[Hambone]

I'm running out of Pine Needles as my neighbors trees seem to be doing good and not dropping at this point, plus I would like to go ahead and buy and have it when I need it. There is good and bad burlap right? Treated/un Treated? I've never seen burlap for sale and not sure what to look for.

 

[Vance G]

Go to the fabric store and get it as it is less likely to be treated. Get the kind for furniture. I just learned from one of the people I mentor how good the fiber cardboard milk cartons are! If I am out of burlap and I think I am, I have saved milk cartons for the time. Should be someone in your neighborhood who is less meticulous about cleaning up long needled pines. Talk to a yard maintenance outfit and they can probably give you all you ever need for a six pack.

 

[Bee Bliss]

Try old blue jeans.

 

[hokieute]

Southern States sells untreated burlap. I you don't have a SS nearby, you likely have a similar agricultural store. Also, worn out blue jean fabric is fabulous. As an aside, I have had great success using the paper that separates foundation sheets in starting the smoker. There is a little wax in the paper and it flames up nicely as a kindling type of fuel for punk wood, pine cones, burlap and denim.

 

[Riverderwent]

Burlap from a local coffee roaster or cedar shavings for pet bedding. Cheers,

 

[Hambone]

Try old blue jeans.

Not sure I am able to part with Z-Cavaricci's. I have them hanging in the back of the closet just incase the tight roll makes a comeback.

 

[Bees In Miami]

Roll up a big fat cigar of corrugated cardboard...light the bottom, drop it in...no need to recycle...

 

[Harley Craig]

I stuff toilet paper tubes with old newspaper they burn long enough to get throught many hives

 

[waynesgarden]

I've been blessed with an abundance of needles from White pines, both up in Maine and now here in PA. I usually have a 5 gallon bucket full of them but when I run out or the ones on the ground are too wet, I grab a handful of hay or straw from the barn. (My second choice after pine needles.)

I have a roll of untreated burlap that I bought somewhere online to use as a barrier between my bees and my garden when I thought they needed to get some vertical lift as they left the hive. Can't remember where I got it but never thought about it as smoker fuel.

Wayne

 

[cdevier]

I agree with Bees in Miami..
cut cardboard boxes into 3 inch strips; then roll into a cylinder just the size to fit into your smoker. Burns a long time. I put a piece of frame wire around the cylinders of cardboard that I have as extras. I also use my propane torch to light the material.
Charlie

 

[Tenbears]

Just go to joAnne fabric and buy burlap all there burlap is untreated, at least that is what they tell me. I have used it for years.

 

[wildbranch2007]

or cedar shavings for pet bedding. Cheers,

$5.00 for a large bag, will last the avg. beek for years, easy to start, stay's burning even with a cork in the smoker, and even smell's reasonable well and the bees don;t mind it.

 

[northernpike]

Menard's sells burlap coffee bags for a $1

 

[lazy shooter]

Roll up a big fat cigar of corrugated cardboard...light the bottom, drop it in...no need to recycle...

I too use rolled up cardboard. I roll it into sizes that fit the smoker and tape around in once with painters tape. When I need smoke I pick it up and light one end with a torch, place the lit end in the bottom and you have instant smoke. It's also a way to keep cardboard out of our landfills.

 

[Tim KS]

I thought cotton seed hulls would work in a smoker, but they seem to be hard to keep burning. They work okay, but need constant pumping on the bellows.

 

[jwcarlson]

My grandpa and dad used the same thing for a couple decades and it works great. An old dry rotted log is amazing. They are all over in the woods here and it doesn't take long to find one. You can break it up by hand and it burns well.

 

[lazy shooter]

I thought cotton seed hulls would work in a smoker, but they seem to be hard to keep burning. They work okay, but need constant pumping on the bellows.

I live in cotton country, and it is a well known fact that it is difficult to extinguish cotton fires. Also, ML's sent me some cleaned cotton for starter fuel and it burned like gasoline. We use cotton seed hulls in oil well drilling fluids as lost circulation material and the come to the drilling site marked as a fire hazard. Go figure!

 

[Andrew Dewey]

Walter Kelley sells burlap - the cost of shipping is more than the burlap in most cases. But if you are ever someplace where they are vending, it may be worth a phone call to ask them to bring some along. (It is not something that they typically have at shows)

 

[hilreal]

My grandpa and dad used the same thing for a couple decades and it works great. An old dry rotted log is amazing. They are all over in the woods here and it doesn't take long to find one. You can break it up by hand and it burns well.

I agree! Old timers call it "punk wood" around here. Lights fast, easy to break. Find an old rotting tree stump and just break off pieces. I keep a 5 gallon bucket full all the time.

 

[sharpdog]

I've tried burlap, but I hate the smell of the smoke, and I'm not totally convinced that it works as well as some other materials to cure aggression. My favorite material is deadfall bark from poplar or similar. I use burlap sacks as my "bark bag".
Luke