I need some *Rust* is iron oxide rust?

[gary350]

Old time home garden cure for, mold, mildew, fungi, blight, on tomatoes, squash, and other plants is rusty water. I put some kitchen food cans in a fire to remove glue and varnish, they have been in a bucket of water for a week still no rusty water yet. I need some rust what is a quick way to get rust. IRON will kill tomato blight.

 

[fresh_42]

I doubt that modern materials are made of pure iron (or lead), esp. when they are used for food. Perhaps nails will do, but many of them are made of steel that does not rust. In addition it might take quite long to get rust. My suggestion is to make an extract of water with stinging nettles instead. That helps a lot in gardening and fertilizes the plants. If you insist on iron: visit a junkyard.

 

[dipole]

I'm sure there's more effective and easier solutions than rusty water. Any garden shop probably sells anti-fungal sprays.

 

[rootone]

Yes rust is Iron Oxide.
The food cans you have been trying with are probably an alloy of iron with other metals intentionally made to not easily rust.
If you really want rust for the fungicide job instead of some thing more modern, then a scrap yard does sound like a good idea, probably some 30 yr old fridges and stuff you can just scrape it off from.

 

[256bits]

Old time home garden cure for, mold, mildew, fungi, blight, on tomatoes, squash, and other plants is rusty water. I put some kitchen food cans in a fire to remove glue and varnish, they have been in a bucket of water for a week still no rusty water yet. I need some rust what is a quick way to get rust. IRON will kill tomato blight.

Could be that you water has little oxygen.

For quick rust, buy some steel wool, and keep it wet but try not soaking water.

 

[RonL]

My best idea for something that will rust and will be easy to mix with soil in good proportions, is to look for a brake shop that has a drum and rotor cutter, the cast iron is cut and has the consistency of sand. I think most will be glad to give this away :)

 

[CWatters]

Are tin cans still made of tin plated steel? That may explain why they don't rust quickly. That and a lack of oxygen in the water? Old nails might rust quicker.

The French use a copper mixture to prevent mildew on grapes...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_mixture

Copper sulphate might be easier to find than iron oxide on ebay?

 

[CWatters]

My best idea for something that will rust and will be easy to mix with soil in good proportions, is to look for a brake shop that has a drum and rotor cutter, the cast iron is cut and has the consistency of sand. I think most will be glad to give this away :)

Would it also contain brake pad dust?

 

[RonL]

Would it also contain brake pad dust?

For the most part, no, they typically blow all dust off and chuck the unit in the resurfacing machine, two or more passes with a carbide or diamond tip tool will generally bring the surface of the drum or rotor into spec.
The dust and grit in the catch basin is almost pure cast iron, especially in a high volume shop.

 

[lychette]

Could be that you water has little oxygen.

For quick rust, buy some steel wool, and keep it wet but try not soaking water.

I agree...this will give good fine rusty wire wool

 

[Tom.G]

Would it also contain brake pad dust?

You can separate the Iron from the brake pad dust with a magnet. First wrap the magnet in something, cloth, paper, plastic, etc then dip into the shavings. After extracting, maybe gently blow on what's clinging to the wrapped magnet to get rid of the lighter stuff. Then unwrap and remove the magnet, the Iron will fall away. You don't have to wrap the magnet, but you will have to work to remove the iron if you don't!

 

[Drakkith]

Would iron filings work? You can buy a 12 oz bottle of iron filings on amazon for less than 10 bucks.

 

[NascentOxygen]

Could be that you water has little oxygen.

For quick rust, buy some steel wool, and keep it wet but try not soaking water.

It might be difficult to find steel wool that isn't laced with soap. If you can find plain steel wool, soak it for 10 minutes in dilute vinegar or very dilute Spirits of Salts (hydrochloric acid) then rinse and store the steel wool in a jar with a little moisture. The acid bath cleans and etches the surface, increasing the surface area by many times, so oxidation then proceeds more rapidly.

Good luck with your gardening! [emoji263]

 

[256bits]

It might be difficult to find steel wool that isn't laced with soap. If you can find plain steel wool, soak it for 10 minutes in dilute vinegar or very dilute Spirits of Salts (hydrochloric acid) then rinse and store the steel wool in a jar with a little moisture. The acid bath cleans and etches the surface, increasing the surface area by many times, so oxidation then proceeds more rapidly.

Good luck with your gardening! [emoji263]

Would you think that soaking in NaCl watter would help the rusting along?. It does for cars on the road in winter.

 

[RonL]

You can find many grades of steel wool in woodworking supply stores and paint preparation supplies (the big box stores) this type of steel wool has to be clean of any additives.

 

[NascentOxygen]

Would you think that soaking in NaCl watter would help the rusting along?. It does for cars on the road in winter.

A tiny trace of salt may help, but you don't want it contaminating the garden spray. Much salt may give you iron chloride, not iron oxide.

I wonder is there a chemical supplier of the red-brown iron oxide, it's used as a concrete pigment. Here's some on Amazon...is 5 lbs enough?? Gift wrap available! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OKDTX2/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[jbriggs444]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OKDTX2/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Did anyone look at the "frequently bought together" on that page and think "Wow, thermite"?

 

[NascentOxygen]

Did anyone look at the "frequently bought together" on that page and think "Wow, thermite"?

Yes, of course. But gary350 doesn't want to incinerate his plants in the process!

 

[RonL]

Yes, of course. But gary350 doesn't want to incinerate his plants in the process!

How do you come up with the correct amount of steel wool for an amount of dirt ?

 

[NascentOxygen]

How do you come up with the correct amount of steel wool for an amount of dirt ?

gary350 is the one who must answer that. But I'm tipping he'll say that the foliage spray needs to be murky at a depth of one handspan, or something equally inexact. You know how these hand-me-down gardening recipes go...