"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Broadback wrote:
Thought I would make my own compost for my tubs and save a bit of money.
However is there a practical way of sterilising fairly large amounts,
say about the amount that large shop bought bags contain?

I've heard that one way to do this is to use a steam generator (such as a
wallpaper stripper) to force the steam through the compost. No idea if it
works, or how much steam you would need for it to be fully effective.

I must say that I've often wondered about the necessity of using
sterilised soil. I guess that if you are trying to germinate seeds, then
sterilised soil has the advantage that what comes up is what you have
sown, rather than a lot of weeds. But in terms of sterilisation to remove
bacteria and fungi, well, perhaps it does more harm than good. Many
plants require - or at least make use of - certain fungi to enable healthy
growth. If those are not present the plant will struggle. Perhaps try
using unsterilised compost and put it in a propagator for a month before
you put your seeds in. You could then pull up anything which germinates,
or grows from a piece of root, before putting in your seeds.


I tend to agree. I've heard about steam sterilising - from the past- but
can't think of any easy way to do this at home. ISTR my grandfather
sterilising soil for his greenhouse with Jeyes Fluid but as it contains
phenol I would not recommend it now.
I have a wonderful compost heap which has had in it annual weeds, lots of
chicken poo, tea bags, woodash, veg peelings etc. It's broken down into
soil to die for. I just accept the weed seedlings I might get and pull them
out. If they are edible for chickens they get them as a snack which
improves the colour of their egg yolks and then gets turned into chicken poo
which goes back on the compost heap and the cycle continues.

Great, isn't it?