AusBonsai

Hi, over the weekend at Ray's demo in sydney we were shown some carving, and told of the recipe one would paint on it afterwards, I'm sure it was water, sulfur, and... something else... did someone write down the recipe??
Thanks,
Teja

i use lime sulphur and water, spray the area you would like to paint with spray bottle, then put the brush in the lime sulphur and paint.
people may say that you should mix them both with what ever mix ratio that is required, but if something is working in the "incorrect way", then who is to say you shouldt do it that way. from my experience the wood comes out nice and white.

good luck

Depends on what tree you Are trying to protect

Lime sulphur and water mixed upk together in painted onto carved wood will preserve it, but will also make it go bright white. That is OK for Jins and Shari on pines and Junis but can look too harsh in many other trees.
You can add a little indian ink to the solution to colour it.

I also use "Earls Wood hardener" on my Bougainvillea to preserve the wood

Ken

The best mix is lime sulphur, water and white oil garden spray mixed together. The white oil helps to bind it all together so you brush it on the deadwood like paint.

Hi there,

A fair while back, while on a similar topic, Pup mentioned that he leaves the exposed wood for a certain duration for it to take on a bit of the natural colour before applying the stuff.

-- This makes a lot of sense for me, after all we are trying to replicate nature.

For me exposed woods that take on colours other than its natural colour is very tacky.

Best regards.

Ok, so the trees I want to carve are a hawthorn, a english elm and an african olive...

I have not heard of diluting the limesulphur. I was shown to use it straight from the bottle.
After removing the bark/ carving, etc allow the wood to dry out for a few weeks. Then dip a paintbrush into the lime sulphur bottle and paint onto the dead wood. Do this outside because it stinks. The wood will go yellow at first but will whiten after a day or 2.
Most say to be careful not to get it on the bark but I have never seen any problem when I have missed and put some onto bark.
Also recommended not to get undiluted lime sulphur on the soil.

using lime sulphur neat is o.k but it tends to roll off the area easily. With white oil added it binds it all together and is easily applied. Try it and you will see the results !

shibui wrote: Also recommended not to get undiluted lime sulphur on the soil.

I had hard lesson in this when I first used it on a tree of mine. I did not know / think, but the tree got watered by sprinkler which washed it iff the trunk into the soil. Next thing i knoe the pine was going brown

How long shoud the application be left before allowing it to get wet? I have heard as long as a week to be sure.
After you apply LS to a tree, only water by hand on the soil surface.

Intersting idea Brian, I will try next time.

Ken

I had hard lesson in this when I first used it on a tree of mine. I did not know / think, but the tree got watered by sprinkler which washed it iff the trunk into the soil. Next thing i knoe the pine was going brown

This is interesting KC. My trees get watered every night by the sprinkler system. I have never isolated a tree that has had lime sulphur so I'm sure they get watered the same evening the lime sulphur was applied but I have never seen any ill effects.
I would assume that any lime sulphur washed off the wood would be diluted quite a lot so should not be any worse than a spray as per dilution rates on the pack - which is recommended as a winter preventative?????
Not saying you are wrong at this stage, just floating ideas. I will have to check on this further. Any chance that something else affected that tree?

one of the trees i want to carve is a hawthorn, in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgkAD0NYXw


graham says he uses "A white spirit based wood stain" (in the comments), is this the ticket do we think for my hawthorn? If so does anyone recommend a product?

If you are careless and lime sulphur gets into the root system, then the tree goes to heaven very rapidly.

Hi Shibui
hat is real interesting. I dunno how much leaches out, but it is the only reason I can think of why it carked it.
Happened at the same time as Lime sulphur application so who kinows. not had another tree to try with:lost:

Ken

just came across this, out of interest:

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/preser ... adwood.php

would we have the equivalent of his: ??

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/index.php?cPath=95

Tree Gum Bonsai Wood Preserver
NATURAL BONSAI DEADWOOD PRESERVER