Dye Floor Dry (DE) and pumice?

[Poink88]

I am not a fan of white substrate and since it is (almost) winter, I am planning on applying dye on my Floor Dry/diatomaceous earth (DE) and pumice...probably brown w/ tinge of red.

I have food color but not sure if they are color fast and also have fabric Rit dye. Both are water based, anyone see a problem using the fabric Rit dye?

Thank you.

 

[RECLAIMEDBARNWOOD]

I have no idea but this made me remember in elementary we put flowers in water with food coloring and it drew up the colored water into the petals. You might end up with a tie dyed tree.

 

[Poink88]

Might look cool! LOL

Kidding aside, I plan to let it dry and rinse (in several cycles) before using in my soil mix.

 

[Vance Wood]

I am not a fan of white substrate and since it is (almost) winter, I am planning on applying dye on my Floor Dry/diatomaceous earth (DE) and pumice...probably brown w/ tinge of red.

I have food color but not sure if they are color fast and also have fabric Rit dye. Both are water based, anyone see a problem using the fabric Rit dye?

Thank you.

If you are not sure about the chemical content of what ever you are thinking of using I would not do it. Many dies are salt based and toxic.

 

[M. Frary]

Killer idea Dario. I also am not liking the white so much either. I was thinking adding red lava and blue fish tank gravel this spring in some of mine for a patriotic theme. Haha. No. In all seriousness dye is really a good idea and I'm going to try some dyes on some of my floor dry this weekend. Maybe today if I can pry my butt off the couch that is.

Mike Frary

 

[coh]

Why not just top-dress the soil surface with something that you prefer appearance-wise? A thin layer of turface or akadama or whatever...think that's a fairly common way to deal with the whiteness of some substrates.

Chris

 

[Smoke]

Rit dye! That would be killer!



...but seriously...

why not go a more natural route with earth colors like cement/morter color in five pound boxes at Home Depot. At least they won't be so toxic.

 

[Poink88]

Thanks guys!

I will try the food dye route instead. Not sure the cement dye are any better (though some could be). I know the ones we used for floor finish (way back when) are worse than Rit dye.

 

[Vance Wood]

We take dyes and colors for granted but until the second generation of the Twentth Century, colors in anything were not so easy to come by. That's why Henery Ford made his first cars in only two colors---Black and Black. The point being is that colors today are not organically produced they are chemicaly induced and without nowing what those chemicals are and what they can do, associating them with your valuable and maybe precious trees is a crap shoot.

 

[Lazylightningny]

I have no idea but this made me remember in elementary we put flowers in water with food coloring and it drew up the colored water into the petals. You might end up with a tie dyed tree.

now that would be awesome

 

[Poink88]

We take dyes and colors for granted but until the second generation of the Twentth Century, colors in anything were not so easy to come by. That's why Henery Ford made his first cars in only two colors---Black and Black. The point being is that colors today are not organically produced they are chemicaly induced and without nowing what those chemicals are and what they can do, associating them with your valuable and maybe precious trees is a crap shoot.

Ok...how about natural tannins I can extract/collect from (say) oak or pecan?

 

[jkd2572]

How about old school dye like coffee or tea? Coffee may just knock the white off. Brew it like 8 times stronger than normal. I think coffee is good for plants. Starbucks gives old coffee grounds away for composting.

 

[Poink88]

How about old school dye like coffee or tea? Coffee may just knock the white off. Brew it like 8 times stronger than normal. I think coffee is good for plants. Starbucks gives old coffee grounds away for composting.

I considered that but judging from previous experience (with wood), they do not leave as much color as I wanted. Maybe pumice and DE being more porous will take more color faster and worth a shot. Thanks!

 

[lordy]

so many food items can stain very quickly. You could mix blueberry and spinach and strawberry in a blender. Keep adding stuff til it gets brown, which should be fairly quick. Soak the media in it for an hour or so. I bet it doesnt stay white. I like the coffee idea. You could design your own color depending on strength and time.

 

[jkd2572]

I would try filling a five gallon bucket up with pumice then filling it up with coffee. Then leave it there for a week. See what happens.

 

[Anthony]

Dario,

just get some iron oxide red, iron oxide brown and so on make a solution and see if will hold.
Normally we can change the colour of porous materials by simply soaking them in iron oxide, and if need be passing it through the kiln.
[ also how to colour concrete ------ concrete colours ]

Food dyes and paints tend to use organic pigments that a either light stable or not. For the food dye, you would probably poison yourself if the pigment were permanent.
This is why kids stuff is usually food dyes and are not archival.

The Chinese use acrylic colours to coat the aquarium gravel, the colour lasts less than 6 months when using the gravel as soil. So all the white is now black, brown and off-white.

You can also see if there is a mordant for iron oxide, as that might bind the fine powder to the materials you are using, as though you were dying cotton.

You may have to also soak for a day or two to get proper penetration.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[GrimLore]

This has my "gears grinding" but honest I don't mind the white. Normally we just "dress up" some plants for occasions where we have guests and trays of Moss do nicely as well as some Lichens. My Wife does have 2-3 plants that she has covered the substrate with a mix of sands and colored pebbles and sometimes a chunk of granite or crystal but that is her thing. I do have two trees that I might put down a layer of black pebbles over the top and a few small pieces of moss but that will be to enhance the overall look. If my trees don't care about the color I do not object
On that note - I understand after a few years it all starts to look the same and to remedy that I will be adding some nice flowering specimens to offset.

Grimmy

 

[Poink88]

Back in my woodworking days...I use iron oxide to "ebonize" high tannin content woods. I can see this hobby interconnecting with that again (another full circle) LOL

 

[coh]

I wonder if soaking your substrate in food products (coffee, berry mixture, etc) might lead to animals digging in the pots...Dario, you'll have to let us know!

 

[Wee]

What is wrong with just using Turface....? I know I have read that the good DE oil dry will retain a little more water but couldn't that be easily over come with just adding more organics in the mix.....? The first soil I mixed up I used the oil dry....I have since gotten Turface at about half the price. Should I go back to the oil dry stuff from Napa....?

Brian