Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

I just saw a post from someone who was having a bad time with gnats because they used whatever was available at the time. I made about ten gallons of indoor mix by taking all of the outdoor pots with a variety of good soils but the plants had died, and sterilizing it in the microwave. Here's how:

Take two trowelsful of the soil at a time and put in a large microwavable bowl. Nuke for two minutes; no more, no less. It will come out steaming and smelling like beets for some reason. Two minutes is enough to kill all of the plant material that might germinate, but will not kill off the microbes you need in your soil. It's a fast, mistake-free way to do this. Baking in an oven takes a lot longer and can even turn the soil bad if you get it too hot. Store it in a dark place, and you're ready to go when you need a good indoor mix. :woohoonaner:

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

Yep I do this if they little cuties are in new soil and use hydrogen peroxide if my potted have visitors, works a treat.

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

Microwave.


Do it like small batch corn salsa....?

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

Yup. It only takes 45 minutes or so to do a buckets worth.

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

yep....:woohoonaner:

Most folks on the forum will do A quart at a time.....if they knew they could do that.

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

You know that does sound interesting. I mean no disrespect by saying this... However, how can you think about putting soil in your microwave? You heat up food in there! :ha:

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

It's sterilizing it, LOL.

Then again, I deliberately ate spoiled food as a teenager to boost my immune system. Probably why the Kung Flu only lasted a few hours. Did have a temp of 103.2 for eight hours though. Our bodies need these microbes. Germaphobes like Howie Mandell, would die if they caught Covid because they have sequestered themselves from germs that we all need to survive. Remember the boy in the plastic bubble? What happened at the end of the movie? He ignored his mommy and went out into the real, germ-filled world. If you want a lesson from history as to how this all works, look at the Spaniards infecting the sequestered Amazonians. The Union gave smallpox infected blankets to the Indians. They all lived in a bubble. That's why they died.

So, don't be afraid to put some potting soil in your microwave. It won't hurt you.

Re: Sterilizing soil for indoor use
 

Folks will run the wood through the microwave as well as collected driftwood .
Microwaving will sanitize everything and kill unwanted biologics.