pre harvest vine desiccation and blight control.

Poultry house sanitizers for effective non toxic control of poultry diseases, ammonia control, and insect control including darkling beetles and their eggs and larvae.

I will do my best to post informative articles that answer your questions here and provide detailed information on the equipment you are interested in knowing more about.

If you have any questions that you don’t see answered here yet, just send an email, call or post a comment.

To a better future for all!