Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
Most of you appear to have been lucky so far and have not had problems with pests and disease. That is a far bigger risk than salt accumulation or even component breakdown. You can spot some infections and some pests when repotting but others are far harder to spot. Reusing soil components without sanitising is just asking to spread any number of problems through your pots. Nursery code of practice over here even forbids resue of pots now to reduce disese spread.
The more trees you have the greater the risk of disease and also the greater the loss when something takes off in your plants.
Baking soil in the sun will kill off some problems but some may nor receive enough UV or get high enough temp to kill off all problems.
Solarising in a black plastic bag will often raise the temp enough to kill off some but can be hit and miss depending on sun strength and how much mix is in the bag.
An old* microwave, frypan or steamer can take the temp of small quantities of soil up over pasturising temp - about 72F 160F which deals with most plant pathogens.
*please note that using any of these implements to treat soil of any sort in the kitchen can lead to far greater problems than a few sick plants.
The more trees you have the greater the risk of disease and also the greater the loss when something takes off in your plants.
Baking soil in the sun will kill off some problems but some may nor receive enough UV or get high enough temp to kill off all problems.
Solarising in a black plastic bag will often raise the temp enough to kill off some but can be hit and miss depending on sun strength and how much mix is in the bag.
An old* microwave, frypan or steamer can take the temp of small quantities of soil up over pasturising temp - about 72F 160F which deals with most plant pathogens.
*please note that using any of these implements to treat soil of any sort in the kitchen can lead to far greater problems than a few sick plants.
