Somehow my almost new jar of dry lump form liver of sulfur got
moisture in it. Now it’s no good. A long time ago someone submitted
to Orchid how to revive liver of sulfur that has picked up moisture.
No matter what search terms I’ve entered on Ganoksin or Google can I
find the answer. It costs an arm and a leg to have it shipped because
of “hazardous” classification, and there’s no supplier close by. Does
anyone remember the procedure for reviving it?
If your local garden centre has lime sulphur (anti-fungicide) use
that instead. It’s cheaper and local!
Brian
B r i a n A d a m
e y e g l a s s e s j e w e l l e r y
www.adam.co.nz
Katherine
An alternate to liver of sulfur is “lime sulfur”. This is available,
usually in liquid form, at plant shops and nurseries. I has been used
to treat plants. It will create a silver gran to darker patina on
silver, depending on how long the silver is immersed and the
temperature of the solution.
I believe you can find additional with an Orchid
search.
Howard Siegel
Laptique, Ltd.
Hello Katherine,
You asked about reviving LOS. May I suggest John Burgess’ solution
(so that you might never need LOS again). (John, please chime in if
my explanation is wrong.) He said to use the lime sulphur compound
purchased from the plant nursery. The lime sulphur is very stable -
I store mine at room temp. and its several years old. Mix a teaspoon
or so with a pint of water and store the solution in a sealed
container. When I want to use it, I heat my silver piece and dip into
the sulphur solution, then continue to warm it in a soft torch flame.
If the piece is small enough, a candle flame can do the trick.
It does work more slowly than LOS, but that gives more control. For
more details search the Orchid archives. I hope John will post on
this.
Judy in Kansas
I regularly use sulphur dust for my roses. I use the dust form as it
is easier than having to pump up a sprayer in order to apply the
liquid–particularly as I have about 50 rose bushes. I just dust it
on my roses liberaly and let the rain, or my sprinklers spread it
around the leaves that I may have missed. Now, my question is whether
this sulphur dust (which can be mixed with water and used as a spray)
is the same as the lime sulphur that several of you have referred to?
My container merely says “sulphur dust.”
Alma
What you have will be just sulfur. If you live in Fruit tree country
you can find Lime sulfur, but not every place. Ortho had it but seems
to have discontinued it. I have posted a recipe for making Lime
sulphur on Orchid at least once. check the archives.
Jesse
... purchased from the plant nursery. The lime sulphur is very stable - I store mine at room temp. and its several years old. Mix a teaspoon or so with a pint of water and store the solution in a sealed container.
I would warn against diluting it before you store it. Do that just
before you use it, as it would then be at its most stable. If the
plant store lime sulphuris in liquid form, add less than a 1/2 tsp
to a cup of tap-hot water (not much hotter than that), and repeatedly
dip and hot rinse the well-cleaned piece, dip and hot rinse to build
up thin layers. Stop at the desired colouring which could be any
number of the available rather colourful effects.
I discard after each use.
Of course it could be that you have a different product there so
that you can successfully store the diluted solution. But I find ours
loses potency after mixing, and so does the original product (after
several months)! Might be something about our un-clean un-green air
over here!
Brian
Auckland NEW ZEALAND
But I find ours loses potency after mixing, and so does the original product (after several months)! Might be something about our un-clean un-green air over here!
Brian: I have found the same thing. I purchased my Lime Sulfur from
a vendor in Georgia which sells lots of it to apple growers. Mine
didn’t even last 3 months. It lost all of its potency after about 7
weeks. And it took a heck of a lot more than 1 teaspoon diluted to do
anything, even with multiple dippings.
Thinking perhaps I got a bad batch, I tried it again and the results
were the same. I kept it in the same dark brown plastic bottle that
it came in and stored it in a dark closed cabinet. Same results. So
it may have to do with the climate here (I live in Florida).
By the same token, I purchased the liquid form of Liver of Sulfur
from Rio, transferred it to a dark brown glass bottle with a tight
rubber stopper, stored it in the same dark cabinet, and it lasted
over a year and still worked like a charm - and needed nothing done
to it, just pour and use.
I have gone back to using the powdered form and keep the small can
of it tightly closed, place the closed can in a tightly closing
plastic container (the disposable freezer containers you buy) and
store this in the dark cabinet and it keeps incredibly well - I’ve
had this last can for over a year now and it still works well. (I
don’t use a lot of it, you can tell).
K
I find ours loses potency after mixing, and so does the original product (after several months)! Might be something about our un-clean un-green air over here!
Well, Brian, you know what they say (especially in New York and Los
Angeles)-- Don’t trust air you can’t see!
Noel
Thanks to everyone who suggested lime sulfur or sulfur dust as a
substitute for liver of sulfur! Jesse, thanks for the recipe for
lime sulfur, but I think I’ll probably just hit a nursery the next
time I get to go to a big town. Now, does anyone know if you can get
the pretty colors as with liver of sulfur? Brian mentioned colors in
his posting, but does it have the same vibrancy?
... Now, does anyone know if you can get the pretty colors as with liver of sulfur? Brian mentioned colors in his posting, but does it have the same vibrancy?
I have to say I haven’t compared the diff between the sulphurs
(anti-fungicidal vs the blocks people buy from jewellery suppliers)
but my wife Ruth used to make coloured jewellery using fine silver
and lime sulphur (from the nursery) and loved the various colours.
Nowadays she anodises Ti and Nb and has never looked back. OK the
niobium and titanium colours are brighter, but for quite a while
there she was very happy with the sulphur colours on silver. So they
were quite bright.
Brian
Brian Adam and Ruth Baird
Auckland New Zealand