Broken Pot Recovery

John Dixon

Matt,

Good job on the save. A little luck was on your side too. I had a juniper cascade fall the other day in high wind and only suffered one broken (minor) branch. I was lucky that day.

A suggestion for those with broken pots. I recently used an epoxy available from Auto Zone, NAPA, etc., that can be used to RECOVER those broken pots. This epoxy comes in a syringe type tube with two separate compounds that you mix together. The fifteen minute type specifically says it works on ceramic, but even the sixty and ninety second types will work (I recommend the fifteen minute stuff though).

I had a large (32") pot that came in by UPS in "modular" fashion (i.e. it was in about five major pieces). When the seller had finished with his insurance claim, he said the pot was mine to do with as I wish, so I figured I'd give it a go. Using the aforementioned epoxy and holding glued pieces together with masking tape, I was able to put both the big pot and another medium sized pot together with one tube of epoxy ($4.99).

Once it was together, I also used some extra epoxy to "fill in" a lot of the cracked area. The pot is useable now. I put several bald cypress in it to start a forest and probably about three gallons of soil. I was able to pick the pot up and move it around with no problems. I think this proves the epoxy is up to the task because the 32" had been broken into three main pieces (with several smaller ones) that spanned the entire width. The epoxy's strength is holding the pot together, nothing else.
Just FYI.

Matt,

If you ever need a hyper accurate rifle to "cure" your raccoon problem, let me know. Now before any animal lover gets on me about this, understand I love animals too, but my area is absolutely infested with coons, and my family has had one CONFIRMED case of a rabid raccoon on our land. We feed our cats on the back deck, and I have had more than one close quarters encounter with a coon looking for whatever, and they bared their teeth at me. Wrong answer. They lose, every time.
As long as they stay in the woods, I'll leave them be, but with small children who like to play in the back yard, ANY animal that acts like it is prone to bite, will bite a BULLET.

BTW, did you know that opossum cannot carry rabies? Something about that marsupial's make-up doesn't host the rabies infection. One last thing, if you ever have to kill an animal suspected of carrying rabies, don't damage the head. The brain has to be intact to carry out the rabies test. If the animal has bitten someone, and a conclusive test of the animal cannot be done, the rabies treatment of the human will have to be carried out.

Sorry, I know this is about bonsai, but quite a few people in our hobby/profession come into contact with raccoons regularly. I just wanted to make people aware of that, and I swear I do love animals (I don't even hunt anymore).

Best to all,

John

Attached Images

broken pot 4-2004.jpg (53.6 KB, 104 views)

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John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

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John Dixon

I meant this as a response to Matt's maple post, but I started a new thread by mistake. Sorry, it must have been the coons.

John

__________________
John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.