During my training at the herbarium I work at, I was shown the way to mix the special plant glue with water. "Why do we do that?" I asked, expecting some carefully calculated formula.
"This glue costs twenty dollars a bottle, and diluting makes it last longer" came the reply.
In the same way, old newspapers are used for pressing plants-- an elementary school procedure that apparently still works at university. When I ran out of mounting weights today, I secured plants with any objects close at hand-- paintbrushes, bottles of glue, a pair of pruning shears, and a screwdriver, among other things.
There certainly is expensive, specialized equipment that is used in the herbarium, but it's nice to see that simple, cost-effective solutions are used whenever possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment