Howdy,
Native driftwood is great - if you know what you're doing. Only look at wood you find in creeks or rivers.
- the river has to be clean, no industry along the shores!
- the wood has to be well weathered, washed out to the fiber. If it has bark, it's too young. It needs to look like it's spent years and years in the water
- only use wood from flowing bodies of water, never from stagnant areas.
- do not use wood that was covered with mud, it must be located in the stream
- Stay away from conifers. Look at the vegetation along the stream and upstream closely!
When I harvest driftwood, I first hose it down with a high-pressure cleaner (carwash). Then, I soak it in saturated salt solution (in the bath tub) for three days (daily fresh). That disinfects it all the way. Then I soak it for a couple of days in daily fresh water to de-salt it.
And off it goes into my tank. Generally, you have to weigh it down. I tie it to a rock with fishing line.
Self-harvested wood is a lot of fun. I got mine from a canoeing trip
HarleyK
