AusBonsai

Hi people,

I have collected a couple of pieces of drift wood I would like to use for pheonix grafts with a couple of shore junipers or perhaps a procumbens nana. I have been told they need to be soaked to get the salt out before using them. How long do they need to be soaked, and do I need to treat them with any thing to prevent rot?

Glenda

Isn't shore juniper actually procumbens?

I have not personally tried using driftwood but I have put trees on coastal limestone. We were initially told these needed careful soaking to remove salt too but experience shows that it is not necessary and trees put straight onto collected coastal rocks do fine.
Also I'd expect shore juniper to be quite salt tolerant as its name suggests it is able to grow close to the sea.

If you want to leach your driftwood I'd try soaking it for a day, change the water and soak for another day.

Best of luck with the phoenix grafts.

Hi Glenda driftwood from the ocean would contain a minimal amounts of salts .Personally i haven't used it driftwood as such ,however my Aunty used seaweed straight from the Ocean on her garden beds with no ill effect .As for sealing the wood it is recommended that a hardner be used ,i have only soaked collected wood in Bondcrete which is a P.V.A based multi purpose sealer .
If it is used it should be diluted around 50% and stirred frequently whilst the wood is in the liquid as it tends to separate over short periods .Other members will probably steer you in the right direction for a commercial sealer .I shall watch with enthusiasm .Cheers Alpine

hi mate,

one thing with drift wood, it may not have a high salt content but i am just about 100% sure that it will have tannin in it, i found that out the hard way with my fish tank, i soaked it for a couple of days and then put it in my tank, my fish tank ended up going this murky brown colour. its tannin that leaches out of the wood.

i dont htink it would harm the tree though, if you are worried about it boil the wood, you might need a very large pot on the stove or a camp fire oven, boiling it in plain fresh water for a few hours and you will be sweet for removal of salt and tanin.

as for shore juniper they will be fine, shore juniper are juniperus conferta, not the same as procumbens, completly different sort of foliage

Jamie wrote:hi mate,

one thing with drift wood, it may not have a high salt content but i am just about 100% sure that it will have tannin in it, i found that out the hard way with my fish tank, i soaked it for a couple of days and then put it in my tank, my fish tank ended up going this murky brown colour. its tannin that leaches out of the wood.

i dont htink it would harm the tree though, if you are worried about it boil the wood, you might need a very large pot on the stove or a camp fire oven, boiling it in plain fresh water for a few hours and you will be sweet for removal of salt and tanin.

as for shore juniper they will be fine, shore juniper are juniperus conferta, not the same as procumbens, completly different sort of foliage

I know they are different, its just I have 2 shore junipers, 1 procumbens nana and a couple of squamata, all of which could be used with the driftwood and I will have to choose.

Glenda

hi glenda, sorry i thought it was you that thought they were the same.. it was shibui, all good

if your drift wood is large shore juni will be good, if it is a shohin size i would go with the procubens. squamata is good for medium to large.

jamie