Quote:
Originally Posted by gogreen
How can I disinfect the soil where the infected banana plant was? Or shouldn't I even try?
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Similar to preparing a garden. Not all fungi is bad, some are good. I have done this to garden beds:
1. Dig and break up clods to about 6 inches depth, or more, where most fungus will live. Do this for all the area you want to plant in and an additional few feet around the infected area.
2. Dig a trench around the edge of the area. Or use bricks or something to hold plastic down flat around edge of area like rocks, bricks, etc, whatever is easiest for you.** Sometimes I lay bags of mulch around. I also do this to kill weeds.
3. Spread some heavy duty clear plastic (you can get a roll from a hardware store) and cut to length. Spread another layer across that and cut. If your hardware store has some clear plastic sheeting used for lining car trunks, try to get several long sheets free if they will let you have some (also depends on size and area to cover).
4. **Push gently into trench and cover trench with soil you previously removed.
5. Let set a couple of months. Here in SW Florida, through the end of August should do it since we are coming up on April now you may just want to let it go dormant from April through July or August. You can use a soil thermometer to check the temperature, which should reach 115-120 deg F here and if you want to ensure fungi die. Just leaving plastic on the soil for a couple of months during our hot, wet season should do the trick.
6. Remove plastic, or leave on soil and punch some holes in it with a garden fork or put nails through a piece of board and attach a handle and stamp holes in plastic to allow water to perc through and keep weeds down (does the same trick as weed fabric and I have done this in banana beds. If pups push up, just slice a hole for them to come through. My bananas and plantains in Central Florida loved this.
7. Option: I also add a 3-in-1 Organicide drench to the soil before planting again.
8. Add some good, clean disinfected garden soil and compost on top of the disinfected soil or just leave plastic on it as mentioned above and you should be ready to go. Use Mychorizal and disinfecting seeds if planting seeds will also help.
9. Now plant! Remember, the bad fungus you had was spread by an insect, right? Control them! If the bananas planted there have the same problem in the future, it is likely the insect causing it.
And...Yes, I have done this! It also can kill weed seeds. Good when changing a garden bed to new crops during hot part of year in Florida (we have a different growing season than up North of course).
I hope this works for you! Not hard to do unless ground is hard to break up.
Don