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Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
Simple question: can oasis be reconstituted?
My wife and I are not flower arrangers as such, but we do a bit now and again, and we have various odd bits of this interesting stuff lying around. As with every single, solitary thing around our household, we are reluctant to throw it away. Ta John |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
In article ,
Sacha wrote: It can't be re-used if it's been wet and then allowed to dry out. It simply won't absorb the water. You could always use it for dried flowers, though. Otherwise, I can't think of anyway it could be re-used. OK thanks Sacha -- an authoritative answer! Cheers John |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
On 09/09/2012 12:04, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-09-09 11:36:48 +0100, Another John said: Simple question: can oasis be reconstituted? My wife and I are not flower arrangers as such, but we do a bit now and again, and we have various odd bits of this interesting stuff lying around. As with every single, solitary thing around our household, we are reluctant to throw it away. Ta John It can't be re-used if it's been wet and then allowed to dry out. It simply won't absorb the water. You could always use it for dried flowers, though. Otherwise, I can't think of anyway it could be re-used. There are quite a few websites which come down on opposite sides as to whether or not Oasis can be reused. The makers of Oasis carefully avoid directly answering the question as to whether or not dried Oasis can be reused. This is from the FAQs on their website: (http://souk.oasisfloral.com/faqs/faqs) "Can I use OASIS® Floral Foam after it has dried out? We strongly recommend that you use the floral foam right after you have soaked it. However, if you find you are unable to use the floral foam immediately after soaking, leave the floral foam in the soaking container for up to twenty-four hours, rather than letting it dry out. " Also see "Using Floral Foam Effectively " point 9) he http://www.thegardener.btinternet.co.uk/tips.html The main problem seems to be that holes caused by previous use can cause air pockets which can prevent water reaching the cut stems. Used Oasis can be sliced up and used to cover the holes in flower pots. Water can drain away through it. Ants won't come into the pots through it. If you crumble it a little (not crush it to powder!) it can be used to help aerate compost (in a similar way to perlite). I use it for orchids to aerate and lighten the compost they are in. -- Jeff |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
On 09/09/2012 23:49, Sacha wrote:
In flower arranging terms, I have never, ever in over 30 years found it able to take up water once it has dried out. Indeed, if you keep it wet, it's fine, used or unused. Dried out, forget it, used or unused. I've tried both! I even treated our church to a whole new box of it because I just could not stand being faced with dried out and useless Oasis. If you soak some and don't use it, or if you want to preseve some you have used, you MUST keep it wet! Once I've got some spare time(!) I'll run a trial on it. My wife has a box of the stuff she has never used. I'll weigh some a few minutes after immersing and draining, let it dry (will a month be long enough?) and immerse, drain, and weigh again. Should give a definitive answer as to whether or not it will take up water after being allowed to dry. -- Jeff |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
On 11/09/2012 10:39, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 09/09/2012 23:49, Sacha wrote: In flower arranging terms, I have never, ever in over 30 years found it able to take up water once it has dried out. Indeed, if you keep it wet, it's fine, used or unused. Dried out, forget it, used or unused. I've tried both! I even treated our church to a whole new box of it because I just could not stand being faced with dried out and useless Oasis. If you soak some and don't use it, or if you want to preseve some you have used, you MUST keep it wet! Once I've got some spare time(!) I'll run a trial on it. My wife has a box of the stuff she has never used. I'll weigh some a few minutes after immersing and draining, let it dry (will a month be long enough?) and immerse, drain, and weigh again. Should give a definitive answer as to whether or not it will take up water after being allowed to dry. I wouldn't waste a good block of Oasis. I've used the stuff for over 30 years and have never been able to re wet it properly, not even adding a drop of washing up liquid to it, when still fresh you can sometimes turn it upside down and re use whilst still wet but you can find air pockets. When doing dahlia displays at flower shows I could use around 30 blocks at a time on a large display, the best thing was to sell off the whole basket of flowers, basket, oasis and all.. Whilst still wet you could try cutting it into smaller blocks and try rooting cuttings in it. David @ the sunny but cook end of Swansea bay |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
David Hill wrote:
I wouldn't waste a good block of Oasis. If anyone wants some dried stuff to play with, I have some in the loft. I never realised it couldn't be re-wetted, never even occurred to me til this thread! Whilst still wet you could try cutting it into smaller blocks and try rooting cuttings in it. What would you do, plant out the whole block, oasis and all, once the cutting had taken? |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
On 11/09/2012 11:42, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-09-11 10:39:44 +0100, Jeff Layman said: Once I've got some spare time(!) I'll run a trial on it. My wife has a box of the stuff she has never used. I'll weigh some a few minutes after immersing and draining, let it dry (will a month be long enough?) and immerse, drain, and weigh again. Should give a definitive answer as to whether or not it will take up water after being allowed to dry. Huh? If you have a plenty of time on your hands....! ;-) Many amateur flower arrangers don't know it won't re-absorb, hence the useless dried out lumps (often full of holes) that you find in church vestries, carefully stored in boxes! I don't know why but when dried out it just floats on top of the water, while 'fresh' Oasis slowly absorbs water and sinks, so you always put it into water deeper than itself. This may save you some time: http://sona.oasisfloral.com/faqs/faqs That's the link I gave in my first post! :-) (I trimmed my replyto you and cut the link) -- Jeff |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
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Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
David Hill wrote:
What would you do, plant out the whole block, oasis and all, once the cutting had taken? I suppose I should have said SMALL blocks about 1" square and 1 1/22 deep, when roots are poking out pot the whole thing on and grow on as normal. Yeah, that's kind of what I was picturing. Just wondering if the oasis stuff being in contact with the cutting might cause rotting due to it being continuously wet |
Quote:
1. Because some flowers are especially susceptible to bacteria, is that a problem with re-use of floral foam?...and if so, would allowing it to dry completely out eliminate that as a problem. 2. Folks say they can't re-wet it after it dries out from first use. I have been able to do that - not in the two minutes the Oasis company says first use takes. Curious if there is a science reason behind re-wetting issues or if the product they make for floral preservative is a possible conflict. 3. Air pockets. General guidelines say not to re-use old holes, flip foam and use new side and even with first use,do not pull up stem to reposition as stem width hole below will not fill with water. Hmmm... 4, If you need the arrangement to NOT MOVE FROM YOUR BRILLIANT DESIGN ONE BIT - get new floral foam. Otherwise, you can enlarge and lengthen existing holes to come out other side - Then the floral foam acts like the old glass disks with holes in them and merely supports the stem or two loosely. You cannot accidently tip the arrangement and expect it to not need attention with this method. An even looser version is using the coiled aluminum wire method. |
Oasis (the flower arranging medium)
On Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 11:36:48 AM UTC+1, Another John wrote:
Simple question: can oasis be reconstituted? My wife and I are not flower arrangers as such, but we do a bit now and again, and we have various odd bits of this interesting stuff lying around. As with every single, solitary thing around our household, we are reluctant to throw it away. Ta John |
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