I have seen this curative in supply magazines, but have never tried
it myself. Does anyone have any experience with this? How does it work?
How is it used?
Mel, get some and try it. It's good stuff on many plants but doesn't work on others. It's not a fault with the product - just that it works by cutting the plant to want to preserve and sticking the cut end into the solution. The plant then has to absorb the chemical up through the cut stem. Some plants are better at this than others. I've had the best luck by staying away from broad leaf plants and sticking with the thinner type. It works EXCELLENT on grasses. When they're done they have all the color and are still as pliable as when they were growing. It also seems to work better on plants collected in the summer rather than when they are still growing in the spring. I recommend it highly and suggest that you experiment with it. Jerry
Yes, "Never Say Die" is great for grasses, and also pine branches with needles on them. I'm trying it out right now with some leafed branches from some Black Hawthorns we have on our land. I'll keep you all posted as to the results. Good luck to you. John
Well gang, the preservation of the Black Hawthorn leaves has worked, mostly very well. I say mostly because I discovered the more mature branches - those with a firmer, more established bark - didn't take up the preservative too well. In fact they just died. This might have been because there were many "younger", greener cuttings in the jar with the preservative. There were way too many cuttings for one jar - period. I think they just drank it up "greedily". I'll try again with more mature branches, this time trying to preserve them - singly. After soaking for only 3 days, the green branches were removed from the preservative (today in fact), their bottoms rinsed and dried off, and the leaves laid down flat on our formica kitchen counter. Each leaf had to be flattened and smoothed INDIVIDUALLY, but as of this evening, the results were well worth the effort!! I used the green pre-colored "Never Say Die", and the color retention is fantastic. The leaves are very soft and little bit "floppy", so tomorrow I'll be spraying them with a sealing lacquer to try to stiffen them a bit. I'll report the results right here in OUR FORUM, letting all who care to learn, know how this product works or not. Until then, good luck in your endeavors. John.
Well gang, The preservation of the Black Hawthorn leaves is a complete success. Between shaving a "blonde" color-phase gray squirrel and impala cape, I sprayed Polytranspar Fungicidal-Sealer all over the leaves and stems. The plants were first laid out on wax paper, and I made repeated applications of the sealer to the leaves. I will need to kill the gloss with a flattening agent - Polytranspar Gloss Flattener to be exact. This will be applied with an airbrush in a satin-finish lacquer coating, and will produce a nice, natural looking finish. The leaves really "stiffened-up" from the build-up of lacquer, making the whole endeavor a rousing success!! Next comes the large leaf-clustered branches, and I can hardly wait! Until next time ... John.
This response submitted by Rusty on 11/12/1998. ( )
Just a thought guys.. If you access to a freezedryer....use it for some of the smaller leaves and flowering plants.. colors are retained plants are great...They do need a bit of work afterward..Similar to John's technique!! Good luck,, Rusty
This response submitted by John on 1/8/1999. ( wokini@tisd.net )
Living, and hunting, in South Texas, negates me to ask if this stuff works on Cactus. We could use several types in our wildlife habitats. Especially the Javelina, Ferrel Hog, Rattlesnake, and Nilgai. I haven't used the "real" Cactus yet. If anyone has info on this, let us know.
This response submitted by r on 3/18/99. ( )
r