Excellent video. The cooking/baking of soil to stabilise it has been done for centuries. I remember my dad doing it back in the 70's, he came to the same conclusion as you, he had far too much soil that needed treating to make it worthwhile doing. It did work though but he'd also have to stick plenty of fertiliser in it the following year & any beneficial bacteria in the soil is also killed off
I just came across this video. I’ve never sterilized my used outdoor soil. I’ve always amended the soil for another year, adding more soil if the pot needs it. However, I always sterilize my organic indoor seed starting mix no matter what the bag says. I had a horrible experience a few years ago with fungus gnat eggs hatching into a 6 month battle to be rid of them. Even tho it’s more expensive. I always buy 12 quart bags of seed starting mix-it’s easier for me to handle. I use 6 cups boiling water per 6 quarts of mix in a plastic dish tub. You want it very moist, not soupy. Mix well , making sure all the soil gets wet with the boiling water. Make sure you get the corners wet. Cover with foil, right on top of the soil, letting it sit until cold. I’ve never had fungus gnats again. BTW, I’ve learned so much from your channel. Thank you for sharing your garden. I’m in zone 8a, N Central TX. We get hotter up here, but not quite as humid.
Thanks for that excellent advice, I do appreciate it. My greatest gardening memory from central Texas is that the HEB grocery store in Wimberley sells fresh rosemary in little cups for $3 each, but outside along a retaining wall out back there is rosemary growing like crazy spilling over that wall, all for free. Ha!
I do the boiling water for my seed starting mix. I have a huge plastic bin with a lid, I put my starting mix (potting soil, peat moss and pearl lite) then soak in boiling water, stir to make sure all is saturated, cover and let sit over night. My first batch of starts did well under grow lights in my basement. I went to do the second round of soaking the soil mix but didn't completely saturate it and didn't let it sit over night. I had a huge infestation of fungus gnats. They were relentless. Plants covered in them. I know they came from the soil from the second batch that I did not let sit long enough to kill the gnats or the eggs. I had done this the year before with zero issues with gnats. Lesson learned- don't half a** it, and don't be in a rush.
I have no issues with actively growing plants reusing composted potting mix. Seedlings, I'm getting some issues when starting too early in the season. I put my old soil in a worm bin and throw in kitchen scraps and leaves etc. Thanks Scott.
Looking forward to seeing how this resolves! It would also be interesting to see a comparison of the total-overkill method (oven + microwave + boiling water) with the other three methods done individually (just oven, just microwave, and just boiling water). 🤔
I'm pretty sure for the oven or grill sterilizing you should keep the temperature below 250F or it can cause issues. I've tried the oven method in an oven after cooking - so cooling from whatever temp to boiling point. I've also tried the boiling water method. Personally, I do this only for seed raising or if I think the mix might have disease or pests. Looking forward to your results in a few weeks. Cheers!👍
I baked a few trays of soil once, but after the house was done airing out, I decided that a few weed seeds were OK, and I could always eliminate the weeds when they popped up.
I am thinking about putting a layer of sand then mulch over it for my containers this year. I think the sands keeps the critters out of the soil. Going to put the rice hulls over it.
I did a booboo this year & didn't mix my blood/bone meals into the soil enough. It was soon loaded with little white bugs that damaged the roots in several containers. I placed all the buggy soil in a black plastic bag, flattened it out and left it in the sun all summer. Flipping the bag every 2 weeks. Now all the bugs are cooked and I even have Myco growing in it. I've not seen this method but it was a good solution for me.
Its a great method to use, a variation of solarization. You can practice this on a large scale in gardens too with sheet plastic. There is a detailed description including ideal temperatures and lengths of time in a book called "Winning the War on Weeds." Excellent read.
It might seem crazy, but I don't sterilize my old potting soil. Since I garden on concrete, I don't have weeds growing in my pots, so all I do is break up the soil I want to plant in, add amendments and plant or transplant. If I have diseased or pest-ridden plants, I throw the plant and the soil away. Now I *will* do the boiling water on seed starting mix for growing indoors---that's an absolute must to keep gnats away. 👍🏾👍🏾 But outside, I just feed the soil and let nature have its way... 👍🏾
Good info Ambree! I also don't do anything with my potting soil, but tis experiment will show that there ARE some benefits, most likely. Though I still won't use any of these methods in my normal gardening regiment.
I am planning on using the boiled water method along with a vermiculture bin. At the end of the season dump all the used soil into buckets and saturate with boiling water and let set a night. once it has cooled and dried out, dump the sterilized soil with roots, leaves and stems and all into a bin with worms to let the worms do their work on the dead plan matter. between the boiling water and freezing winters nothing should survive for pests and the worms will turn last years left overs into rich soil for reuse.
On a large scale, say to fill a raised bed, what method would you recommend? A friend of a friend used to dig trenches, lay charcoal and twigs and fuel essentially in the rows and light it on fire, tending it and keeping them alive. Then he would douse it and turn it all under and plant within the ground.
To fill a large bed your friend of a friend has a good method for prepping an in ground bed. For a raised bed you want well draining soil. Your best option is to buy in some raised bed mix from a soil yard. Its not the cheapest but its the most sure way to get a decent soil quick. Otherwise, its slow filling over the seasons with found resources and compost. Locate a free resource for digging loose topsoil, bring that in little by little, and mix in with lots of well-decayed compost and rotted organic matter. More organic matter than topsoil.
When your wife sees this video, you're in BIG trouble! Not because you used her oven, but because you tried to hide it. I'm more interested in seeing how THAT turns our than the weed experiment.
5:34 I think you should buy your own oven for outdoor use instead of using your wife's or your family's oven used for cooking meals behind your wife's back like what you have done here.
I'll add the results to the next Q&A but basically the treated soil is filled with wind-blow weeds, the store bought soil is still fairly weed free. Unusual, not what I expected.
Your in zone 9a ?? WOW Im in zone 9 b.... anyways can you please send a link or show where can I learn how to make your anorobic anything goes compost tea please and thank you ....
I think the only reason to sterilize soil is if you want to use last seasons soil indoors? And you don't want to bring any pests inside? I don't know why you would want to do this otherwise.... Natural is the best way. If you had mould or problems, compost it in the heat of the summer: that will overcome the pests.
All my plants in containers that can get late blight have late blight. I came here looking for a method to kill the fungus in the soil. I think I will mix the soil with fresh grass clippings and that should heat it up.
Rome wasn’t built in a day my friend! ....the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step! You can lead a horse to water.....oh ner mind...I’ll just exit now😬
Scott,I have some grubs in my soil and I thought about using granules to kill them but wouldn't that kill the earthworms?I generally use triazicide for my grass and it works good on ants and grubs.i live in Pasadena not far from you.
this practice just doesn't make sense to the average person starting seeds. it goes against every practice i do in my garden. i look forward to the disadvantage of sterilizing your soil.
Mr Scott ....😬🤩 if my wife ever saw me carrying a tray of dirt heading for the oven?...I would get some kind of serious stink-eye directed in my general direction!😂 It’s cool to see this experiment! Actually for some years I’ve been using the soil from my garden pots to grow plant starts inside. I use a big bucket of boiling water to clear out the organisms/seeds etc. in my experience this method has worked quite nicely. I don’t have the means (or I suppose even the inclination) to buy new potting mix yearly,so the used stuff is what I use and then I fertilize a bit and call it a day.😁 I do predict that the oven,boiling water,and microwave subjects will all fair just as well if not better than the sealed bag mix. ...but I’m really excited to see if I’m even close to calling it right!
I have an old Microwave in my Garage. It rarely gets used but I do not want to sent it to the landfill. Bringing dirt into the Kitchen is not an option here 😂. So two springs ago, I took some old potting soil and put it into a microwave safe container and I nuked the dirt. I took it out after a couple of minutes and I brought it outside on my patio. About 20 minutes later I noticed my soil was smoking! It was a breezy day and damn if the soil didn’t catch fire 🔥! Apparently the particular soil contained a heavy peat composition. I would check my seed starting mixes to see if it is heavy on the peat and if so I might avoid microwaving or baking peat based soil. Dry peat is highly flammable. It will burn and smoke and while it may not flame up it may cause other substances to ignite into flames.
i think I put the results in a Q&A Video, but that was so long ago I forgot which one. If I remember, they all were about the same and eventually grew wind-blown weeds.
Excellent video. The cooking/baking of soil to stabilise it has been done for centuries. I remember my dad doing it back in the 70's, he came to the same conclusion as you, he had far too much soil that needed treating to make it worthwhile doing. It did work though but he'd also have to stick plenty of fertiliser in it the following year & any beneficial bacteria in the soil is also killed off
I just came across this video. I’ve never sterilized my used outdoor soil. I’ve always amended the soil for another year, adding more soil if the pot needs it. However, I always sterilize my organic indoor seed starting mix no matter what the bag says. I had a horrible experience a few years ago with fungus gnat eggs hatching into a 6 month battle to be rid of them. Even tho it’s more expensive. I always buy 12 quart bags of seed starting mix-it’s easier for me to handle. I use 6 cups boiling water per 6 quarts of mix in a plastic dish tub. You want it very moist, not soupy. Mix well , making sure all the soil gets wet with the boiling water. Make sure you get the corners wet. Cover with foil, right on top of the soil, letting it sit until cold. I’ve never had fungus gnats again. BTW, I’ve learned so much from your channel. Thank you for sharing your garden. I’m in zone 8a, N Central TX. We get hotter up here, but not quite as humid.
Thanks for that excellent advice, I do appreciate it. My greatest gardening memory from central Texas is that the HEB grocery store in Wimberley sells fresh rosemary in little cups for $3 each, but outside along a retaining wall out back there is rosemary growing like crazy spilling over that wall, all for free. Ha!
I do the boiling water for my seed starting mix. I have a huge plastic bin with a lid, I put my starting mix (potting soil, peat moss and pearl lite) then soak in boiling water, stir to make sure all is saturated, cover and let sit over night. My first batch of starts did well under grow lights in my basement. I went to do the second round of soaking the soil mix but didn't completely saturate it and didn't let it sit over night. I had a huge infestation of fungus gnats. They were relentless. Plants covered in them. I know they came from the soil from the second batch that I did not let sit long enough to kill the gnats or the eggs. I had done this the year before with zero issues with gnats. Lesson learned- don't half a** it, and don't be in a rush.
... a good rule of thumb for life!
I have no issues with actively growing plants reusing composted potting mix. Seedlings, I'm getting some issues when starting too early in the season. I put my old soil in a worm bin and throw in kitchen scraps and leaves etc. Thanks Scott.
Looking forward to seeing how this resolves! It would also be interesting to see a comparison of the total-overkill method (oven + microwave + boiling water) with the other three methods done individually (just oven, just microwave, and just boiling water). 🤔
Exactly the experiment I was looking for 👍🏼🌅
Subscribed 🎉
This is one experiment I really am curious about. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to the conclusion.
I'm pretty sure for the oven or grill sterilizing you should keep the temperature below 250F or it can cause issues.
I've tried the oven method in an oven after cooking - so cooling from whatever temp to boiling point.
I've also tried the boiling water method.
Personally, I do this only for seed raising or if I think the mix might have disease or pests.
Looking forward to your results in a few weeks. Cheers!👍
I saw it mentioned somewhere that the wood in the potting mix will burn if gets too hot. Hence, the rule to not let it get too hot. Makes sense.
🤣 in the name of science and my wife doesn't know funny
This has helped me with my home mushroom cultivation
I baked a few trays of soil once, but after the house was done airing out, I decided that a few weed seeds were OK, and I could always eliminate the weeds when they popped up.
The things we do for watch time, eh? ;-)
@@ScottHead I did it before I had a camera 🤣 No shame in wanting to know 😁👍
Very interesting! Looking forward to the experiment results. Be well.
I am thinking about putting a layer of sand then mulch over it for my containers this year. I think the sands keeps the critters out of the soil. Going to put the rice hulls over it.
I did a booboo this year & didn't mix my blood/bone meals into the soil enough. It was soon loaded with little white bugs that damaged the roots in several containers. I placed all the buggy soil in a black plastic bag, flattened it out and left it in the sun all summer. Flipping the bag every 2 weeks. Now all the bugs are cooked and I even have Myco growing in it. I've not seen this method but it was a good solution for me.
Its a great method to use, a variation of solarization. You can practice this on a large scale in gardens too with sheet plastic. There is a detailed description including ideal temperatures and lengths of time in a book called "Winning the War on Weeds." Excellent read.
Nice experiment. Looking forward to your observations, results and conclusions to this experiment.
That "weed" is Purslane. It's very nutritious!
5:28 Hiding from the missus, LOL
look forward to seeing how everything turns out
I love experiments like this, in the name of science. Look forward to seeing the results.
just let nature do its thing, its smarter and has been around longer than us
It might seem crazy, but I don't sterilize my old potting soil. Since I garden on concrete, I don't have weeds growing in my pots, so all I do is break up the soil I want to plant in, add amendments and plant or transplant. If I have diseased or pest-ridden plants, I throw the plant and the soil away. Now I *will* do the boiling water on seed starting mix for growing indoors---that's an absolute must to keep gnats away. 👍🏾👍🏾 But outside, I just feed the soil and let nature have its way... 👍🏾
Good info Ambree! I also don't do anything with my potting soil, but tis experiment will show that there ARE some benefits, most likely. Though I still won't use any of these methods in my normal gardening regiment.
I am planning on using the boiled water method along with a vermiculture bin. At the end of the season dump all the used soil into buckets and saturate with boiling water and let set a night. once it has cooled and dried out, dump the sterilized soil with roots, leaves and stems and all into a bin with worms to let the worms do their work on the dead plan matter. between the boiling water and freezing winters nothing should survive for pests and the worms will turn last years left overs into rich soil for reuse.
great video sir can't wait to see the result..be safe..
On a large scale, say to fill a raised bed, what method would you recommend? A friend of a friend used to dig trenches, lay charcoal and twigs and fuel essentially in the rows and light it on fire, tending it and keeping them alive. Then he would douse it and turn it all under and plant within the ground.
To fill a large bed your friend of a friend has a good method for prepping an in ground bed. For a raised bed you want well draining soil. Your best option is to buy in some raised bed mix from a soil yard. Its not the cheapest but its the most sure way to get a decent soil quick. Otherwise, its slow filling over the seasons with found resources and compost. Locate a free resource for digging loose topsoil, bring that in little by little, and mix in with lots of well-decayed compost and rotted organic matter. More organic matter than topsoil.
I love experiments - can't wait for the results. Thank you Scott!
Love experimenting too! I hope u planted something tho.. I want to know what will do better..
Experiments just make my science geeky heart go pitty pat! I have never seen the bbq method, that's an interesting use for it...😏
All right this video cracked me up! I just reuse soil with some new and fertilizer. If I have a problem I throw it out. But I’m learning🤪
When your wife sees this video, you're in BIG trouble! Not because you used her oven, but because you tried to hide it. I'm more interested in seeing how THAT turns our than the weed experiment.
Great video!
5:34 I think you should buy your own oven for outdoor use instead of using your wife's or your family's oven used for cooking meals behind your wife's back like what you have done here.
Secret of life.. philosophical note, liked that
Results soon? Hope so, very curious
Thank you
I'll add the results to the next Q&A but basically the treated soil is filled with wind-blow weeds, the store bought soil is still fairly weed free. Unusual, not what I expected.
@@ScottHead Thank you 🙏🏻 Disinfecting is a hassle but what I was interested in was getting rid of harmful bugs and fungi
Neat experiment!
There is no 2nd part?
It was in one of my Q&A videos, forgot which one.
Your in zone 9a ??
WOW Im in zone 9 b.... anyways can you please send a link or show where can I learn how to make your anorobic anything goes compost tea please and thank you ....
This viedo has info on the anaerobic brew:
ua-cam.com/video/bCTe0w-mI3Q/v-deo.html
So does this one:
ua-cam.com/video/nAkRRhHNg5M/v-deo.html
Is this the only way to sterilise soil ? I don’t fancy using my posh oven to do this. However it is very interesting 🧐
I've seen people use a weed torch or gas grill, you can research solarizing soil as well.
I think the only reason to sterilize soil is if you want to use last seasons soil indoors? And you don't want to bring any pests inside? I don't know why you would want to do this otherwise.... Natural is the best way.
If you had mould or problems, compost it in the heat of the summer: that will overcome the pests.
All my plants in containers that can get late blight have late blight. I came here looking for a method to kill the fungus in the soil. I think I will mix the soil with fresh grass clippings and that should heat it up.
That would take forever to do all the soil in my backyard
One shovel full at a time :D... Hahahaha
Rome wasn’t built in a day my friend! ....the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step! You can lead a horse to water.....oh ner mind...I’ll just exit now😬
LoL !!! I think you've killed the vermin.
Scott,I have some grubs in my soil and I thought about using granules to kill them but wouldn't that kill the earthworms?I generally use triazicide for my grass and it works good on ants and grubs.i live in Pasadena not far from you.
No clue about that, I usually don't mess with them. Wish I had more advice.
Link please? Experiments done?
Not done yet, it will hopefully be on the next Q&A. Dealing with aftermath of historic freeze rightnow so its low priority.
@@ScottHead My apologies. I wasn't aware of your location. Hope all is well and safe 🙏
I thought he said a "swale" experiment lol
You getting all scientistical
this practice just doesn't make sense to the average person starting seeds. it goes against every practice i do in my garden. i look forward to the disadvantage of sterilizing your soil.
Mr Scott ....😬🤩 if my wife ever saw me carrying a tray of dirt heading for the oven?...I would get some kind of serious stink-eye directed in my general direction!😂 It’s cool to see this experiment! Actually for some years I’ve been using the soil from my garden pots to grow plant starts inside. I use a big bucket of boiling water to clear out the organisms/seeds etc. in my experience this method has worked quite nicely. I don’t have the means (or I suppose even the inclination) to buy new potting mix yearly,so the used stuff is what I use and then I fertilize a bit and call it a day.😁 I do predict that the oven,boiling water,and microwave subjects will all fair just as well if not better than the sealed bag mix. ...but I’m really excited to see if I’m even close to calling it right!
I have an old Microwave in my Garage. It rarely gets used but I do not want to sent it to the landfill. Bringing dirt into the Kitchen is not an option here 😂.
So two springs ago, I took some old potting soil and put it into a microwave safe container and I nuked the dirt. I took it out after a couple of minutes and I brought it outside on my patio. About 20 minutes later I noticed my soil was smoking! It was a breezy day and damn if the soil didn’t catch fire 🔥!
Apparently the particular soil contained a heavy peat composition. I would check my seed starting mixes to see if it is heavy on the peat and if so I might avoid microwaving or baking peat based soil. Dry peat is highly flammable. It will burn and smoke and while it may not flame up it may cause other substances to ignite into flames.
Oh that’s a great idea!
Hi! Did you make the follow-up video?
i think I put the results in a Q&A Video, but that was so long ago I forgot which one. If I remember, they all were about the same and eventually grew wind-blown weeds.
@@ScottHead thank u very much for the good experiment!