David Hill wrote:
: On 03/09/2018 14:23, Judith in England wrote:
: A friend of mine is using an old microwave to sterilise soil before
: using for cuttings/seeds etc. in his greenhouse.
:
: Is it worth doing?
:
: Will it kill off "good things" as well as bad?
:
: Any comments?
:
: Steralising soil should do just that STERALISE it, that means killing
: off every living thing in it as well as dormant life forms.
: I have used a microwave to steralise soil to add to potting compost and
: it works well as long as you let it cook and remember to cover the top
: so the cooking is even.
: You can't cook all that much in a batch but you can do it quite quickly
: and a microwave isn't that expensive to run.
: But do it in an outbuilding and not in the kitchen, not everyone likes
: the smell of steralised soil.
: As for the reason to steralise soil. You use it in a compost miz to make
: a compost similar to the old John Innes composts - a mix of soil, sharp
: sand or crushed grit and peat.

I did once think of getting an old 45 gallon steel drum and mounting
an immersion heater in it towards the bottom. Turning the thermostat
up close to 100C, adding enough water to properly cover the element,
then adding the compost, and with the lid on (but not sealed, obviously)
lets you steam the compost!

Tom.

Ps. The email address in the header is just a spam-trap.
--
Tom Crane, Dept. Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill,
Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, England.
Email: T dot Crane at rhul dot ac dot uk