Freezing leaves

[jodystreeserv3]

Can you freeze oak wilt leaves to preserve them?

 

[treedimensional]

Why not DRY them?

 

[Frick_n_Fraxinus]

If you are looking to preserve them forever to use as examples I would suggest pressing and drying them.

I have in the past sent samples to our extension office, in 1" dbh twigs, that were mailed with dry ice to preserve the fungus. This was suggested by our extension office at the time.

 

[Dan_Watkins]

pressing them is the way to go. leave them in the press for at least a month and they are mint forever. I have over 100 leaves pressed from 5 years ago that look like they came off the trees today.
for a press you can use big heavy books, or make your own. I made my own because I wanted more consistent results.

 

[treedimensional]

I use a hardcover Tree Identification book! And the leaf is put in its corresponding page! MOSTLY!!!!

 

[Frick_n_Fraxinus]

I made a press awhile back when I was doing a lot of herbarium work. Just consisted of a couple pieces of untreated wood 11" x 17" 1" thick, construction paper and newspaper and some wraps that can be tightened around the whole thing. Good if you have many samples you need to dry at once.

So it would look like:

Wood plank
Newspaper
Construction paper
Sample
Construction paper
Newspaper
Construction paper
Sample
Construction paper
Newspaper
Wood plank

A little intense probably for what most people are drying, but like I said great if you have many samples at once and it can all be thrown in an oven at low temps to speed the process.

 

[jodystreeserv3]

I remember doing that in high school science. Can I just use a phone book

 

[Frick_n_Fraxinus]

Phonebook would work well, especially if you only have a couple leaves you are drying. When pressing leaves in books it is best to use ones that do not have glossy pages as they will not wick the moisture from the sample as well.

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are looking to preserve them forever to use as examples I would suggest pressing and drying them.

I have in the past sent samples to our extension office, in 1" dbh twigs, that were mailed with dry ice to preserve the fungus. This was suggested by our extension office at the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome Frick_n_Fraxinus!

 

[Tom Dunlap]

After drying a simple mount/laminate can be made by sandwiching them between clear contact paper. Or onto a paper/tag board backing.

Why do you want to dry preserve them?

 

[jodystreeserv3]

I want to use them as examples so people can see what it looks like.