Wood hardener vs lime sulfur

[joe44]

Can you apply wood harder and also use lime sulfur over area and get the whitening effect of the sulfur? Or would the hardener stop that process. I have a bougainvilia root that is rotting, thought of applying the hardener to underside of root only if it negates the sulfur from working. If I apply hardener to all root surfaces, then sand area I want to bleach, would that work.

 

[DougB]

I would deal with the wood rot first. If rot kills tree then all is lost. Pictures would help us. But I would try to remove all of the rot, taking it back to solid wood. Then depending on what I found I would probably use a hardener and worry about color later. Just my quick thoughts.

 

[jk_lewis]

I don't think the white color from application of LS is particularly attractive on Bougainvillea, anyway.

 

[Cypress187]

White dead wood is more for pines, and rotting bougainvillea's are best helped by stopping the rotting or they die.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

The correct order is to: clean out the rotten wood down to hard wood, then apply LS (tinted if desired, until it has the color you're after), then wood harder.

 

[DougB]

Thanks Brian for the clarification.

 

[lordy]

I had the same issue on a bougie stump. I dug out the rot and let it dry for a week or so, the applied wood hardener. Mother Nature took care of bleaching out the dead wood over the next year in full sun.