AusBonsai

HI Guys,
After the recent floods I went scouting for some interesting driftwood and found my best piece yet! I love this find, its almost perfect in my eyes

I plan to clean out the center with a chisel and then treat the inside with a wood hardener (Possibly earls??). Is this a good idea? I have never used wood hardener, does it make the wood glossy? Has anyone got experience with maintaining a root free wooden pot?

Cheers

Sorry Rob, I don't really have any input as to how to preserve it and still use it as a pot, but I really like what I see here! Hope you get some good input, and can't wait to see a nice tree growing inside a nice tree.

I guess you could drill the drainage holes, line it with some pottery on the inside and in the drainage holes and seal the clay off once it dries. No idea how clay dries but i assume if you find some that doesnt need a kiln ur all set.

Treat the rest of the wood with earls hardener.

-Mo

Earls Wood Hardener does give it a satin sheen - not a gloss. I would give this a heap of coats after you have done all of the work. Earls will just slow down decay - you cannot preserve it if you are planting in it and watering it. Make sure you put some drainage holes in it and a non organic free draining mix may increase it's lifespan.

I have done a similar thing many years ago. You can purchase bitumen rubber paint which is black and coat the inside of it with several coats, Then apply lime sulphur to the outside sections. It worked for me since I planted a tree into a Mallee root about 29 years ago.

Hi Rob,

You could treat the out and inside with Earls wood hardener and add some drainage holes as mentioned, or add one drainage hole and find a plastic container that will fit snug into, drill a hole in the bottom of the container and your stump, slide a piece of pipe through the holes silicon it to the bottom of the plastic pot to make it watertight but also allow drainage for the tree, this will reduce the amount of water that will be in the bottom of your stump

Or dilute some wood hardener in a big bucket and allow the stump a week to absorb as much as possible then allow to dry for a couple of weeks

I have used both methods with good success

Cheers

Another thought - you could just find a plastic pot that will fit inside here, and then slip it in when you want to show the tree. You could actually have several trees in plastic pots and switch them out. Just slip it out to water, let it dry for a bit, then put it back in. Whichever method you choose, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

thanks guys for the ideas ! Yes I thought about the container option inside, however I think it may be very hard to find something to fit without looking ugly.

What I think I might do is what Nathan has suggested, paint/soak in wood hardener, then place a thick black plastic liner bag inside and wrap around a wire rim to fit the opening of the driftwood. I will also drill a hole in the bottom and pull the bag bag out and staple to the base. Anyway that's the idea.

Do you have any images of what you have talked about Nathan? Cheers

Rob
Love it mate huge find!
You could get a mould made up and a clay pot especially made to fit color to match the wood
That way you would hardly notice the pot in place
Maybe expensive but would look fabulous !

Earls wood hardener is pva based so it will re-soften with wet soil.

I like Brian's advice best. Pots inside 'pots' sounds ugly and pva is water soluble. Also, I have had a tree in mallee root for ten years without any treatment. No rot evident.

Thanks guys for the info on wood hardeners being pva based. I also posted this on an international forum and someone added this to the topic!

"The First Nations here in British Columbia taught me to use fire to preserve such things. In your case the inside should be propane torched with a fan tip to char the wood. This is the best way to preserve outdoor wooden sculpture. A wire brush lightly on the outside if you elect to char the outside too. Great find!"

I thought this was a great idea too! After finding out that wood hardener is pva based made me consider using a resin/lacquer that my dad uses in woodwork, as they are water proof but possibly harmful to plants?

So now I have to ample info to leave it as found? pot in a pot? hardeners/lacquer? burn?

I really like the concept of burning as it would add to the visual of the pot and not look unnatural.

Sorry Brian I somehow missed you comment on bitumen rubber paint . This is fantastic, do you know a brand to use ? wont the lime sulfur make the pot go white tho?
Now a burn and bitumen rubber paint combo! sounding good to me.

If you hollow out the “pot” area and drill oversized drainage holes you could build a “pot” inside the driftwood using two part epoxy product like some of the araldite range or car bogs or kneed-it. This would isolate the soil mix from the driftwood to prevent that moisture being a source of rot problems. While the driftwood will still weather in the elements it should last a lot longer without contact with the potting mix.

Jan

Rob_blue wrote:Sorry Brian I somehow missed you comment on bitumen rubber paint . This is fantastic, do you know a brand to use ? wont the lime sulfur make the pot go white tho?
Now a burn and bitumen rubber paint combo! sounding good to me.

With regards to the bitumen paint, you can buy it from a car accessories shop. They also call it stone chip for the underside protection on cars.
Lime sulphur applied diluted with water will preserve the outside of the wood, but you can hose it off after 15 minutes to lessen the bleached affect. It will grey out after 6 months anyway.