gill_za
Never Knows Best
Pineapple,
don't know if this was said but I'd consider sphagnum as soil as well. So (and that's just my opinion) don't reuse it.
@MICKEY
BTW your standard 1000W house microwave is useless for the purpose of sterilize the soil. If it would be sufficient people would not be using autoclaves for sterilization!
If you cook peat for long time it will start to decompose rendering your soil even more useless than it was before.
Cheers
Edit: I take back what I said about microwaving as sterilizing. Sorry MICKEY. Started looking online and found several interesting articles. Apparently, although not widely used, standard microwaves were used for sterilizing growth media for bacterial growth. Peat might decompose faster under heat treatment or might not. So anyway, sterilizing soil with microwaves is possible.
don't know if this was said but I'd consider sphagnum as soil as well. So (and that's just my opinion) don't reuse it.
@MICKEY
BTW your standard 1000W house microwave is useless for the purpose of sterilize the soil. If it would be sufficient people would not be using autoclaves for sterilization!
If you cook peat for long time it will start to decompose rendering your soil even more useless than it was before.
Cheers
Edit: I take back what I said about microwaving as sterilizing. Sorry MICKEY. Started looking online and found several interesting articles. Apparently, although not widely used, standard microwaves were used for sterilizing growth media for bacterial growth. Peat might decompose faster under heat treatment or might not. So anyway, sterilizing soil with microwaves is possible.
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