FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

A friend of mine told me baking the media will prevent algae growth and pests.

I've only an oven (my microwave broke, idk how), how do I sterilize it? What temperature should it be at so that the toxin won't get released into the soil? How long?

Thanks!

90 degrees Celsius, 180 Fahrenheit, basically just a bit below boiling point for 10-30 minutes. I've never done it though.

My method for reducing algae and gunk is washing, it works pretty well. Basically you take the peat, you put it in a bowl or bucket full of water, and stir. Then pour off the water, fill it back up with new clean water and do it again, 2-3 times. It works.

I fill a 2-gallon bucket about 3/4 full with peat moss, and pour about 1- 1/2 gallons of boiling water over it and seal it with a lid, usually for at least four hours, often leaving it sealed until the next day. Not sure if it does much good, but it has to kill some potential bad stuff, whether it be seed, egg or spore. plus, it doesn't make the house smell like burnt peat moss.

I've been told that oven or microwave treatment to sterilize media will cause it to break down much faster than normal so it's not really recommended. Washing is a better idea.

nimbulan wrote:I've been told that oven or microwave treatment to sterilize media will cause it to break down much faster than normal so it's not really recommended. Washing is a better idea.

Thanks for the information!

entropy81 wrote:90 degrees Celsius, 180 Fahrenheit, basically just a bit below boiling point for 10-30 minutes. I've never done it though.

My method for reducing algae and gunk is washing, it works pretty well. Basically you take the peat, you put it in a bowl or bucket full of water, and stir. Then pour off the water, fill it back up with new clean water and do it again, 2-3 times. It works.

Seems like washing is a great idea. I'm probably going to use boiling water to wash it.

sbrooks wrote:I fill a 2-gallon bucket about 3/4 full with peat moss, and pour about 1- 1/2 gallons of boiling water over it and seal it with a lid, usually for at least four hours, often leaving it sealed until the next day. Not sure if it does much good, but it has to kill some potential bad stuff, whether it be seed, egg or spore. plus, it doesn't make the house smell like burnt peat moss.

Thanks for the boiling water trick!

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It's probably good to be extra careful about handling the baked peat moss. Since it's been sterilized, any nasties that land on it will just be able to grow out of control as they will have no competition from the normal harmless bacteria/fungi etc. that reside in the soil.