Sterilizing store bought soil

[camelstraights]

I got a bag at the store and have had problems with soil being infected in the past.

I poured it in some baking dishes and cooked it in the oven at 300-350F for a little over an hour .

I was wondering if this helped kill the bugs that were possibly in it, or if this method just made my whole house stink like dirt?

 

[dash]

you should have nice steril soil and a nice stinky house

 

[Guest]

Buy decent soil thats stored inside and you shouldnt have that problem

 

[CaptJamesTKirk]

Buy decent soil thats stored inside and you shouldnt have that problem

I dunno Skel,,, I get spidermites from Foxfarms - more than once.

I started baking my soil too, but I think 350 is wayyyyyy to high and 1 hour is wayyyyyy to short.
I use 180 deg for at least 12 hours for a full 9X12x2 baking pan. When it comes out, it's all 180 deg and 0% humidity - that should kill any bug eggs and still leave some of the good micros etc,

 

[Maj.PotHead]

spidermites

ya sure they wernt soil gnats i still get soil gnats in my ff ocean forrest soil, heres how to effectivly combat this problem. i use 1.5-2 inch perlite on soils top green sand for gardening works great also. the perlite and green sand stop the soil gnat life cycle by blocking the gnats from enetring or exiting the soil. hence any larve in the soil that matures in a gnat wont be abel to leave the soil and it dies. any gnats that have left the soil and have breed wont be abel to enter the soil to lay eggs for larve to hatch and mature into a gnat. cycle ends

 

[70s_PotHead]

After filling your pots with soil, flush the soil using boiling water, it will kill anything thats living in your soil without stinking up your house, I used this method for years using wal mart bought soil and never had a bug 1

70s

 

[camelstraights]

okay, some people are saying it's good what I did and some say it's not.

I will try and update this thread in a month or so to let you guys know how it worked out.

Don't really want to try the boiling water over the soil method, because I'm afraid it will melt my containers; unless I could use a colinder which I will do tonight! Thanks for the suggestion 70spothead

 

[70s_PotHead]

okay, some people are saying it's good what I did and some say it's not.

I will try and update this thread in a month or so to let you guys know how it worked out.

Don't really want to try the boiling water over the soil method, because I'm afraid it will melt my containers; unless I could use a colinder which I will do tonight! Thanks for the suggestion 70spothead

Dude it wont melt your containers take my word for it, just melt the bugs....

70

 

[Guest]

Just curious man how would spidermites survive in a bag of ocean forest with no green foliage to feed on?Have you actually seen mites/eggs in the soil itself?