Seafoam trees question

[spikey]

Mrs Spikey having successfully grown for us a large quantity of seafoam (or sea foam, if you prefer) which is now strung up in her greenhouse to dry thoroughly, it occurs to me that there's one aspect of the use thereof that I'm not clear about.

 

I'm sure I've read somewhere that if you don't want your seafoam trees to fall apart as soon as you look at them, it's essential to dip your "raw" dried seafoam pieces in diluted PVA then let them dry thoroughly before you start work on the foliage etc in order to toughen them up, as it were.  But I've only ever seen that advice the once, so the question is ... is that really necessary, or should we be OK with just a copious application of Poundland's cheap 'n' cheerful hairspray after the tree's been enfoliated?

[gwrrob]

Highly recommended to leave them in a bowl of glycerine, try the home baking section in the supermarket, with water overnight. This makes them bendy/flexible and less brittle. It works a treat.

[nickwood]

Agree with Rob but dilute PVA might also work. I would add that when you dry them hang them upside down with a small weight attached with a clothes peg to stretch the sprigs straight. Hairspray would be a complete waste of time IMHO and in my experience fairly useless as a long lasting method of attaching foliage as well.

Edited August 15, 2019 by nickwood

[Mick Bonwick]

2 hours ago, nickwood said:

Agree with Rob but dilute PVA might also work.

 

As will artists' matt varnish.

[spikey]

Cheers gents.  Hmmm ... looks like while we've managed to grow the stuff successfully, my understanding of how to use it turns out to be somewhat lacking.

 

Right ho - I soak the sprigs in glycerine (because I can scrounge a suitable quantity of it) and let them dry again.  The general idea was to spray a sprig with cheapo matt varnish, apply foliage material as required, then give the finished tree a generous dose of cheapo hairspray.  But I'm wide open to suggestions of a Better Way.

 

I can get the glycerine, and I have a couple of aerosols of matt varnish, but I know nothing of "artist's matt varnish".  Assuming I could get some at reasonable cost, how might I apply it given my present state of airbrushlessness?

 

PS  Jolly good idea to weight the really wonky sprigs whilst they dry.

[Mick Bonwick]

There's no right or wrong way, just the way that suits you best.

 

If you apply a glue (whatever type) to the whole structure, you'll get foliage stuck to the branches as well as the twigs. There aren't many trees where this happens in real life. As Nick mentions above, dabbing PVA onto your selection of twigs  and then scattering the foliage gives you far more control over where it goes. Once you've finished the leaves and it's all dry, you can cover the whole tree with something that keeps it all in place, whether it's aerosol varnish, hairspray, artists varnish, Dullcote, etc. If you've already got aerosols of matt varnish, why not use that?

 

This works for me. Note that this might not necessarily work for other people, and that other people will have their own ideas about what works best. You might well now be inundated with more suggestions!  One of the many perils of asking for help on Internet forums.

[trains12]

12 hours ago, nickwood said:

Agree with Rob but dilute PVA might also work. I would add that when you dry them hang them upside down with a small weight attached with a clothes peg to stretch the sprigs straight. Hairspray would be a complete waste of time IMHO and in my experience fairly useless as a long lasting method of attaching foliage as well.

 

Hi all

 I have used hairspray on my Seamoss trees for the las 20 odd years and have found it OK for sticking the foliage (Woodland) on . All the layouts have been used  on the exhibition circuts and so have been use to some rough handling (see my threads on here.)

Peter

[spikey]

14 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

... As Nick mentions above, dabbing PVA onto your selection of twigs  and then scattering the foliage gives you far more control over where it goes ...

 

Cheers Mick, that makes perfect sense (now it's pointed out).  This calls for some experiments with various ways of applying various dilutions of PVA,  followed in due course by seeing what we reckon actually works best for the foliage ...

 

BTW, what sort of dilution for the glycerine soak?

Edited August 16, 2019 by spikey

[Mick Bonwick]

31 minutes ago, spikey said:

 

This calls for some experiments

 

what sort of dilution for the glycerine soak?

 

 

Experiments are good! 

[Re6/6]

I do admire the your cultivation of Teloxis Aristata (seeds are available for those who don't know!) I tried a few years back but failed miserably ending up with stunted and twisted plants. I don't live in the Gobi Desert! I assume that they can be grown in the proper conditions here. Any tips so that I can try again?

 

Regarding the 'softening' of seafoam I've successfully used the glycerine method. I use a mixture  of around 20% glycerine to 80% water. Leave to soak overnight in a bucket and then hang them up to dry (on the clothes line). Being a cheapskate I re-use the mixture until the batch is done!

 

The results are supple sprigs as opposed to untreated ones that remain rather brittle and damage prone. For those of us who have to buy the stuff, it often comes with bent/curved stems which are impossible to straighten out. Of course if you buy the 'selected' expensive stuff from the usual model suppliers they are normally reasonably straight. After soaking and drying the offending banana shaped specimen I snap the stem and insert a short piece of fine florist's buttonhole steel wire up the stem and join the two back together with a dab of thin cyano.

 

As seafoam trees can look rather similar when 'planted' I vary the covering with the usual ground foam in a range of colours and textures and using the static grass machine apply 4mm or 6mm fibres topped off with 2mm ones and finally fine ground foam using the machine. I guess that a Noch puffer bottle would work if a machine isn't available.

 

This was covered with 4mm 'dead' static grass, then some 2mm fibres and finally some fine ground foam. A little too dense for my liking but it will get lost in the general scene!

 

 

I'm still trying to decide on the effectiveness of the sprays used for adding covering to seafoam trees (and static grass building).  Peco layering spray costs around £11 a can compared to supermarket strong hold hairspray at around £1 a can. Both seem to work well! 

 

Layers of 2mm, 4mm and then some more 2mm fibres. This one was done with hairspray.

 

Done with Peco layering spray. 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Re6/6

[spikey]

2 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

 ... I assume that they can be grown in the proper conditions here. Any tips so that I can try again?

 

I have just enquired of the Superintendent Gardener on your behalf, and she says that based on our experience this year ...

 

They seem to much prefer ordinary garden soil to potting compost and they don't need any kind of fertiliser.

They definitely need to be sheltered from cold and wind i.e. grown under mesh or cloches or in a cold frame.

They're very susceptible to over-watering.

If you want to grow "specimen" ones quite tall, it's well worth staking them with something like a bamboo skewer.

 

Note that we started them in a seed tray in ordinary soil in the greenhouse then planted them out when they were maybe 1.5" - 2" tall.  We should have planted them out spaced further apart than we did, which would have avoided them growing tangled up with each other ...

 

Incidentally, we grew ours only because we were decidedly unimpressed with the box of of manky and bent ones we paid £15 or so for from one of the usual suspects.