Guy Gorton wrote:

I am not new to Usenet, but entirely new to this ng.

I need ideas on where to find a soil steriliser. The Two Wests and
Elliott catalogue includes two, and there is a quite different one on
CMS Gardens website. I would like to see more choice and understand a
bit better how they work.
As we have upwards of 50 containers from large (2 compost bags to make
an impression!) to fairly small, we have a lot of spent compost at
this time of year, quite a lot of it infested with vine weevil. I
hate wasting it, but cannot put it on the garden in its infected
state.
I would appreciate any help you can offer.

Most soil sterilisers are in fact pasteurisers, taking soil up to around
80 - 90 degrees, which should kill a majority of harmful bacteria.

A DIY diagram of a steriliser is he
http://snurl.com/1r5u

They work by heating soil, which in turn kills bacteria and pests.
However if you have Vine Weevil you might wish to consider chemical or
biological control in addition to cultivation control methods.

Vine Weevil thrive in containerised plants in modern potting media such
as peat or coir and do less well in traditional soil based composts, or
where plants are open grown.

Regards
//
Jim