1/2 cup of bleach to 5 gallons of water truly doesn't bother my hands but you do you! Gloves are recommended if you are worried about it drying your skin. If you disagree with using bleach, disagree but please do it without shouting it from a mountain top.
Nope, bleach is a great home sanitizer. I did update my original comment to clarify that and not shout. Gloves are just a good practice. The main point is to use it correctly to be effective for what you are trying to do. That would be sanitize based on the 1/2 cup to 5 gal dilution. (Not disinfect or sterilize).
What about peroxide? I thought of using bleach, as this year I'm reusing my stuff. But i heard washing w reg soap and water, and this dunking in the peroxide prior to letting them dry, as it would help prevent root rot, and we occasionally spray diluted peroxide on plants, or pour it on as well when root rot occurs in the garden. What is your experience, or thoughts on rinsing w peroxide prior to use.
@@homesteadingintheheartland8106 i put a spray head on a bottle of peroxide and sprayed them one year, dunked in bleach water the next, both worked for me.
Luke, exactly what I do and what I have been doing for years. I have never had a problem. I take all of my equipment outside and wash down with the hose. Scrub them with a weak soap solution. Hose them down again. Then they come back inside and are soaked in a bleach solution at least over night. I use a 260 gallon tote and everything goes in there. Also remember that you do not need to buy all of the special growing containers. I started using plastic cups that I salvaged from a New Years eve party. Washed and sterilized them. Then I thought what the heck what about all of this plastic that goes to recycling. Yogurt, sour cream, coffee, dish soap bottles. I cut everything to size, drill a few holes in the bottom and wal-la. Instant plant container and it didn't cost me a penny. God Bless Joe
Our recycling service stopped accepting plastic containers like those that hold yogurt & sour cream. These are nice, thick tubs. I've kept them thinking I'd find a use. I'll be trying your idea real soon. Thanks!
I agree with your bleach scrub before the new seed starting time, and do it about this time each year as a fun greenhouse January activity. I however do one other step, the one you pooh-poohed, that is to hose them down after transplanting out of them so there isn't as much grunge to deal with. They get hosed off, hung on a clothes line to sun dry before being stored for the summer until the next sterilization time.
oh no, I wasn't poo-pooing it. I just said don't let that be your only step. I would highly recommend hosing them off when you are done transplanting. It would certainly save you a lot of scrubbing.
Actually, sunlight is a pretty effective disinfectant, too. Enough vor most bacteria, not necessarily for funghi. Our sundried clothdiapers never smell Like the wintery indoor dried ones, No matter how much oxygenbleach i am using on them. So basically you are Putting them away disinfected already.
@@meplays5269 Sunshine doesn't seem to get the credit it should in this regard; maybe because we have become so worried about the UV damage to our skin perhaps. I just feel better about doing the extra step after the heartbreak of loosing the "jump start" on an entire vegetable bed one year.
@@meplays5269 well yeah, sundried and outdoors, with the air flow... of course they smell better. Just like your plants do way better outdoors, with air flow and true sunlight. But oxygenbleach isn't going to disinfect like chlorine bleach. Just like all the antibacterial stuff doesn't do diddly on viruses. Oxygenbleach? For real?? What's in oxygenbleach? Have you looked?
They are easier to clean when you remove the seedlings instead of letting them sit and get dry. A tub for mixing mortar from Lowes is not expensive and will let the tray sit flat to soak if you get older used ones from a nursery. I also keep a clorox water cup to dip my pruners between pruning plants to prevent cross-contamination between plants, just dip them in it and move to the next plant.
It is a good idea to use gloves when dealing with bleach water. I also would suggest cleaning the dirt of first and then dipping the containers in bleach water to sterilize.
Remembering from my sanitation class in college years ago.. there is cleaning.... and there is sanitizing.... You can clean with a hose... bring in to sanitize. And then rinse afterwards. That being said ... I switched to peat pots because it saves me time.
I hate that someone went and poopoo'd all over the comment section with their judgement. You do you, Luke. You do a great job. Use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, TEA TREE oil or whatever...just wash and disinfect your trays and pots is all he was trying to get across. You can do it a multitude of ways. Just do it! Thanks Luke for all you do.
WOW. My first mistake of 2020. I re used all of my seed starting trays from last year and did not sanitize them. I only rinsed them. Thanks so much for this info. Will do for my 2nd batch of seeds this year.
Hi, I'm an OLD gardener with arthritis issues. Years ago, I happened upon a battery operated scrubber with various heads (similar to the early kids' tooth brushes) only with "rubber-type" scrubby "bristels". I love this tool for all kinds of cleaning. With various sizes of interchangable heads it has many great applications. For cleaning garden stuff, it is a life saver; at least for this stuborn, passionate, OLD gardener! If other people share my determination not to accept the limiting changes confronting us as we get older, this gizmo is a wonderful weapon in our struggle against quietly reliqueshing our enjoyment of soil, growing things and pride in the fruits of our labor. I have no idea how to find one now. But old gardeners are tenatious & once they know a product is out there, I have faith they will find it. I even found another set of heads at a garage sale. The owners gave the pack to me free because in three days no one else could identify the pack or its use. I nope this info is useful.
I'm new and just wanted to say your videos are stacked with info. I'm only starting this year so having someone who is knowledgeable while being interesting is very handy indeed thanks for the content 👍 🌿
Bleach is a good sanitizer and disinfectant when used correctly. There are some bad practices and misuse of terminology here that negate it effectiveness. Clean the items first (organic matter can inactivate the bleach), then let them dry (preferably). Next sanitize or possibly disinfect (you are not going to be able to sterilize plastic trays in this manner). Dipping it in then letting it sit out will not sanitize or disinfect since the solution comes right off and the bleach evaporates it needs to be soaked in the solution to maintain proper concentration and coverage, especially with scratched materials like plastic (at least 10 minutes at 1:32 dilution for general use or 1:10 dilution to kill fungus spores per University of Florida). Use gloves. Search "sanitize vs. sterilize" (or disinfect), and "sanitize using bleach". Lots of home brewing, University, and Government based references.
When I took my Girl Scout troop camping years ago, we set up our buckets for dish washing. We had the soapy water to wash, the rinse water, and then the bleach water to sanitize the dishes. The girls had to place their dishes in a net bag to air dry. Now before each girl washed their dishes, they had to wipe out all debris from their dishes before they could stick the dishes into the soapy water. No floaties in the water. Take that same method as others have mentioned and wipe out the old soil and stuff, then rinse with the gardenhose, then place in the bleach and water solution to sanitize. I like the use of the sun in drying . I washed out most of the flower pots and buckets used last year and empty up a few more the last couple of weeks that were stored over the winter. I also washed out the starter pots from the starter plants from last year in case I decided to use them.
This video is really good advice! I have my neighbor save his used k-cups from his coffee maker, and I use them as small, single use, seed starter pots, but I have a small garden.
I just picked up several empty black plastic planting pots that were free to take , for my small bare root fruit plants. And I came across your Y.T. channel I want to thank you for sharing this vital step in recycling used pots. It is very helpful. Thank you🌱
I just fill the sink with really hot soapy water and bleach and let the pots/ trays sit there for 20 min. Then I just rinse and scrub if needed (most dirt is left i the water, little scrubbing) a lot faster than cleaning one by one. Thanks for the reminder!!
you can save a lot of work if you get a cheap kiddie pool and do this in the fall before you turn off your outside water hose for the winter, I rinse all the dirt off while it's still somewhat fresh then use bleach water in a pump sprayer to coat every surface and then rinse again with clean water in the kiddie pool. Final step is to wrap in clean plastic bags and good to go for spring planting. PS. love your vids and channel.
This is going to be my first year starting ALL of my plants from seed thanks to you! I’m super excited for this year’s gardening season and I’m really hoping you bring us along your seed starting routine! Thanks again luke for another awesome video (:
Same here with starting plants from seeds. I am trying those grow kits that are sold at Dollartree and other places. I have all of my grow kits in my portable greenhouse inside clear and opaque shoeboxes as an extra insulation. Also when my family finishes the milk jugs, I filled them with water and cover them with black lawn fabric as a way of heating the greehouse at night. I am seeing some germination and small seedlings in a few grow kits but the clay pot grow kits are drying out more than the other grow kits. I kept a journal last year with my garden and continue this year with what I have seed started since March 6. I have a outdoor temperature gauge inside to help regulate the temperature of the greenhouse during the day.
I'm one of those people that you see outdoors with the hose just hosing them off. I've also been known to just spray bleach solution all over the pots and letting them dry. I know all of this is wrong but I've had no problems doing it this way and I am an experienced and successful grower but I'm going to start sterilizing it the correct way now because I've always known I should be doing it that way just been lazy or in a hurry.
I learned that clorine used for pools is better to sterilize with because it doesn't break down as fast as bleah. Thanks notsodog! have been just using the bleach I have and it seems to work really well. i just need to find better brush to get in tight spots
I agree 100%! I soak everything for 24 hours in a 5 gallon bucket with a cup of bleach and some dawn when I'm done with a container. That might be excessive but better safe that sorry. Especially here in Florida where there are so many diseases. Thanks for the info especially for our new gardening friends☺🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
My granny used to own a plant nursery ... I remember spending many hours sitting beside an old tub out back washing pots & trays! She used bleach and a little soap. So yeah, it works!
Curious Carol ::: Bleach is a leftover war munition, watered down and sold to consumers as a household disinfectant, see comments above for safer and far more effective natural solutions.
Top tray in a dishwasher will save you all the work. Dishwashers sanitize with heated steam on the drying cycle. Also you can get food grade organic liquid sanitizers at your local homebrew store, as well as powerful cleaners for dissolving organic matter.
Thank you so much for this video, I had a big sink where I did this but my accident 2 years ago left me unable to walk the stairs and my kitchen sink is to small....somewhere over the years I was told that bleach if left to dry would loose its potency over the year, but after watching my Chrismas cactus slowly die I wonder but I am trying your method this year!
At the end of the season last year I bought some root maker trays from a marketplace on social media. Busted them out to start my tomatoes about a month ago and just lost all 57 starts to verticuillim wilt. Thank you for this video, it helps me not feel so hopeless after the loss of my Experimental Farm Network starts.
This is one of the reasons I like soil blocks. You still have to clean your trays, but they are so much easier to clean than all the tiny cells in a cell tray.
I use meat trays from the supermarket for my mini blocks and than move them onto bigger trays - for the bigger block - I use trays from chicken thighs for these. The super market will sell - for pennies - or give you a dozen trays - thinking that you are completely nuts. Just walk away awkwardly and that will make them happy that they helped the old man out.
Have never had to use bleach, I have always cleaned with soap and water, vinanger if there is mineral scale, but always spray my trays with 3% peroxide I know it's not completely organic and would not fly with organic gardening but has always worked for me. I also soak my rock wool in peroxide as well then rise well and pH to desired pH.
Hydrogen peroxide is an organic peroxide that is readily found in nature and used in many green cleaning products. So you shouldn't have any issues with using it and being an organic or green gardener. I use hydrogen peroxide as well to sanitize soil for seed starts and will be using it to sanitize seed start containers after giving them a good scrub with some good old soap and water. It's really a great solution and is beneficial to growing plants in a dilited solution as well.
No your not alone, I have a large collection of many different nice greenhouse containers and trays. I clean mine I have been doing that for a long time.. wendy❤️🐞
I'm glad I stumbled upon this video. I'm recycling my solo cups from last year. Been washing them with soap water bit by bit until I get them all done. Haven't used bleach yet. Would you say that's necessary if they're washed with hot soapy water already?
It never occur to me that I could infect my plants reusing flower pots and I just did exactly that! I hope they'll be alright, but will heed your advice. Thanks!
Aaaaand I'm off to go wash and sterilize my stuff. Also, side note, white vinegar though it does kill bacteria mold and mildew it does not kill as much or as efficiently. So I totally agree with the use of bleach. I'd rather use bleach than germs, bacteria, mold and mildew.
This is great. I just experimented this morning on my six packs and yep, they melt. Can’t wait to watch this. I used to have a solution but I forget what it is. I planned on looking around on your channel to see if you had a video on it. GREAT TIMING !! Thank you
Have you considered Star San for sanitizing. You would still need to scrub with normal soap and water but then dunk in some Star San then let it try. Always use this for sterilizing stuff for home brewing.
I'm just getting started on my journey of sprouting, and after watching this video, it sort of confirmed the method I'm using. If you find a flaw, please let me know, as I value your input. I'm taking all of my old plastic sprouting/transplanting plastic containers and: 1. Rinsing all the loose dirt off outside using the hose with a spray nozzle. 2. At my kitchen sink, I'm using a bottle brush, washing inside and out, with hot soapy water. Then rinsing them off very well. 3. Plunging washed containers into a sanitizing bleach water. 4. Letting the containers air dry. The reason I don't wash in the bleach water is twofold. I don't want to splash bleach water on my clothes AND moreover, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) breaks down when it gets dirty. What do you think? Thanks
I had exactly the same problem. I lost everything last year because when one set of seedlings died I just planted another in the same pots. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then too late in the season, I finally figured out that the pots must be the problem. Now I have a related question: What about used soil? I have a wheelbarrow full of nice fertile soil that's been sitting outside for several months. Is that unusable now due to bacteria, fungus and whatnot?
I have fusaruim wilt in my yard so I do a lot of container gardening. Particularly with my tomatoes. I bleach everything....everything. I rinse off dirt and soak for at least a few hours. I also soak my tools and change out my garden gloves all the time. The fusaruim wilt in my yard is a constant battle. This is my 4th year gardening in my new(ish) place that has wilt . This next season I'm going to try to select fusaruim wilt resistant varieties. I have found that anything viney doesn't grow in my yard due to wilt and I love peas and cucumbers. But have lost every single one I have planted. Soil disease is a real thing.
Wrom castings may help you, the worm produced microorganisms are highly competitive to fusarium. Try a little experiment for a season or two in a small area of your garden using vermicompost... Hope this helps!
Hi Luke I use a tote for cleaning my trays. It covers the whole tray at once. Thanks for telling me the amount of bleach to use. I noticed how light your basement walls are. They make a big difference. How do you control the temperature in your basement when starting and growing seeds? My basement stays to cool. I do not have a good set up like yours.
I heard u say u love buckets...me too! What’s better than free? I live in the NW and my Safeway bakery gives away their used (frosting) 5 gallon buckets! (Also 3 gal). They have lids also
Me too! Central Wa, our Safeways and also our local Yakima Miner's Drive Inn in Yakima sells used 2 and 5 gallon food grade buckets cheap. But gotta wash the mayonnaise ones really well.
34% food grade H2O2 is great. You can buy it at most hardware stores. Yes it can burn your hand and yes you have to dilute it down. But it’s 60$ for a gallon. You can use 1part H2O2 to 11 parts water. Or stronger dilutions if need be. It works wonders and is what I even use to sterilize my roots in my hydroponic system.
Sterilize those suckers! Good advice! There are so many problems you can avoid when you take the proper steps! In the summer I do take a high powered hose to spray iff the gunk, but before I plant It gets the bleach/ brush treatment. One tip... USE RUBBER GLOVES to protect your hands when you do this.
Hey Luke! I just came back to watch this video as I have done every year. Again great job! Reading on the University of Minnesota at extension, they recommend a 1:9 ratio of bleach to water. Whole Cow! That is like 8 cups to your half a cup for a 5 gallon pale. What should one do? Is this an apples to apples comparison? Maybe there is a difference between disinfect and sanitize. I don’t know.
I live in Southern England and have had wilt problems with bean crops in containers for last 3 years. Tomatoes are OK. Everyone recommends 9 parts water to one part bleach, which is much stronger than recommended strength for general disinfecting. What strength is domestic bleach in US? The leading brands in UK have 4.5% sodium hypochlorite by weight, so diluting with 9 parts water makes a strength of 4.5 parts per 1000 or 0.45%.
I've just looked at Walmart's website. It looka as if 7.5% is a quite usual strength for US brands of bleach, so I'll need a stronger solution for the weaker UK bleach.
Luke what are your thoughts on soil blockers? Really upping our game with a 16x100 greenhouse this year. Expense is a big deal. Plant, rinse, sanitize, dry, rinse, done. It's what we do. Soil blocks seem more time efficient but looking for other opinions. Thanks in advance.
Where's your gloves Luke? I suggest first cleaning the trays with soap and water, then disinfecting them. That's the proper method... Just bleach water is better than nothing, but if you're taking all that time, might as well do it right eh? It's no extra time really. Just a dip in bleach water after washing. Thanks for making it clear why we should be doing this. It's much needed advice and knowledge. Great content as usual Luke!
Glad you posted this early in the new year! It’s also a great idea to use the large Rubbermaid type totes for the very large trays or pots! We’ve been using a three step method of one with hot soapy water, one water bleach solution (small drying break here) and then a final hot water rinse before letting everything dry on open shelves!
Im so glad i found this vid. Appreciate the help. Im a newbie and about to start me first grow but got old pots and i wasnt sure if hosing them off was good enough... Question answered in ur vid. Just wanted to say thanks for the info n help
@Becca agreed , i would prob just clean first and get the dirt off that would be good for me because as he said the plastic really doesn't harbor anything. But if you wanted to use bleach just dunk clean supplies into bleach solution.
Thanks for the video Luke! Antonia Nikolaj is right. Soap and bleach is self defeating. First wash/ remove physical debris, rinse any remaining soap off, a bleach solution soak and air dry will achieve the objective of sanitizing. Bleach adverse? Go to sams club and pick up some quaternary ammonium (1 gallon) in the restaurant section. Same idea applies, just follow manufacturers directions.
I probably could have saved a lot of houseplants by sanitizing my pots 😂 I wonder how many of my failures could have been from creeping funk from the old dirt without me knowing. I have never even considered sterilizing my containers even if the old plant died in it 🤷♀️
When I was in horticulture school, we dunked pots, etc. in bleach water for a second or so and sometimes they were scrubbed or soaked. Personally, I let mine soak at least 10 min to an hour.
What are your thoughts on cleaning the containers you grow in? I grew about 50 varieties of peppers last season, mostly super hots. I am using mostly 5 gallon buckets, 5 and 7 gallon fabric pots, and all sizes of reclaimed nursery pots from my fruit bushes/trees. I plan on re-using the container soil by amending and adding some new materials. Thanks
Wait, I'm confused. I remember you saying not to start seeds in those seed starting flats because they will be root bound and shock when transplanted.??
Hi Luke, huge fan from Belgium here... I'm starting my basement garden this month, only just started and I see the little flies and aphids number growing allready around my sowing onions. How do control this in your hydrophonic basement garden?
Diluted hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, there are videos on it and i think MI does one so you can get the ratio from him. I do 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide to 8oz of water.
I hose my trays down, wash them with Dove dishwashing liquid and soak them in a mild bleach/water solution. Then I let them dry on our greenhouse tables.
I saw prices last year at my local hardware store and nursery far more expensive than what you pay! Every time my husband brings up my shelf of pots & starting trays, I always bring up how much it would cost if I'd buy them new every year (nevermind how wasteful that'd be!).
Years ago, my allergy specialist gave me a recipe that would kill mold better than just using bleach alone. I mixed it up and sponged it all over my bathroom wall around the shower/tub and it worked great. The mold never came back. With just bleach/water mix, I had to reapply it about once a week. It lightened the mold discoloration; but, I don't think it killed it completely. I don't remember the exact mixture; but, it did include bleach, lysol (in the little brown bottle), and something else. I don't remember that third ingredient; but, mixed in water it was an excellent mold-killer. The combination of the ingredients generated a really strong odor and the specialist strongly recommended that I wear a mask and safety goggles. It was worth it, though.
@@jasonlist3253 Yes, I have heard that distilled vinegar can be used to kill some molds; but, one must scrub really hard to do so. The recipe that my specialist gave me worked very fast without scrubbing and it was a permanent fix. I do use distilled vinegar for cleaning a lot of surfaces in my home and it makes a great deodorizer in rooms where smokers have been. Thankfully, I no longer have mold problems that I can see.
Ashton I would like to know as well. I always save soil from other plants but I am sure that needs to be sterilized. I saw a video about using hot water on the old soil.
If it's soil from a pot you can compost it, but if it's contaminated you run the risk of ruining your entire compost pile. You could have a pile dedicated to just soil from containers, but considering the variability of the media used I think you'd end up with a weird texture/structure, and I'd be concerned about nutrient levels (mainly toxicities because people commonly over-fertilize) too. If you're talking about plants in the ground, or in large containers (like 5ftx20ft) like raised beds no-till practices are pretty great, but when you run into a problem like, say, blight, you have to take the proper steps for that particular problem. Part of that answer could involve rotating crops that can't get blight, and another part could involve using a fungicide that targets blight specifically to shorten the time where you couldn't grow solenaceae. If you had something like root nematodes you'd have to follow a different course of action. If you had a problem with powdery or downy mildew you'd want to consider yet another course of action, and so on. There's some overlap sometimes, and sometimes there isn't. It's really a question with variable answers depending on your specific context.
Thank y’all for your responses. @ FfejTball, I meant more so if there’s an all encompassing practice to prevent any disease, fungus etc or if you have to treat it as a case by case scenario. Thank you
Soil can be steam sterilized in an ordinary oven, but the smell is awful. Fill an aluminum roasting pan with moist soil (The soil must be very moist, but not soggy. the moisture is needed to generate steam.) and seal it with aluminum foil. Heat it at 250 to 300 degrees until the center of the mass is at least 180 degrees measured with a meat thermometer. Allow it to cool to room temperature before opening it. Reused soil will be deficient in nutrients, so you will need to fertilize.
Vinegar is a weak acid so if I really want to sanitize something, bleach is pretty clutch. There's a reason why vinegar companies don't advertise that they will 99.9% of germs.
Hi Luke, I live in an apartment studio with no yard to rinse & clean while my garden is a makeshift community garden raised bed with no sink available for us to use. Is this okay to do in a bathtub you think?
Is this something that needs to be done with the actual containers/planters the plants will grow in? Or just the nursery trays? And if all of them, how does one go about sanitizing wood planters?
I'm fortunate enough to work at a plastics plant that makes flower pots. I've been fortunate enough to get a lot of stuff for free. That single pot looks like one of ours.
1/2 cup of bleach to 5 gallons of water truly doesn't bother my hands but you do you! Gloves are recommended if you are worried about it drying your skin. If you disagree with using bleach, disagree but please do it without shouting it from a mountain top.
Nope, bleach is a great home sanitizer. I did update my original comment to clarify that and not shout. Gloves are just a good practice. The main point is to use it correctly to be effective for what you are trying to do. That would be sanitize based on the 1/2 cup to 5 gal dilution. (Not disinfect or sterilize).
Hi Luke. I was wondering where you get those plastic seed trays. I use bleach too. It's cheap an works great. Another great video!!
What about peroxide? I thought of using bleach, as this year I'm reusing my stuff. But i heard washing w reg soap and water, and this dunking in the peroxide prior to letting them dry, as it would help prevent root rot, and we occasionally spray diluted peroxide on plants, or pour it on as well when root rot occurs in the garden. What is your experience, or thoughts on rinsing w peroxide prior to use.
@@homesteadingintheheartland8106 i put a spray head on a bottle of peroxide and sprayed them one year, dunked in bleach water the next, both worked for me.
@@largefamilyruralliving7434 okeydoke, sounds good. Thanks for the feedback! Blessings from ND!
Luke, exactly what I do and what I have been doing for years. I have never had a problem. I take all of my equipment outside and wash down with the hose. Scrub them with a weak soap solution. Hose them down again. Then they come back inside and are soaked in a bleach solution at least over night. I use a 260 gallon tote and everything goes in there. Also remember that you do not need to buy all of the special growing containers. I started using plastic cups that I salvaged from a New Years eve party. Washed and sterilized them. Then I thought what the heck what about all of this plastic that goes to recycling. Yogurt, sour cream, coffee, dish soap bottles. I cut everything to size, drill a few holes in the bottom and wal-la. Instant plant container and it didn't cost me a penny.
God Bless Joe
Joe Scott I do that too. Some food containers make very good pots.
Our recycling service stopped accepting plastic containers like those that hold yogurt & sour cream. These are nice, thick tubs. I've kept them thinking I'd find a use. I'll be trying your idea real soon. Thanks!
Et voila!!!
Joe, I do the very same!!
Just a thought buy a bottle brush and cut off the handle and put it on a drill! It’ll definitely make fast work of that 72 plant starter tray
Love that idea
Be gentle.
Great idea. 👍🏻
Tig Johnson I’m definitely doing that! Thanks man 🤘🏼
Great idea...wear old clothes 😂
I agree with your bleach scrub before the new seed starting time, and do it about this time each year as a fun greenhouse January activity. I however do one other step, the one you pooh-poohed, that is to hose them down after transplanting out of them so there isn't as much grunge to deal with. They get hosed off, hung on a clothes line to sun dry before being stored for the summer until the next sterilization time.
oh no, I wasn't poo-pooing it. I just said don't let that be your only step. I would highly recommend hosing them off when you are done transplanting. It would certainly save you a lot of scrubbing.
Actually, sunlight is a pretty effective disinfectant, too. Enough vor most bacteria, not necessarily for funghi. Our sundried clothdiapers never smell Like the wintery indoor dried ones, No matter how much oxygenbleach i am using on them. So basically you are Putting them away disinfected already.
@@meplays5269 Sunshine doesn't seem to get the credit it should in this regard; maybe because we have become so worried about the UV damage to our skin perhaps. I just feel better about doing the extra step after the heartbreak of loosing the "jump start" on an entire vegetable bed one year.
@@meplays5269 well yeah, sundried and outdoors, with the air flow... of course they smell better. Just like your plants do way better outdoors, with air flow and true sunlight. But oxygenbleach isn't going to disinfect like chlorine bleach. Just like all the antibacterial stuff doesn't do diddly on viruses. Oxygenbleach? For real?? What's in oxygenbleach? Have you looked?
They are easier to clean when you remove the seedlings instead of letting them sit and get dry. A tub for mixing mortar from Lowes is not expensive and will let the tray sit flat to soak if you get older used ones from a nursery. I also keep a clorox water cup to dip my pruners between pruning plants to prevent cross-contamination between plants, just dip them in it and move to the next plant.
Thank you I did not think about cleaning my pruners between plants.
It is a good idea to use gloves when dealing with bleach water. I also would suggest cleaning the dirt of first and then dipping the containers in bleach water to sterilize.
Maria Held good idea
Maria Held good call about using gloves 🧤
Wear gloves the best advice 🙂 I also mix in a little dishwasher soap. Wash, Rinse, Sanitize.
Just a thought, but if you spray the dirt off before outside and then sanitize you can reuse some of that old dirt.
Gloves is a must! I also rinse the dirt and dip in bleach like you said 🤗
Instead of using a bucket, I use a restaurant bussing pan and the seed trays fit perfectly.
I was on the fence for sterilizing my supplies. You just helped me decide. Thanks!
Scrubby brush = old tooth brush. Works well to clean inside the cells
Remembering from my sanitation class in college years ago.. there is cleaning.... and there is sanitizing....
You can clean with a hose... bring in to sanitize. And then rinse afterwards.
That being said ... I switched to peat pots because it saves me time.
I hate that someone went and poopoo'd all over the comment section with their judgement. You do you, Luke. You do a great job. Use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, TEA TREE oil or whatever...just wash and disinfect your trays and pots is all he was trying to get across. You can do it a multitude of ways. Just do it! Thanks Luke for all you do.
WOW. My first mistake of 2020. I re used all of my seed starting trays from last year and did not sanitize them. I only rinsed them. Thanks so much for this info. Will do for my 2nd batch of seeds this year.
Hi, I'm an OLD gardener with arthritis issues. Years ago, I happened upon a battery operated scrubber with various heads (similar to the early kids' tooth brushes) only with "rubber-type" scrubby "bristels". I love this tool for all kinds of cleaning. With various sizes of interchangable heads it has many great applications. For cleaning garden stuff, it is a life saver; at least for this stuborn, passionate, OLD gardener! If other people share my determination not to accept the limiting changes confronting us as we get older, this gizmo is a wonderful weapon in our struggle against quietly reliqueshing our enjoyment of soil, growing things and pride in the fruits of our labor. I have no idea how to find one now. But old gardeners are tenatious & once they know a product is out there, I have faith they will find it. I even found another set of heads at a garage sale. The owners gave the pack to me free because in three days no one else could identify the pack or its use. I nope this info is useful.
I’ll give it a search
I'm new and just wanted to say your videos are stacked with info. I'm only starting this year so having someone who is knowledgeable while being interesting is very handy indeed thanks for the content 👍 🌿
Thanks for this video. I've been lazy and haven't cleaned or disinfected pots before reusing them, but you've convinced me that I need to do it.
Jodi Callahan me too.
Bleach is a good sanitizer and disinfectant when used correctly. There are some bad practices and misuse of terminology here that negate it effectiveness. Clean the items first (organic matter can inactivate the bleach), then let them dry (preferably). Next sanitize or possibly disinfect (you are not going to be able to sterilize plastic trays in this manner). Dipping it in then letting it sit out will not sanitize or disinfect since the solution comes right off and the bleach evaporates it needs to be soaked in the solution to maintain proper concentration and coverage, especially with scratched materials like plastic (at least 10 minutes at 1:32 dilution for general use or 1:10 dilution to kill fungus spores per University of Florida). Use gloves.
Search "sanitize vs. sterilize" (or disinfect), and "sanitize using bleach". Lots of home brewing, University, and Government based references.
MANY people misuse bleach and bleaxh products in this way and get a false sense of security. Thanks for being thorough!
When I took my Girl Scout troop camping years ago, we set up our buckets for dish washing. We had the soapy water to wash, the rinse water, and then the bleach water to sanitize the dishes. The girls had to place their dishes in a net bag to air dry. Now before each girl washed their dishes, they had to wipe out all debris from their dishes before they could stick the dishes into the soapy water. No floaties in the water. Take that same method as others have mentioned and wipe out the old soil and stuff, then rinse with the gardenhose, then place in the bleach and water solution to sanitize. I like the use of the sun in drying . I washed out most of the flower pots and buckets used last year and empty up a few more the last couple of weeks that were stored over the winter. I also washed out the starter pots from the starter plants from last year in case I decided to use them.
Every year I say I need to do this. Maybe this will finally be the year!
This video is really good advice!
I have my neighbor save his used k-cups from his coffee maker, and I use them as small, single use, seed starter pots, but I have a small garden.
Linda Bealer what a awesome idea!
I just picked up several empty black plastic planting pots that were free to take , for my small bare root fruit plants. And I came across your Y.T. channel I want to thank you for sharing this vital step in recycling used pots. It is very helpful. Thank you🌱
I just fill the sink with really hot soapy water and bleach and let the pots/ trays sit there for 20 min. Then I just rinse and scrub if needed (most dirt is left i the water, little scrubbing) a lot faster than cleaning one by one. Thanks for the reminder!!
Hot soapy water first, then scrub, then bleach. Otherwise you're reducing the effectiveness of the bleach.
you can save a lot of work if you get a cheap kiddie pool and do this in the fall before you turn off your outside water hose for the winter, I rinse all the dirt off while it's still somewhat fresh then use bleach water in a pump sprayer to coat every surface and then rinse again with clean water in the kiddie pool. Final step is to wrap in clean plastic bags and good to go for spring planting. PS. love your vids and channel.
This is going to be my first year starting ALL of my plants from seed thanks to you! I’m super excited for this year’s gardening season and I’m really hoping you bring us along your seed starting routine! Thanks again luke for another awesome video (:
Same here with starting plants from seeds. I am trying those grow kits that are sold at Dollartree and other places. I have all of my grow kits in my portable greenhouse inside clear and opaque shoeboxes as an extra insulation. Also when my family finishes the milk jugs, I filled them with water and cover them with black lawn fabric as a way of heating the greehouse at night. I am seeing some germination and small seedlings in a few grow kits but the clay pot grow kits are drying out more than the other grow kits. I kept a journal last year with my garden and continue this year with what I have seed started since March 6. I have a outdoor temperature gauge inside to help regulate the temperature of the greenhouse during the day.
I've always cleaned my pots with warm soapy water and jeyes fluid. Works a treat.
I'm one of those people that you see outdoors with the hose just hosing them off. I've also been known to just spray bleach solution all over the pots and letting them dry. I know all of this is wrong but I've had no problems doing it this way and I am an experienced and successful grower but I'm going to start sterilizing it the correct way now because I've always known I should be doing it that way just been lazy or in a hurry.
I learned that clorine used for pools is better to sterilize with because it doesn't break down as fast as bleah. Thanks notsodog! have been just using the bleach I have and it seems to work really well. i just need to find better brush to get in tight spots
I agree 100%! I soak everything for 24 hours in a 5 gallon bucket with a cup of bleach and some dawn when I'm done with a container. That might be excessive but better safe that sorry. Especially here in Florida where there are so many diseases. Thanks for the info especially for our new gardening friends☺🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
My granny used to own a plant nursery ... I remember spending many hours sitting beside an old tub out back washing pots & trays! She used bleach and a little soap. So yeah, it works!
Curious Carol ::: Bleach is a leftover war munition, watered down and sold to consumers as a household disinfectant, see comments above for safer and far more effective natural solutions.
@@dallimamma Bleach is pretty safe, as it will decompose to sodium salts. And it is the most effective disinfectant that is not based on hydrocarbons.
Top tray in a dishwasher will save you all the work. Dishwashers sanitize with heated steam on the drying cycle. Also you can get food grade organic liquid sanitizers at your local homebrew store, as well as powerful cleaners for dissolving organic matter.
Thank you so much for this video, I had a big sink where I did this but my accident 2 years ago left me unable to walk the stairs and my kitchen sink is to small....somewhere over the years I was told that bleach if left to dry would loose its potency over the year, but after watching my Chrismas cactus slowly die I wonder but I am trying your method this year!
I use the carrying trays to plant in also by putting newspaper on bottom wish soaks water which helps keep moist balanced too.
At the end of the season last year I bought some root maker trays from a marketplace on social media. Busted them out to start my tomatoes about a month ago and just lost all 57 starts to verticuillim wilt. Thank you for this video, it helps me not feel so hopeless after the loss of my Experimental Farm Network starts.
This is one of the reasons I like soil blocks. You still have to clean your trays, but they are so much easier to clean than all the tiny cells in a cell tray.
I use meat trays from the supermarket for my mini blocks and than move them onto bigger trays - for the bigger block - I use trays from chicken thighs for these. The super market will sell - for pennies - or give you a dozen trays - thinking that you are completely nuts. Just walk away awkwardly and that will make them happy that they helped the old man out.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, I hate when diseases spread through my plants and it cost me more to fix the problem than buying new plants.
Thank you for sharing ur positive attitude, the world needs more of you😇
Have never had to use bleach, I have always cleaned with soap and water, vinanger if there is mineral scale, but always spray my trays with 3% peroxide I know it's not completely organic and would not fly with organic gardening but has always worked for me. I also soak my rock wool in peroxide as well then rise well and pH to desired pH.
Hydrogen peroxide is an organic peroxide that is readily found in nature and used in many green cleaning products. So you shouldn't have any issues with using it and being an organic or green gardener. I use hydrogen peroxide as well to sanitize soil for seed starts and will be using it to sanitize seed start containers after giving them a good scrub with some good old soap and water. It's really a great solution and is beneficial to growing plants in a dilited solution as well.
Thank you for sharing ur positive attitude and zest for life, much appreciated.
No your not alone, I have a large collection of many different nice greenhouse containers and trays. I clean mine I have been doing that for a long time.. wendy❤️🐞
I'm glad I stumbled upon this video. I'm recycling my solo cups from last year. Been washing them with soap water bit by bit until I get them all done. Haven't used bleach yet. Would you say that's necessary if they're washed with hot soapy water already?
It never occur to me that I could infect my plants reusing flower pots and I just did exactly that! I hope they'll be alright, but will heed your advice. Thanks!
Aaaaand I'm off to go wash and sterilize my stuff.
Also, side note, white vinegar though it does kill bacteria mold and mildew it does not kill as much or as efficiently. So I totally agree with the use of bleach. I'd rather use bleach than germs, bacteria, mold and mildew.
Watching this in 2021 and laughed at the end when he says “it’s gonna be an awesome 2020” 😂
😂
Have you tried starting seeds in the soil block system? No pots to sterilize - just the tray
By the way, I put what I can through the dishwasher. If it's good enough for sterilizing baby bottles, it's good enough for plants.
This is great. I just experimented this morning on my six packs and yep, they melt. Can’t wait to watch this. I used to have a solution but I forget what it is. I planned on looking around on your channel to see if you had a video on it. GREAT TIMING !! Thank you
Have you considered Star San for sanitizing. You would still need to scrub with normal soap and water but then dunk in some Star San then let it try. Always use this for sterilizing stuff for home brewing.
StarSan is good stuff. I like it much better than bleach or iodophor.
I'm just getting started on my journey of sprouting, and after watching this video, it sort of confirmed the method I'm using. If you find a flaw, please let me know, as I value your input.
I'm taking all of my old plastic sprouting/transplanting plastic containers and:
1. Rinsing all the loose dirt off outside using the hose with a spray nozzle. 2. At my kitchen sink, I'm using a bottle brush, washing inside and out, with hot soapy water. Then rinsing them off very well. 3. Plunging washed containers into a sanitizing bleach water. 4. Letting the containers air dry.
The reason I don't wash in the bleach water is twofold. I don't want to splash bleach water on my clothes AND moreover, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) breaks down when it gets dirty.
What do you think? Thanks
Dental brush works great. Plug up your sink drain much easier and faster.
I would hose it off first to get the worst out then sanitize. A large cement sink or similar is very handy for the rinse
I had exactly the same problem. I lost everything last year because when one set of seedlings died I just planted another in the same pots. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then too late in the season, I finally figured out that the pots must be the problem.
Now I have a related question: What about used soil? I have a wheelbarrow full of nice fertile soil that's been sitting outside for several months. Is that unusable now due to bacteria, fungus and whatnot?
I have fusaruim wilt in my yard so I do a lot of container gardening. Particularly with my tomatoes. I bleach everything....everything. I rinse off dirt and soak for at least a few hours. I also soak my tools and change out my garden gloves all the time. The fusaruim wilt in my yard is a constant battle. This is my 4th year gardening in my new(ish) place that has wilt . This next season I'm going to try to select fusaruim wilt resistant varieties. I have found that anything viney doesn't grow in my yard due to wilt and I love peas and cucumbers. But have lost every single one I have planted. Soil disease is a real thing.
Wrom castings may help you, the worm produced microorganisms are highly competitive to fusarium. Try a little experiment for a season or two in a small area of your garden using vermicompost... Hope this helps!
I had no idea we had to wash them. I collected a bunch free from the community garden to reuse them.
Hi Luke I use a tote for cleaning my trays. It covers the whole tray at once. Thanks for telling me the amount of bleach to use. I noticed how light your basement walls are. They make a big difference. How do you control the temperature in your basement when starting and growing seeds? My basement stays to cool. I do not have a good set up like yours.
I would suggest a good bottle brush they have them stonger for the pot trays I use one works well.
I heard u say u love buckets...me too! What’s better than free? I live in the NW and my Safeway bakery gives away their used (frosting) 5 gallon buckets! (Also 3 gal). They have lids also
Me too! Central Wa, our Safeways and also our local Yakima Miner's Drive Inn in Yakima sells used 2 and 5 gallon food grade buckets cheap. But gotta wash the mayonnaise ones really well.
34% food grade H2O2 is great. You can buy it at most hardware stores. Yes it can burn your hand and yes you have to dilute it down. But it’s 60$ for a gallon. You can use 1part H2O2 to 11 parts water. Or stronger dilutions if need be. It works wonders and is what I even use to sterilize my roots in my hydroponic system.
Sterilize those suckers! Good advice! There are so many problems you can avoid when you take the proper steps! In the summer I do take a high powered hose to spray iff the gunk, but before I plant It gets the bleach/ brush treatment. One tip... USE RUBBER GLOVES to protect your hands when you do this.
Great info for anyone reusing equipment!
awesome I totally understand what your saying always disinfect your container's you don't want to be sorry
Hey Luke! I just came back to watch this video as I have done every year. Again great job! Reading on the University of Minnesota at extension, they recommend a 1:9 ratio of bleach to water. Whole Cow! That is like 8 cups to your half a cup for a 5 gallon pale. What should one do? Is this an apples to apples comparison? Maybe there is a difference between disinfect and sanitize. I don’t know.
Versilium wilt happened to me on some hemp, ruined everything. Dirty containers definitely contributed.
I live in Southern England and have had wilt problems with bean crops in containers for last 3 years. Tomatoes are OK. Everyone recommends 9 parts water to one part bleach, which is much stronger than recommended strength for general disinfecting. What strength is domestic bleach in US? The leading brands in UK have 4.5% sodium hypochlorite by weight, so diluting with 9 parts water makes a strength of 4.5 parts per 1000 or 0.45%.
I've just looked at Walmart's website. It looka as if 7.5% is a quite usual strength for US brands of bleach, so I'll need a stronger solution for the weaker UK bleach.
Add a small amount of dish liquid with the bleach. Helps with dirt & grunge removal.
I wash all my trays etc with washing up liquid and warm water, seems to work fine.🤞
You always have helpful tips!
Luke what are your thoughts on soil blockers? Really upping our game with a 16x100 greenhouse this year. Expense is a big deal. Plant, rinse, sanitize, dry, rinse, done. It's what we do. Soil blocks seem more time efficient but looking for other opinions. Thanks in advance.
Where's your gloves Luke? I suggest first cleaning the trays with soap and water, then disinfecting them. That's the proper method... Just bleach water is better than nothing, but if you're taking all that time, might as well do it right eh? It's no extra time really. Just a dip in bleach water after washing.
Thanks for making it clear why we should be doing this. It's much needed advice and knowledge. Great content as usual Luke!
Glad you posted this early in the new year! It’s also a great idea to use the large Rubbermaid type totes for the very large trays or pots! We’ve been using a three step method of one with hot soapy water, one water bleach solution (small drying break here) and then a final hot water rinse before letting everything dry on open shelves!
I am a newbie. I am gonna do just this now. Thank you for ur coment.
Im so glad i found this vid. Appreciate the help. Im a newbie and about to start me first grow but got old pots and i wasnt sure if hosing them off was good enough... Question answered in ur vid. Just wanted to say thanks for the info n help
Bleach disinfects, but doesn't clean. I'd add a little soap
@Becca agreed , i would prob just clean first and get the dirt off that would be good for me because as he said the plastic really doesn't harbor anything. But if you wanted to use bleach just dunk clean supplies into bleach solution.
Thanks for the video Luke! Antonia Nikolaj is right. Soap and bleach is self defeating. First wash/ remove physical debris, rinse any remaining soap off, a bleach solution soak and air dry will achieve the objective of sanitizing. Bleach adverse? Go to sams club and pick up some quaternary ammonium (1 gallon) in the restaurant section. Same idea applies, just follow manufacturers directions.
Guys be careful while mixing cleaning ingredients. Sometimes they create toxic gases
@@bribri3069 bleach and dawn dish soap are safe together.
Jess Smiles Probably, but I’m just saying other combinations have been found to create gases that have killed people so be careful !
I also do my pruners and trowels. Thanks for sharig.
I probably could have saved a lot of houseplants by sanitizing my pots 😂 I wonder how many of my failures could have been from creeping funk from the old dirt without me knowing. I have never even considered sterilizing my containers even if the old plant died in it 🤷♀️
When I was in horticulture school, we dunked pots, etc. in bleach water for a second or so and sometimes they were scrubbed or soaked. Personally, I let mine soak at least 10 min to an hour.
What are your thoughts on cleaning the containers you grow in? I grew about 50 varieties of peppers last season, mostly super hots. I am using mostly 5 gallon buckets, 5 and 7 gallon fabric pots, and all sizes of reclaimed nursery pots from my fruit bushes/trees. I plan on re-using the container soil by amending and adding some new materials. Thanks
Wait, I'm confused. I remember you saying not to start seeds in those seed starting flats because they will be root bound and shock when transplanted.??
Dang! I just yesterday started all my seeds for my spring garden and reused all the containers from the fall without sanitizing them. Well now I know.
Hi Luke, huge fan from Belgium here... I'm starting my basement garden this month, only just started and I see the little flies and aphids number growing allready around my sowing onions. How do control this in your hydrophonic basement garden?
Diluted hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, there are videos on it and i think MI does one so you can get the ratio from him. I do 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide to 8oz of water.
Haha! He said "do I need em, nope" I love it.
I hose my trays down, wash them with Dove dishwashing liquid and soak them in a mild bleach/water solution. Then I let them dry on our greenhouse tables.
I saw prices last year at my local hardware store and nursery far more expensive than what you pay! Every time my husband brings up my shelf of pots & starting trays, I always bring up how much it would cost if I'd buy them new every year (nevermind how wasteful that'd be!).
If you don’t need to know why you should clean your containers, go directly to 7:30.
THANK YOUUUU
Could you do a video on how to sterilize your potting mix or if you are reusing soil?
Heat potting soil in oven at 200 degrees F for on hour in glass jar. I get the 1gallon glass olive jars at a local restaurant that they throw away
A lot of big box stores have recycling programs for their plastic pots and trays.
Great tips.. this is quite informative! Thank you
I use my wheel barrow as a bucket to clean all the dirt off and then hose them off. Next, I do the bleach solution in the cleaned out wheel barrow.
im allergic to bleach but i use this method and then throw in my dishwasher with out the heat cycle on. Thank you
Years ago, my allergy specialist gave me a recipe that would kill mold better than just using bleach alone. I mixed it up and sponged it all over my bathroom wall around the shower/tub and it worked great. The mold never came back. With just bleach/water mix, I had to reapply it about once a week. It lightened the mold discoloration; but, I don't think it killed it completely.
I don't remember the exact mixture; but, it did include bleach, lysol (in the little brown bottle), and something else. I don't remember that third ingredient; but, mixed in water it was an excellent mold-killer. The combination of the ingredients generated a really strong odor and the specialist strongly recommended that I wear a mask and safety goggles. It was worth it, though.
Vinegar? It kills mold also...
@@jasonlist3253 Yes, I have heard that distilled vinegar can be used to kill some molds; but, one must scrub really hard to do so. The recipe that my specialist gave me worked very fast without scrubbing and it was a permanent fix. I do use distilled vinegar for cleaning a lot of surfaces in my home and it makes a great deodorizer in rooms where smokers have been. Thankfully, I no longer have mold problems that I can see.
I am having a lot of problems with allergies right now. Will you share the recipe with me?
Is there a process to follow when reusing soil or is it fine with crop rotation? Thanks
I would like to know the answer too!
Ashton I would like to know as well. I always save soil from other plants but I am sure that needs to be sterilized. I saw a video about using hot water on the old soil.
If it's soil from a pot you can compost it, but if it's contaminated you run the risk of ruining your entire compost pile. You could have a pile dedicated to just soil from containers, but considering the variability of the media used I think you'd end up with a weird texture/structure, and I'd be concerned about nutrient levels (mainly toxicities because people commonly over-fertilize) too.
If you're talking about plants in the ground, or in large containers (like 5ftx20ft) like raised beds no-till practices are pretty great, but when you run into a problem like, say, blight, you have to take the proper steps for that particular problem. Part of that answer could involve rotating crops that can't get blight, and another part could involve using a fungicide that targets blight specifically to shorten the time where you couldn't grow solenaceae. If you had something like root nematodes you'd have to follow a different course of action. If you had a problem with powdery or downy mildew you'd want to consider yet another course of action, and so on. There's some overlap sometimes, and sometimes there isn't. It's really a question with variable answers depending on your specific context.
Thank y’all for your responses. @ FfejTball, I meant more so if there’s an all encompassing practice to prevent any disease, fungus etc or if you have to treat it as a case by case scenario. Thank you
Soil can be steam sterilized in an ordinary oven, but the smell is awful. Fill an aluminum roasting pan with moist soil (The soil must be very moist, but not soggy. the moisture is needed to generate steam.) and seal it with aluminum foil. Heat it at 250 to 300 degrees until the center of the mass is at least 180 degrees measured with a meat thermometer. Allow it to cool to room temperature before opening it. Reused soil will be deficient in nutrients, so you will need to fertilize.
Where do you purchase your trays I can't find anything anywhere near that cheap?
Vinegar is a weak acid so if I really want to sanitize something, bleach is pretty clutch. There's a reason why vinegar companies don't advertise that they will 99.9% of germs.
I just cleaned mine thanks Luke
What about cleaning those smart pots or fabric pots? Seems as if bleach may discolor them?
How about using UV light to sterilize stuff after washing with soap and water?
Hi Luke, I live in an apartment studio with no yard to rinse & clean while my garden is a makeshift community garden raised bed with no sink available for us to use. Is this okay to do in a bathtub you think?
Is this something that needs to be done with the actual containers/planters the plants will grow in? Or just the nursery trays? And if all of them, how does one go about sanitizing wood planters?
A rubbermaid tote would work better as you can slide the whole starter tray down in it and submerge it as you scrub it.
I bake my seed starter in oven at 225 for 35 min
Due diligence is key if your not using bleach. Clean asap then use another product. Some people can't use bleach
I'm fortunate enough to work at a plastics plant that makes flower pots. I've been fortunate enough to get a lot of stuff for free. That single pot looks like one of ours.
I only rinsed pots in water for 15 years re using pots, if the plants can't survive that means I need better genetics that will.
Now I know what I did wrong. I reused a tray last fall without cleaning it.
haha... You are not alone... I too am a hoarding garden geek.. :) Thank you for the info