Single hen

[Cate in NZ]

I've been reading in this months GYO about greenhouse maintenance, and it suggests replacing or sterilising the soil in there. I've never sterilised soil before but I'm guessing it doesn't mean sticking it all in an autoclave for 20 mins . What exactly does this procedure involve, do I need lots of horrible chemicals?

In the past I've done very little in the greenhouse, stuck in a few tomatoes in growbags, but beyond that it's been dreadfully neglected, so will need lots of TLC & elbow grease this autumn. I'm trying to get prepared for the task in advance.

[motherhen]

The things I've read about sterilizing soil seem to refer to diseases any plants may have left in the soil. If you haven't had any nasties then soil should be fine, although I'm an amateur at this. I have read about not growing the same thing on soil, so perhaps if you removed some of the soil and swapped it for some from the garden and added compost that would do the job. The article I read about sterilizing it mentioned using a microwave but pointed out that this does kill any living things and beneficial microbes in the soil.

 

Hopefully one of the real gardening experts will come along and give a proper answer.

[Lesley]

We've had a polytunnel for about 7 years but it's not something we've ever done. We use growbags for tomatoes and empty them into the borders at the end of the season along with some home-made compost. We move planting around a bit but not really a proper rotation of plots. We've never had any problems with the soil or pests.

 

Perhaps sterilising the soil involves Jeyes Fluid?

[Nicola H]

I think you can use a steam cleaner, I have a wallpaper stripper and I am sure in the instructions it said it can be used to serilize soil and green houses......... It has different nozzles that fit on the end so that you can do lots of cleaning with it I just use it to strip wallpaper........