Use for old tires?

I spent the better part of one summer trying to turn some tires inside out. Never was able to get even one done. There must be a secret I didn't know.

The dump by one nearby town here recycles tires by stacking them in a staggered fashion, filling with gravel they have on site, and use as a retaining wall along the roadway to the dump site. Keeps erosion from taking place and uses up the tires without burning them into toxic fumes.

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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

... for the refrigerator... which saves room in the yard for the trans am on cinder blocks.

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Be careful that the tires you're using aren't steel belted. Those suckers are tough to cut and cut the crud out of your hands (or anything else they touch) if you're not careful.

dang...you been spying on me again.

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

LOL, hey, I am crazy enough to be looking at moving to an area that things like this are common in.

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a "welcome to appalachia" may be a bit premature. hehe

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

I would never throw then into a fill, or burn them, and I only have the 4 off of my truck. It saves me 10 bucks in recycling fees to keep them, and I was trying to think of ways to reuse rather that recylce. I'm goin to give the potatoes a shot. How many do you think I should plant in a normal size tire? Just one and let it go, or 2-3?

If you have pastures, bolt the four tire together in one line. Connect that line of tires to a 4x4 or old pipe. Put a chain or cable on the 4x4 or pipe and hook the chain/cable to your tractor/atv/truck.

Now go drive around your pastures to knock down and spread out manure piles.

This works better with bigger tires, but use what you have in my opinion.

no secret to it Pancho! If I can do it anyone can. it's best to cut some of the side out . stomp on it with your feet then use your hands and pull. the purpose will be to gain a couple of inches in height and you save on paint cause you wont have the treads. it will just look like a container at this point. I dont use the steel belted for this. this is just for special projects, of course, . all the other stuff. hanging baskets, retaining walls, raised beds etc.etc. i use them as is.

I use old tires on my old cars. I don't mean to. They just get that way.

I seem to remember reading some kind of analysis that showed percentage of toxicity and what sort of toxicity ended up in the water. And then there was something about somebody that was piling them up on their property. The neighbors were really mad about mosquitoes. But I seem to recall something about something icky showing up in the ground water.

Sorry this is all so vague and unhelpful.

I read that PDF where it says that the tires are "pollution free". But no research is cited. And later it says that the tires last 250 years. Where do they go as they age?

I remember as I started reading the article having hope that my previous information on tires was all wrong. The earthships ideas have always been so cool! There's so much cool stuff you can do with tires!

But .... well ... I guess it's one of those things where some people are not worried and they'll do all the fun stuff, and those of us that are worried about that sort of thing will steer clear.

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[raising chickens] [diatomaceous earth] [permaculture] [rocket mass heater] [lawn care]

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The current Countryside Magazine had a nice use for a couple tires. Put a couple together, stuff with straw, and put in a bucket. Keeps the water from freezing so fast.

Half the reason to use tires for taters is not having to dig at all, either for planting or harvesting. So put a bit of dirt in the first tire and plant your tater chunks. When there is about 1' to 1.5' of greenery, add another tire and more dirt. I found that my taters liked when I added a lot of mulched straw in with the dirt. I went 4 tires high and got dozens of taters.

Another good thing to plant in tires is tomatoes. They like the additional heat that the black tire brings to their feet. But you only need to go about two tires high with tomatoes. Stack two, add dirt, plant tomatoes.

DH uses old tractor tires to make automatice livestock waterers. They are not pretty; but they work.


http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b1.../th_water2.jpg

I have 2 large tractor tires to use for compost. Cover with an old satalite dish to discourage critters. I compost dead rabbit kits and the offal from chicken/rabbit processing. Along with leaves, sawdust, coffee grounds, etc.

Wow! That's a great idea! Two birds with one stone (tires + dish). I have a steel drum composter for the offal and food scraps that I have to keep the dogs and rats out of. Was wondering what I'd do if my imput exceeded the drum's capacity. The tire/dish combo may be in my future, as I can get both free.

I put one tire on the ground in the chicken pen and the waterer goes on top of it.

It keeps the waterer from getting all gucked up with feathers and dirt and straw from the pen, as it is up just high enough that all that doesn't get knocked in. The 'dish' that goes around the waterer just fits in there perfectly, too.

My dog liked to lie in one, too, which I thought was weird, but he's kind of a weird dog.

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Apple Jack Creek
near Edmonton Alberta
author of Just Keep Knitting: a journey of healing through forgiveness, faith, and fibre and The Rookie's Field Guide to Supported Spinning

On the mosquitos issue - it's a problem when water (usually rainwater) collects inside the tires in shallow pools and then the mosquitos plant their larvae there to grow. The more the tires, the bigger the breeding nursery!

Linn, do you have any other pics of your waterer?