Backcountry Pilot • Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Goatheads; should I be afraid?

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Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:12 am

Goatheads; should I be afraid?

I'm concerned about the weed, not some satanic ritual..

I was given permission to use a gravel strip near my home base, but the owner stated there were a bunch of goatheads, puncture vine, on it.

I ride bicycles also, and here in E. WA, goatheads cost me many many dollars in "puncture proof" tires, and the tubes that get punctured...

My normal missions would be from pavement to this strip, then back to pavement. I have the recap 8.5 mains, and as I thought about it, I couldn't figure out how a goathead could penetrate that tire. In fact I can't imagine a goathead puncturing a "normal" aviation tire, I have never dealt with a true off airport tire, so not including them in my statement.

I am working with a friend to apply some round-up to help mitigate this seasons new growth, but does anyone see any issues other than possibly transporting them to another airport?
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:43 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

I would be very concerned about them. Carry some fix a flat, run some notube in the tires etc. I had one flatten a 29" Airhawk on my plane one day. Luckily it went flat in front of my mechanic,s hangar. In this country, pretty hard to avoid em, but I always knock em off when I see em, and run my hand over the tire feeling the little stickers and pop them out with my knife.
Pretty hard to avoid if you are goin off pavement around here, but defineately something to be aware of.
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:18 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

I 2nd shortfielder about adding Stan's NoTubes to all your tires/tubes. http://www.notubes.com/

The stuff works wonders for goatheads and the like.
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 3:18 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Yep, run notubes.
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 5:06 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

One of these would f**k up a tire too.....
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Gump
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 5:26 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

GumpAir wrote:One of these would f**k up a tire too.....
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Gump

Haha!
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:00 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Damn Gump, that is a small goat head, you are worried about that?? :twisted: :twisted:
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:39 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Cervelorod wrote:I'm concerned about the weed, not some satanic ritual..
I am working with a friend to apply some round-up to help mitigate this seasons new growth, but does anyone see any issues other than possibly transporting them to another airport?


Roundup will kill goat heads but it will also kill the grass. 24D is better cuz it only goes after the broad leaf weeds. I want my grass to live. Goat heads have a hard time growing in a good grass stand.

No goat heads here. Just a few dandy lions.
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:05 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Cervelorod wrote:I'm concerned about the weed, not some satanic ritual..

I was given permission to use a gravel strip near my home base, but the owner stated there were a bunch of goatheads, puncture vine, on it.

I ride bicycles also, and here in E. WA, goatheads cost me many many dollars in "puncture proof" tires, and the tubes that get punctured...

My normal missions would be from pavement to this strip, then back to pavement. I have the recap 8.5 mains, and as I thought about it, I couldn't figure out how a goathead could penetrate that tire. In fact I can't imagine a goathead puncturing a "normal" aviation tire, I have never dealt with a true off airport tire, so not including them in my statement.

I am working with a friend to apply some round-up to help mitigate this seasons new growth, but does anyone see any issues other than possibly transporting them to another airport?


Can I come play at the gravel strip?
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Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:49 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Anytime you want Jered. Search mattawa air strip on google maps, the point isn't accurate, the strip is just west, it's pretty obvious.

Was thinking about seeing if you wanted to hit little goose, lower granite, and lower monument sometime.

If the goat heads were like Gump posted, I'd just spend a day picking them up, they're probably worth something around here. Unfortunately they are much smaller and make ouchies in my hands and knees if I tried to pick them all up.

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Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:12 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Last year was my first full summer since buying a small 1/4 acre lot in town for the crane biz. It has goatheads, not all over, but enough, my dog alerted me to this by limping up on three feet. I am lucky in that I don't have or want grass, so Roundup is my poison of choice. Plus the infestation is small enough to keep a handle on the problem, while the crane is warming up I put the backpack sprayer on and kick ass. Part of good weed control is simply getting your eyeballs calibrated, once you know the enemy they can't hide as easily. As far as I know, not one made it to maturation last year, this year I will keep an eagle eye out, and a zero tolerance policy, it will interesting to see how much I discouraged them. I also got some good product from the local ag co-op, a soil sterilizer that totally keeps everything down for 6 months, that plus spot spraying of Roundup should make a big difference.
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Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:03 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Cervelorod wrote:Anytime you want Jered. Search mattawa air strip on google maps, the point isn't accurate, the strip is just west, it's pretty obvious.

Was thinking about seeing if you wanted to hit little goose, lower granite, and lower monument sometime.

If the goat heads were like Gump posted, I'd just spend a day picking them up, they're probably worth something around here. Unfortunately they are much smaller and make ouchies in my hands and knees if I tried to pick them all up.

Rod


I'd love to hit those strips. Join the eastern wa group and or stay in touch by pm and we'll do it this spring!
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Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:04 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Cervelorod wrote:Anytime you want Jered. Search mattawa air strip on google maps, the point isn't accurate, the strip is just west, it's pretty obvious.

Was thinking about seeing if you wanted to hit little goose, lower granite, and lower monument sometime.

If the goat heads were like Gump posted, I'd just spend a day picking them up, they're probably worth something around here. Unfortunately they are much smaller and make ouchies in my hands and knees if I tried to pick them all up.

Rod
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Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:22 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

Cervelorod wrote:Was thinking about seeing if you wanted to hit little goose, lower granite, and lower monument sometime.


Lower Granite was my second and Little Goose was my third dirt runway landings ever. Totally forgot about those places; makes me kinda miss flying around the Palouse.
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Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:10 pm

Re: Goatheads; should I be afraid?

whee wrote:Yep, run notubes.



So how much would you add to each 8.50x6 tires.
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