Techniques - Repairing rotten wood

Techniques - Repairing rotton wood
This page describes a method that was used when rotten wood was found at the base of a tree and describes how wood hardener was applied.
This photo shows the base of the trunk of a Yew where it enters the soil. It was found to be very wet and the wood was rotting away

When the tree was being repotted the opportunity was taken to try and stop the rotting wood. The damaged wood was removed with a scraper so as to get down to good wood.

The area was then cleaned up using an electric tooth brush, and when it was almost dry it was coated with lime sulpher as can be seen in this photo.

It was then left for a couple of days under cover until the lime sulpher had dried as can be seen here.

Cuprinol Wood Hardener was then painted on as shown on the right. When this was almost dry then a second coat was applied. The manufacturer states that 2 or 3 coats can be applied, but when a third coat was tried it no longer soaked into the wood and so was not applied.

This photo was taken 24 hours later and shows the hardener had dried completely.

The potting media in this area was then put back in place, but it was kept at a lower level than when it was previously potted so the effect on the wood can be checked. Moss will not be allowed to grow in this area as it causes damp.

Click on any image for a larger image.