How about sharing your favorite 'tools' with us here.
I've seen some good ideas at these two sites (both in sticky). But we're a clever group of kids, what do you use?
http://www.rachelsreflections.com/toolbox.htm
http://www.geocities.com/vrarchives/april/tools.htm
Some that I use are bamboo skewers to dig around in the perlite with.
Plastic cocktail picks to hold my leaves upright in the trays/pots
What's in your AV / Gessie 'Tool Box'?
some fun stuff.
I have only basics (this is mostly for potting seeds and seedlings):
Applicator bottle - dunno what it's for but I picked one up next to the empty travel toiletries bottles. Like a ketchup bottle or hair color bottle - pointed top, squeezable. Great for delicate watering around seedlings or a bit of physan or hydrogen peroxide water.
Chopsticks (pointy plastic type) - better than tweezers for picking up tiny plants.
Bag/container of sterilized potting mix.
facial tonic water spray bottle - finer mist that any mister I've found. Great for misting the surface of seed pots after sowing seeds.
seedling potting tools - yeah, I actually use them. The little spade-like thingies are actually useful.
ziploc baggies - for bagging seed pots individually. Important with rarer seeds so that problems like mold are isolated to each pot
There's more in the medicine cabinet, but those are the immediate tools.
Great ones, I forgot the chop sticks, I had read about that. Another I use is my pair of thread snips for dead-heading.
Of course the obvious, X-acto knife.
I use a clay sculpting tool (like a metal toothpick on an X-Acto handle for popping out little suckers.
also regulars are:
xacto knife with a pack of 1000 blades, and a plastic screw top container to hold used blades (which I hopefully sterilize and re-use)
alcohol & Qtips (mealies)
Orange Plus cleaner - added to water to kill off fungus gnat larvae and to wash stuff generally - biodegradable
imidacloprid - systemic for soft-bodied plant-suckers
powderfree latex gloves
japanese plant scissors
physan20 - for bacterial rot
hydrogen peroxide
water bottles (50oz/1.5L) with sports tops for watering
hand pump sprayer
Also..when I went to my AV meeting...they mentioned using pip cleaners and toothpicks to train leaves :) I thought that was a neat idea!
WOW! I did not know you needed tools for AV care.
Oh, I use my fingers for most things, Spider! But sometimes I need a little help from a chopstick or a pair of thread snips when working with the miniature varieties. And an exacto blade or single-edge razor blade is good for cutting leaves for propagating -- the sharper the blade, the better, as you want a nice clean cut.
Pipe cleaners are a good idea.... I pinned a trailer crown down with a twist-tie the other day, and it is not happy with that. Hey, what a great excuse to go to JoAnn's, LOL!
LOL...you do girl...you do!
They also used toothpicks to train leaves and florist wire :)
Spider I am with you. I didn't know you could use that many things. I just use my fingers and a tiny cocktail fork.
It's ok I don't use a lot of tools. ( I use my hands ) And I should get a locked box as the any tools I have keep disapearing. lol
Oh Allison..I hear ya! My husband steals my chemicals! And my snippers...he is lucky I love him..or I would have to SHOOT him ":)
All I really use is my sucker plucker and an exacto knife....solo cups, seed trays and solid trays.
Soil and that is it!
I don't really have any fancy tools :)
I have a pad lock on my tool box. DH leaves his tools out where ever he was last. So in order to keep a small collection of tools, I have to keep them under lock and key! LOL. When he goes to get one of his and can't find it, he comes and begs to use mine. Maybe I should buy one of those sets where the handles are pink - then he wouldn't want to use mine.
I got two dental tools yesterday for sucker pluckers. My best friend is a practice admin for a dental office and all the girls working there know me well, so I asked if they had any extra or could they order me some and the hygenist said that she had a pile that can't be used anymore and gave them to me. We'll see how they work. I know others use them.
pink handles!!!!!!
Yes I have seen the ones with pink handles !! I think I've seen them in that book where everything is $ 14.99 !