We are having to install a new security fencing around our allotment.
Its very bright shiny galvanized finish is a bit overpowering. Is there any way to encourage moss etc to grow on it to get it to blend in more?
In message , john t west writes
The traditional method with walls is to paint on a watered down mixture of old milk or yoghurt, but painting a chain link type fence may take time!
Use a sprayer?
"john t west" wrote
Not that I know, but after a year or so of weathering you can paint it with special paint. It will dull down eventually to a light grey colour. You might try spraying it with watered down natural live Yoghurt which encourages moss etc. on walls and fences and see what happens.
Considering that zinc compunds are one of the ingredients used in woodpreserver and observation of various (very) old galvanised fences with nothing growing on them I doubt it.
The bright shiny look will soon (few months) oxidise to a matt silver grey.
Why not spray with green paint.
You need to let new galvanising weather a bit before painting it.
Yes you need some old camouflage nets quite plainly. PS don't put them down, you will never find them. Brian
After 20 years, my side gate has plenty of green growth on it, except for on the unpainted galvanised fittings, so I suspect not. It will weather to a dull grey fairly quickly, but you could tie windbreak material to it if you want to disguise it.
Hide it by growing brambles up it. Free fruit and better security.
allotment.
+1 brambles are good free fruit black thorn (sloes) but anything with thorns will do, wild rose for a bit of variation, gorse, hawthorn?+1. If allowed to thrive, natural cover might do the job in a couple of years.
The recommended route to encourage lichen for new-build , in conservation areas , is to slap on, as near as natural yoghurt that you can find, ie no flavourings/preservatives etc
"Nick" wrote
Wild Hops work well too, soon no-one can see in. :-)
Strange, in the old days it was liquid cow dung, but then to me there is little difference.
As others have said, I don't think either will work on zinc.
Strange, in the old days it was liquid cow dung, but then to me there is little difference/q
Mmm tasty! Was it home made?
Jim K
I use a mixture of moss ground up in the food processor, added to a bucket of sheep dung, out of date plain yoghurt, and water. Steep overnight, mix well then slap it on with a wet rag. Speedily promotes the growth of lichens and mosses (depending on aspect) and an aged look on raw stone (walls) or clay pots.
Janet.
Growth & debris strongly accelerates rusting of galv metalwork by keeping it wet.
NT
It's not the zinc that's the problem: the common mosses Bryum dichotomum and Bryum argenteum will happily grow on galvanised steel. The problem is they can't cling to vertical surfaces. You'll probably find them on the horizontal parts of the fence once they've had time to grow large enough to notice. Lichens do better on smooth vertical because they weigh less but they grow at a rate of millimetres a year. Any growth would be happier once the zinc has oxidised to a rougher surface, or if you paint it and let the paint film get a bit flaky.
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