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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

On 11/09/2012 12:02, wrote:
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?

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.

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

There seem to be several issues
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.

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