Soil calcination: soil disinfection methods and disinfection rules

The soil contains not only nutrients, but also toxins, microorganisms, eggs and larvae of pests, their waste products. In order not to harm plants, especially seeds and seedlings, it is necessary to start calcining the soil purchased and taken from the garden, as well as using other disinfection methods. This will give your plants a good start and protect them from diseases and pests during their most important period of life.

What is it for?

Any land (including specially prepared compounds for growing seedlings or various types of domestic plants) may contain many hazardous components, among which are the following:

1. Pathogens of fungal infections, bacteria dangerous to plants.
2. Adult insects, their eggs and larvae.
3. Pollution that got into the ground from the environment during transportation, preparation and packaging of the mixture.

Even if it is made up of pure components and under the right conditions, it is worth disinfecting the purchased soil, especially when it comes to planting seedlings or indoor flowers that are susceptible to diseases and pests.

Also, mixtures for nurseries, greenhouses, greenhouses, land on which objects were previously located that could pollute it and make it unsuitable or dangerous for growing planting material, fruit or indoor plants should also be disinfected.

Soil disinfection methods

There are several techniques for cleaning and neutralizing the soil, some of which are suitable for home use, while others can only be used outdoors, with special training and at least minimal experience with hazardous substances.

Thermal

High temperatures are detrimental to most pathogens, so this method is widely used in the treatment of soil for planting seedlings and houseplants. Each of the methods of thermal exposure has its pros and cons, which must be taken into account when growing plants.

Ignition

This is the easiest, fastest and most effective way to get rid of all microorganisms and pests in the soil. And we are talking not only about pests and pathogens - high temperatures in the oven during calcination destroy everything in a row - both harmful and beneficial microorganisms. As a result, the output is not soil, but a dead substance, harmless, but not useful to plants.

For calcination, the soil is poured onto a baking sheet with a layer of no more than 3 centimeters and kept in an oven heated to 200 degrees Celsius for at least half an hour.

Steaming

In order to keep beneficial microorganisms in the soil mixture and try to destroy the maximum possible number of harmful bacteria and fungi, as well as kill insects, calcination should be replaced by steaming. It can be done in several ways:

1. In the microwave.
2. In the oven.
3. In a water bath over an open fire or on an electric stove.

Any of these methods involves adding water to the soil at the rate of a standard glass of 250 grams per 5 liters of soil mixture. In a microwave oven, specially designed dishes are used for this, processing lasts up to a quarter of an hour at the maximum heating level.In the oven, you can use a pan or baking sleeve, remembering to poke a few holes in it for steam to escape, otherwise it will tear the bag and splatter the contents of all the "insides" of the cabinet.

For a water bath, the soil is not moistened, but poured onto gauze folded in several layers. It is placed in a sieve or colander set over a container of boiling water. The procedure lasts 15 minutes with constant stirring of the earth.

Steaming cannot completely sterilize the soil, as with steaming, so it is supplemented with a strait of the earth with a solution of a fungicide or folk remedies, for example, a strong solution of potassium permanganate.

Special types of soil, such as bark for growing orchids and epiphytes, can be boiled for at least 10 minutes, drained and allowed to cool completely. This is to protect delicate and sensitive roots from the possible negative effects of the substrate.

You can also saturate the soil with boiling water, close the container tightly with a lid and let it cool.

With the help of cold

Thermal effect is not only the effect of high, but also low temperatures. In winter, it is possible to partially disinfect the soil by freezing it naturally, but this requires low temperatures, which are not found in all parts of the country.

Also, seedlings or purchased soil in small quantities can be frozen in the freezer of the refrigerator. This will require a temperature below 18 degrees Celsius. However, even under such conditions, some of the pathogens will remain, and many of them are generally adapted to extremely low temperatures. So this method is also best combined with additional processing - chemical or biological.

Chemicals and preparations

It should be borne in mind that chemical compounds have a pronounced effect and negatively affect the state of beneficial soil microorganisms, which indirectly affects plant he alth. Therefore, such types of disinfection are used in extreme cases when steaming and other methods cannot be used, for example, if it is necessary to clean large areas of open ground or land in large greenhouses, greenhouses, greenhouses.

Such an impact is used no more than twice a year, and plants can be planted on the treated areas only after six months or even a year.

Chlorine lime

This is a powerful disinfectant, like other chlorine-based products, but should only be used on plants that tolerate the presence of this substance in the soil. Processing is carried out at the rate of 200 grams of bleach per square meter of area.

Formalin

Formalin disinfection is effective, but risky for human he alth, therefore it requires the use of personal protective equipment, as well as other chemical methods. The earth is watered with a solution of 250 milliliters of formalin 40% per bucket of water. This is the proportion per square meter.

The treated area is mulched and covered with a film, kept for 15 days. Three days before planting seedlings or sowing seeds, the beds are dug up so that the toxic vapors of formalin can evaporate.

TMTD

This fungicide is a contact seed treater, so it can be safely used right at the time of sowing or before planting. Its active substance - thiram - suppresses the vital activity of fungi in the soil and on planting material for 48 hours.

Biological disinfection

Biological tillage can be considered the safest. It is not as effective as soil calcination, but it populates it with beneficial microorganisms, improves its composition and structure, and the introduced microflora is able to suppress the development and reproduction of pathogens.

This method can be used separately and as an addition to other disinfection methods, for example, the same calcination, since biological preparations help restore beneficial soil microflora.

"Trichodermin"

This is a fungicide of biological origin that destroys phytopathogens by replacing the more aggressive Trichoderma fungus. It not only competes with harmful microbes for a substrate, but also parasitizes them, and also poisons with its waste products.

"Baikal EM-1"

This liquid concentrate of a group of microorganisms living in the soil is useful for any soil, as it restores their natural balance, inhibits pathogenic microflora, improves soil composition, that is, it acts as a disinfectant, fertilizer and stimulator at the same time.

Alirin-B

Biological drug to combat a wide range of soil and plant infections is able to clean the soil from pathogenic microorganisms due to the activity of the bacterium Bacillus Subtilis. It is used alone or in a complex of actions, for example, after calcination.

Fitosporin-N

Environmentally safe fungicide copes with dozens of plant diseases without harming others, so it can even be used in indoor floriculture.

Folk remedies

The advantages of folk remedies are their availability, low cost and harmlessness to humans and the environment. However, they have low efficiency, so they are used in cases where other methods cannot be used for a number of reasons. They can also serve as an addition to thermal methods of exposure - calcination, steaming, freezing.

Potassium permanganate

Dark purple solution of potassium permanganate has a weak disinfecting effect, but it saturates the soil with useful substances - potassium and manganese.

Garlic solution

Garlic contains phytoncides that heal the air and soil. When using such a tool, it is possible not only to destroy pathogens, but to scare off new ones and drive away pests already living in the ground.

Infusion of Ashes

This folk remedy is often used in summer cottages and household plots, as it also has a double effect - it not only disinfects the soil, but also enriches it with a valuable element - potassium, which increases productivity.

How to handle and than after different crops

The choice of technique depends on the amount of soil to be disinfected and the crops grown. If we are talking about several liters of seedling soil, it is easier to use calcination or other thermal treatment, and then enrich the soil with biological means, such as EM preparations.

Disinfection must necessarily take into account which plants grew on the site earlier, and which ones are planned to be planted after them, that is, crop rotation. The choice of neutralization should not harm the subsequent crop, for example, chlorine-based preparations should not be used if the planted plants do not tolerate it.

Features of holding at different times of the year

Treatment in the fall is capable of destroying exactly those pathogens and pests that plagued the planted plants in a particular area. You can choose the most suitable means, for example, treatment with directed or broad-acting fungicides, or use something radical like formalin or bleach. Biological agents are best applied in the spring, 1-3 weeks before sowing or planting crops.

Common mistakes

Most often, gardeners and gardeners, as well as lovers of indoor floriculture, go to extremes:

1. Or they ignore disinfection altogether.
2. Or doing it too hard.

In the first case, the soil can harm the planted flowers and vegetables, and in the second, a dead, unviable soil is obtained on which nothing grows.

It is important not to forget that after calcination and other methods of disinfection, the cleared land must be “populated” with beneficial microbes. For these purposes, preparations such as Shining, Baikal and other biologically active agents are better suited.

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