Re: [CH] Sterilising Soil
Rosana M. F. Cardoso (rmfc@mail.utexas.edu)
Fri, 22 May 1998 09:55:49 -0700
Anna Monro wrote:
> Most of it seems to be about sterilising soil in your oven (very
>stinky, they say) - for example
> heating it on aluminium foil-covered trays in a 200 deg F oven until a
> thermometer in the soil reads 140 deg F, or "autoclaving" it in a
> pressure cooker.
I've done this and it is indeed stinky and messy, not to mention time
consuming.
But then I learned a simple technique that worked quite well for me. Just
put your to-be-sterelized soil in a black thash bag, close it well and
leave it under the sun for a week or so. You may need to move the bag
around to get the most of the sun at all times of the day. When you're done
just add some compost or coffee grounds and egg shells or whatever. New
soil ready to go! Mind you I'm in Central Texas and the Sun here can be
mercyless. Don't know about y'all up North but I believe people can do this
successfully where there's abundant sunshine.
Hope this helps and works for you.
Cheers!
Rosana
PS: Anna, I would like to get those URLs you mentioned.