10 comments for “soil sterilization”

  1. Hi Mary Lou,

    I would not want to pour bleach on the soil.  I do not think it a good idea.  If you could dig out the affected soil and dry it out thoroughly, that should fix the problem.  The trouble is getting to all the affected soil.  Certainly drying the soil in an industrial oven would do the trick, but we don’t have one of those.  Maybe if you could put the soil in buckets temporarily, and spread it on a tarp in the hot sun over several days, turning as needed to dry.  The sun drying, if you can do it, is what I would suggest in lieu of oven drying.

    Dave Liedlich

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  2. MAry Lou,
    Chlorine is an excellent steriliser of already physically clean surfaces and has been used for this purpose on farms and in the dairy industry – but it was never a substiture for proper cleaning – because it is ineffective against bacteria if organic matter is present. So, I do not think it is a very good idea though before being inactivated it may sicken or kill a few creepy crawlies. I think much the same applies to Formalin – it was always stressed that bulbs should be clean before dipping or HWT when formalin was used. In any case it is now banned for bulb dipping over here. Still used for foot baths for sheep to control foot rot – I think? I wonder if the sheep wash their feet first?
    Brian 

  3.  
    Well Mary Lou,
     
    I’ve read what Dave and Brian wrote on the subject, and they may be right, but 10 years ago I  poured Clorox on a bed and this is what I’ve observed in the meantime:
     
    It is an area about 5-6 foot wide and maybe 20 feet long.
    Nematodes were confirmed by the state to be there.
    Besides a few remaining daffodils, there were iris, daylilies, a Clematis and a couple trees.
    I poured 6 gallons of straight Clorox over the area.
    I haven’t touched it or planted anything else in it since that time.
    The daffodils are still there, as are all the other things plus innumerable redbud and  ash seedlings and the goldenrod has galloped over the space. 
    And this year, probably because of all the rain, a white penstemon is blooming away that I know was planted long ago and don’t recall seeing bloom in all that time.
     
    What did all that Clorox do?  I only know what it didn’t kill.
     
    Linda W.
     
      

  4. Hi Everyone,

    The only effective soil sterilant available to home gardeners in NZ is a BASF product called Basamid. It contains Dazomet and has been used successfully be several daffodil growers.  It is probably available in the USA under a different trade name.

    Peter  

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  5. Someone else could buy it and apply but the clear plastic over the soil for a month will kill most of the good and bad organisms in the soil for you.

    Nancy

  6. Yes, it is available, but only someone with a Pesticide Applicator’s Permit may use it.  My permit has expired, but as I recall, the ground needed to be tilled, and then the Basamid watered in, then covered for several weeks. 
    Mary Lou
  7. I have used Basamid, but I don’t think it would be helpful to use on a single row as Mary Lou describes. 
     
    Chriss

  8. Hi Everyone,
    The only effective soil sterilant available to home gardeners in NZ is a BASF product called Basamid. It contains Dazomet and has been used successfully be several daffodil growers.  It is probably available in the USA under a different trade name.

    Cheers,
    Peter

  9. Friends,
    Basamid is extremely volatile and dangerous to work with.  I had a large bag of it at the college.  Recently, I had our laboratory safety person make a proper disposal of it, i.e. a dangerous chemical disposal company picked it for disposal. 
    I was trained as a plant pathologist in the era of chemical control.  Looking back on some of the nasty chemicals I have been exposed to, it sometimes seems to me that it is a miracle that I am alive.  Thus, I am now exceedlingly cautious about using any chemical as a biocide, i.e. I don’t want to personally experience the cidal (killing) effect!
    In the case of trying to sterilizie a small garden area to rid it of the basal rot fungus, I see no harm in saturating a small area with chlorox (6% sodium hypochlorite) to try to kill the basal rot fungus.  However, I would cover it with a plastic to slow the release of the chlorine from the soil.  Leave the plastic on as long as the soil remains moist, particularly if the location is sunny (then you might also benefit from solarization).  How well this will work in ridding the basal rot fungus from the soil, I don’t know.  Nonetheless, I know from first hand experience, under laboratory conditions, chlorox is an effective fungicide.
    This year, as in past years, I have used a hose to throughly wash off all the soil, etc. I can from the lifted bulbs. This year, for the first time, I dipped the washed bulbs for 15 minutes in 1% sodium hypochlorite (1 part chlorox to 5 parts water) or 0.5% sodium hypochlorite (1/2 part chlorox to 51/2 parts water). Then, I placed the bags of dipped bulbs on racks to dry.  The next day, I hung the bulbs from the rafters of the utility building/carport behind my house.  The building is well-ventilated and the bulbs cure out there very nicely.
    Ted
    Theodore E. Snazelle, Ph.D.

    101 Water Oaks Drive

    Clinton MS 39056-9733

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  10. Mary Lou: Do you have any idea why the bulbs died? Have the bulbs themselves disintegrated to dust? When that happens I think it is fusarium, but that is only a guess. Has there been evidence of nematode infestation? Is it possible to get assistance from your county agricultural agent to determine the cause of the die off? I would think answers to these questions would guide your approach to the solution. If fusarium is the issue, you can do solarization first, and then apply trichoderma culture to consume the fusarium over the course of a season lying fallow. But my feeling is that all soils have fusarium in them, and that it would not cause the intense localized effect you mention. If it is nematodes, I would expect them to migrate to adjacent areas, and you’d be in trouble again. Melissa
    At 06:57 AM 6/2/2011, you wrote:

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