Replies

1. 
   KeithNewton | Aug 20, 2006 02:04am | #1

   Jake, please click your name and then fill in your location, because believe it or not, to get the best answers to your question, often requires such things to tailor a good response.

   Most white woods don't have very good resistance to decay. Sort of like a slice of bread in the old days before all of the preservatives. If you laid two slices of bread out from the same loaf, one in Louisiana, and the other in Arizona. By sunset, the La. one would probably be fuzzy gray, and the one in Arizona would probably be dry as toast.

   Since I don't know where you are, nor which hemisphere, I will assume that it is Summer at your location. Cool conditions would play in your favor.
   There is a trick that old cruising sailors use to keep their fruit and veggies from rotting when they put to sea, and I'll bet it might help with this. If you mix 1 table-spoon of bleach with a gallon of water, then rinse the fruit, it will kill the bacteria.

   Then there are certain paper bags that have been treated that prevent its return. In the absence of that, I'll bet you could spray a big paper sack, or cardboard box with the bleach solution, and or a fungicide then place your turning inside to protect it from the spores while it dries.

   I am not sure this will work, but it may be worth a try. I think I have read somewhere that there are so many spores in the air, that we inhale one with every breath. I don't know if it is true, I don't believe everything that I read.

1. 
   jake12 | Aug 20, 2006 04:45am | #2

   Thanks keith, I live in B.C and I will try that on my next turning and I will see if it works.

2. 
   forestgirl | Aug 20, 2006 06:56am | #3

   Holly needs to be harvested at the correct time of the year to have the best chance of retaining its white color.  I'm not positive what that time is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's wintertime.  If you're just getting a dulling of the color, and not distinct coloring such as a fungus would create, it might be because it was harvested at the wrong time.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   

   
   

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   Edited 8/19/2006 11:57 pm by forestgirl