Ways to sterilize soil without baking?

Ive heard of freezing.. could you also drown your soil in water? Mainly to get rid of pesky root eaters...

Please let me know

Thanks...

Bump...,ll

freezing soil won't get rid of fungus and mold, they just go dormant until it warms up again. Drowning won't get rid of fungus gnats, in fact they love wet soil.

baking is the only surefire chemical-free way to go. If you don't want to do it indoors, go buy about 6 large fresnel lenses and make a solar oven.

I dont have fungus or mold problems, just those root eating turds..

bake it, that's the only way to get rid of the fungus gnat larvae that eat roots, and kil their eggs.

Would take time, but small amounts of soil and pour boiling water through it.

Toss it on/in the BBQ?

Just buy soil from a place that doesn't store it outside. My buddy has never sterilized his and has never had a bug problem and he lives in the woods.


Just a tid bit, alot of people say to get PLAIN dirt with no nutrients. We both disagree there.

He is also Miracle Gro soil buff for the exact reason other people hate it. There are slow release nitrogen balls(usually green) that people worry about burning their plant with. Dosing of nutrients for a marijuana plant should be halved ALWAYS and youll never burn it. This helps during flowering so you don't have to juice your plant 3 weeks in to flowering.

example. 1 tsp per gallon every week use 1/2 tsp every other water. (he waters twice a week.

People say don't use N at all for flowering, I say, take care of your leaves the whole way through the life of the plant, it'll help photosynthesize more and produce more bud. If you flush good you won't have to worry about bad taste.

He used his nutrients Monday in a 3 gallon pot and Thursday more or less drown the plant with a gallon of plain water AND one TABLESPOON of molasses. On Friday cut it off at the dirt and hang it upside down.

This will make your buds amazeingly sticky and help the hairs stay red and not brown since they are technically dying.

You could also get one pint of water and whirl around a bar of IVORY SOAP. It has to be Ivory because its the ONLY soap thats 100% natural soap from the earth with NO additives. In addition to the soap use one TABLESPOON of hydrogen peroxide.

Soap kills bugs peroxide kills fungus, mold, sodium deposits on the roots, and helps get oxygen to the roots since its just water with an extra Oxygen molecule. And don't buy it at the dollar store because it has fillers. Make sure its over 10%

They sell H2O2 for hydroponics and its VERY good but its alittle expensive. atwaterhydro.net has it the cheapest I found. Use AH2009 to get 10% off anything you buy

Twistyman said:

Actually sterilizing soil isn't a good idea... there are good organisms in the soil that are needed for good root/plant health.....

Click to expand...

You can reintroduce those quite easily. The main thing is to kill the parasitic pests like the fungus gnat larvae.

You should be using beneficial nematodes.

If you really really want sterilized soil. Place your soil in jamming jars and pressure cook it for 90 mins. That will most definitely kill any germs present. Just re-administer the good germs and nutes you want later.

just buy sterilized soil, they have it at most hardware/gardening stores...that and compost, which it sterile of everything but the good stuff

You ever think about growing in something sterile and inert like perlite? It cheaper than dirt too. 4 cu ft. for $20 + reusable.

If you want to sterilize soil quickly you could wet it down and nuke it in the microwave. Got a thermometer?

my buddy was always a fan of vermiculite over perlite because it holds nutrients better.

He bought 4 cu feet for 15.99 Thats a bag the size of a fat 12 year old and it weighs about 15 lbs

What about peroxide? A solution of peroxide sprayed over all the soil will kill the fungus larva and eggs right?

Microwave oven, on a tray or planter, i give mine about 3min.

I just live with those gnats, so long as there isnt that many they dont bother me or affect growth, cannabis grows quicker than they can cause any damage. Its really hard to find soil that dosent have them in the Uk, peat is like a friggin magnet to them.

Im really not sure H2O2 and soil mix, kinda guessing its not somthing you want to pour on somthing thats mainly organic material but idk really know, can you?

We all know this is aan old thread....