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[Cane Blossom]

hey so i was digging around in my bfs stuff, and i found this blend of oregano and tea tree oil

eco-friendly tea tree oil with oregano oil to provide powerful, natural antibacterial, antifungal and antiseptic properties that have been proven effect for helping combat a range of organisms including staphylococcus and E.coli.  this powerful blend helps fight bacteria and germs...

would that work as a viable replacement?

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/35321/PDF
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360273/

[Sunshine]

Why not use them combined?
There is also a natural fungicide that I got at the local nursery. It contains thyme oil and rosemary iirc.

[Cane Blossom]

Why not use them combined?

because i would rather not spend the money, if i have a viable alternative.

i really wish we got a link to the original forums so we could get elaboration...

[Shpongle Lover]

Tea tree oil is very, very harsh stuff.  I tried using it on my skin back in January.  Maybe I didn't use it correctly, but it BURNS and actually damaged the areas of skin to which it was applied.  I'd tread lightly with that stuff.

S.L.

[TBM]

You probably didn't dilute it properly, when I use tea tree in a foot spray I only use 2-3 drops diluted into a 3 oz atomizer of water, but I also add 10 drops lemon and 5 drops peppermint. This never burns my feet.

[Cane Blossom]

only 1 drop per oz of water?
that is quite the dilution.

[TBM]

I probably could add more than that but yes it I do dilute it a lot

Edit: I just checked the atomizer bottle I was referring to before, turns out it's only 2 oz instead of 3 oz

[CheshireCat]

It is nice that this thread gets so much attention. I hope it will help you propagating your cactus collection. I don't know if other antibacterial and antifungal substances will yield comparable results. You can always experiment But the bird sand method is proven to work very good.

i really wish we got a link to the original forums so we could get elaboration...

Here you go. It is in german, but all of you can look at the very nice pictures!

Additional information from this ressource: In the second week you can start spraying water on the sand, in the third week you can spray enough to moisten the sand for a few hours, in the 4th and 5th week you can start watering a bit. After 5-6 weeks you can repot in normal substrate. In week three you can also start exposing them to more sunlight.

[Cane Blossom]

The cuttings are cut and stuck with the still wet interface in the sand and dug around to 1 / 3rd No fear of rot or fungus. The sand is powder dry and contained in the sand anise, provides sufficient disinfection. Anise kills bacteria and fungal spores, it distributes sheet and mealybugs and probably other animals.

it looks like the earlier hypothesis about why this method is effective is correct.

i am waiting on cuttings to arrive in the mail, when they do get here, i will try sterilized beach sand and tea tree/oregano oil and report back


also if you want to read that thread in english, chrome does a fairly good job of translating most of it.

[dormstar4u]

Wouldn't neem oil also work since its a good fungicide. And anti bacteria

[Cane Blossom]

Wouldn't neem oil also work since its a good fungicide. And anti bacteria

worth trying, imo.

[Sunshine]

Neem is also a great natural pesticide.

[Cane Blossom]

alright, bridgesii cutting finally arrived!
sand is currently in the oven sterilizing (then i am adding oil-dilute, and dehydrating to infuse)

so i am going to try out this beach sand/ tea tree-oregano oil and report back.

if it works out, i think it is safe to say that just about any similar combination (sterile medium + anti-microbial oil) might work just as well.