AusBonsai

shibui wrote:Then dip a paintbrush into the lime sulphur bottle and paint onto the dead wood.

The only problem with dipping the paint-brush straight into the stock bottle is that you contaminate your lime-sulfur and it will oxidize and separate, go cloudy and all the hard bits will drop to the bottom. I would recommend decanting it out and using it from there. It makes mince meat of most paint brushes so don't expect to get a lot of mileage out of them. Also I do not mix in indian ink with the lime-sulfur. It mixes poorly and does not spread evenly. Rather, I use the lime-sulfur, wait until it cures, and then paint the area with very dilute ink in water until the appropriate colour is reached.

cheers

Ash

interesting, here they say to just let the wood rot...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dt6WZp ... ure=relmfu

Hello Night-owls and Early-birds,

I have spent the afternoon making a mess into the heartwood of a Chinese Elm.

As a novice with the chisels and living tissue - bonsai heartwood, I was hoping to find the best advice and the recipe for Lime Sulphur here.

Unfortunately, no recipe and more questions.

Q.1 - Can Lime sulphur be easily made at home - safely with appropriate PPE
Q.2 - If so, what is a good recipe
Q.3 - No, i don't want the heartwood to go white in colour
Q.4 - Yes, I do want to preserve the heartwood timber - NOT ROT and cause secondary fungal diseases
Q.5 - The thread recommends timber preservatives, however, this was 2012.
Q.6 - Please Help with some updated products and personal preferences for Chinese Elms

Thank-you in advance, i will appreciate all the help i can get.

Thank-you,

Kevin

As a fine woodworker I can suggest cyanoacrylate (sp?) also known as superglue as a wood hardener and preservative. Make sure any dyes are applied first and the wood is completely dry before application. While I cannot say I have ever tried it on bonsai, I can assure you it works a treat when preserving dry punky timbers for furniture.

I use Earls Wood hardener. I does not colour the wood at all, but does just what the name says

Ken

Kevin wrote:Hello Night-owls and Early-birds,

I have spent the afternoon making a mess into the heartwood of a Chinese Elm.

As a novice with the chisels and living tissue - bonsai heartwood, I was hoping to find the best advice and the recipe for Lime Sulphur here.

Unfortunately, no recipe and more questions.

Q.1 - Can Lime sulphur be easily made at home - safely with appropriate PPE
Q.2 - If so, what is a good recipe
Q.3 - No, i don't want the heartwood to go white in colour
Q.4 - Yes, I do want to preserve the heartwood timber - NOT ROT and cause secondary fungal diseases
Q.5 - The thread recommends timber preservatives, however, this was 2012.
Q.6 - Please Help with some updated products and personal preferences for Chinese Elms

Thank-you in advance, i will appreciate all the help i can get.

Thank-you,

Kevin

You won't stop elm wood from rotting for very long and I think you probably shoudn't even try. Let it rot away naturally. It (the rot) will not effect the living tissue.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Will keep it in mind for another day.

Kevin

I have a related question. Can you use lime sulphur on azalea deadwood considering Azaleas hate lime!

I know it is only treating the deadwood but is there any risk of the tree absorbing some of it.

I'm sure there is a learned master out there that will know the answer.

I'd be interested what others have used on azalea deadwood also.

Thanks
Theo


Sent from somewhere on planet earth using an iPad!

Lime sulfur should be ok so long as you do not let it wash off for a few days. Keep it dry and water the soil only.

I use Earls on mine if i have lots of bare wood, but mostly just putty over the damage as the timber is real hard anyway.

Ken

Can you use lime sulphur on azalea deadwood considering Azaleas hate lime!

Is it lime that azaleas hate or is it high pH (alkaline conditions)?
Just because the name has 'lime' in it does not mean the substance is alkaline. Sulphur is naturally acid so, even though I have not measured the pH of lime sulphur I don't expect it will be alkaline like straight lime.

Thanks Ken and Shibui.

I just remember reading something somewhere that you shouldn't use it on Azaleas.

I think I will proceed with caution regardless.

Theo


Sent from somewhere on planet earth using an iPad!

Here's an extract from Boon's website http://www.bonsaiboon.com/pages/frames/ ... 10_10.html

Do not use dormant spray (lime-sulfur) on spruce, hemlock, azalea, tropical trees and recently wired trees. On these trees, lime-sulfur can penetrate open wounds and kill live tissue.

Note that he is talking about winter spray of dilute lime sulphur as a pesticide/ fungicide rather than dead wood treatment here.

To contradict that here is an azalea grower who says lime sulphur is used on azaleas:

Some gardeners choose to use copper sprays or lime sulphur to combat lichen build up on older plants.

http://jury.co.nz/2013/05/24/our-world-of-azaleas-here/ I also found a couple more azalea specialists recommending lime sulphur as a spray for azaleas.
Again, that is dilute lime sulphur used as a spray over the entire plant.