"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 06/11/2012 16:34, Ophelia wrote:


"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Someone suggested a while back that the best* way to sterilise some
garden soil or manure for putting on mushrooms would be to 'bake' it
in the oven.

For entertainment only, I will share my dad's method of soil
sterilisation.

He used a wooden box, probably an old packing case, inserted a
metal plate at each end and filled it with soil. The plates were
connected to the mains, via an ammeter. Then he added water
until the soil resistance lowered, and hence the ammeter reading
rose to the desired level. It was left to simmer for hours. I can
smell it now.

Glory Be!!! I bet you could )

Also in the 40's and 50's they had soil warming using a step down
transformer and ordinary fencing wire put around 12 inches below the soil
surface.

It was crossing my mind as the whether he had a battery charger in the
circuit to cut it down to 12 volts. Seems a bit dangerous to apply 240 Volt
AC :-(

Mike


--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................