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denrat

By Denrat

United Kingdom

what can I buy to steralise soil with before planting veg




Answers

 

Could you say why you need to please

10 Aug, 2013

 

Absolutely nothing. Not a good idea at all.
If you tell us why you should want to do that, we can give suggestions as to how to improve your crops as I assume you have had lots of problems.

10 Aug, 2013

 

If you sterilized your soil you would be killing all the beneficial bacteria as well as any baddies. It is very rarely necessary to do anything so drastic. Do you have a disease problem?

10 Aug, 2013

 

Years ago I worked at a Nursery as they were called then.
In the winter we had to dig trenches in the greenhouse,
for the pipes that were put into them from a steam engine
that came. The pipes had holes in them. The steam
sterilised the soil for growing Tomatoes the next year.
When the huge greenhouse had been sterilised the
Manager said it had to be done again.
Nothing was said about bacteria etc.
Then he wanted the manure heap turned round the other way. Think he was just finding things for us to do. I remember how the village people came by and all said
" Its good for the complexion !"
I went back to office work.

11 Aug, 2013

 

Lol Diane! Did they mean the steam or the manure?

11 Aug, 2013

 

We had to dig 12" deep trenches, put the pipes in,
cover the trenches in, then when the steam had gone
through, get the pipes out again.
It annoyed me that this process had to be done twice.
Then when we had finished and left the soil surface as
smooth as a billiard table, the Lady of the Manor came in
( they owned the Nursery, ) with two Labrador dogs,
who ran all over the surface. I was livid, but it was
more than we dare do to object. She soon called them off
when she saw our faces, so that had to be done again.

The local people all laughed at us on the manure heap,
and said " Very good for the complexion." Seems its
a Northamptonshire country joke. It was in the winter
at the time, so we got very warm, moving the wretched
manure heap, it was 10 ' long, 6 ' wide x 6 feet high it was a lot of manure. Then he wondered why I left. I went there to learn horticulture ! Wages were good £4
a week, same rate as office work at the time.

12 Aug, 2013

 

Thanks to all who responded to my question. There is no disease present in the soil , on my dads allotment but he has been growing the same crop year after year and wanted to steralise the soil before planting his new crop.

12 Aug, 2013

 

If the same crop has been growing well then carry on as before.
If you want to really do something to your soil spend a bit of money and have your soil analysed by a specialist firm, tell them what you want to grow, and they'll come back with a fertiliser recommendation, plus a breakdown of structure, etc.
Crop rotation is the recommended way to grow because it helps prevent build up of diseases etc that can occur if the same thing is grown year after year. However, no diseases, no need. Things like carrots are often best grown in their own beds year after year because soil structure is the key to good carots.

12 Aug, 2013

 

Well Diane, they say in Yorkshire "Where there's muck there's brass..." They don't mention the complexion, but they do tend to say "Ah, a good healthy smell"

I'm not surprised you left.

12 Aug, 2013

How do I say thanks?

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