Re: growing in cork dust?
Diane Whitehead wrote:
>
> My cork floors have just been sanded, and I have buckets of cork dust. I
> feel like experimenting with it for sowing seedlings, or growing something
> tricky in it, like the central Asian seeds collected on the ashy slopes of
> volcanoes.
Diane
Pure cork is of course a specialized type of bark and the dust from
sanding it would make a natural but virtually inert, growing medium
which could be good for difficult seeds.
HOWEVER, I wonder if this was an initial sanding to level the floor or a
later treatment to remove a worn surface. When we put down or floors
around 40 years ago the tiles came just as cut, and after the first
sanding we painted on a clear protective finish.
In contrast, samples of tile I have seen recently were already coated,
some with a clear and some with a coloured finish and if your tiles were
the same, I wonder how seeds might react to a helping of paint or
polyurethane in their diet.
Moira
PS we still have our original tiles which run through most of the house
except bedrooms. Not bad to find a floor covering which will last 40
years!!
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
