[TheForge] OT - Asphalt shingle rot? (Lichen)

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

The metal sculptor Bro John Mehan used to have a dodge 
van he lived in and worked out of. When he came back from 
some years in Oregon, it was furry, covered in various 
colored lichens.
It remained that way at Ragged Pt. One summer morning i 
stopped by and found him carefully going over the surface 
with a spray bottle to keep the lichens happy.

Bruce Freeman wrote:
> The copper sulfate idea is appealing and I may give it a try.
> This morning I just went up on the roof (before the blistering heat
> that's forecast) and scraped off the patches of lichen and tarred the
> scraped places.  That will reduce the chance of breaches in the
> shingles.
> I wonder whether lichen always could grow on asphalt shingles, or if
> this is some evolutionary development.
> 
> On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 5:40 PM, Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer
> <artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>> LOL...I heard to mix them with dilute milk but i like
>> your version better Jerry.
>>
>> Jerry Frost wrote:
>>> Oh yeah, one last thing. Alcohol will have zero effect on lichen except
>>> maybe make it happier and grow better. Whatever you do do NOT let anyone
>>> getting on the roof take a beer. The sure fire fast track method of
>>> propogating lichen is to drop some in a blender with a boch beer dilute the
>>> results 50/50 with water and spray it on whatever you want lichen on.
>>> Decorative boulders and such being most common. Water it a couple times a
>>> week or so and stand back, the sprayed area will have healthy fast growing
>>> colonies of lichen established in days, weeks if you live in a DRY climate
>>> but still.
>>>
>>> So anywho, spraying your roof with alcohol and scrubbing with a brush will
>>> only serve to spread the lichen everywhere the brush touches which is just
>>> the opposite I believe you want.
>>>
>>> Jer
>>> -------------------------
>>> If it ain't forged
>>> It ain't real
>>> wrought iron is
>>> The Frostworks
>>>
>>>
>>>
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> 
> 
>