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Oak Grove, Mn

With my winter growing season about to begin, i am collecting the soil for my plants. I intend to compare 3 sources of soil for indoor growing. The first is one bagged by a local greenhouse. The second is a from a horticulture speciality store. The third will be soil from my pumpkin patch. I intend on having all tested by western labs, and also by university of minnesota. Using my own soil, i am concerned about insects hatching inside the house. I didnt have a problem with insects in the garden, but household insects are much more noticeable. I have read that heating the soil to 180-200 degrees will eliminate the insect issue. Will the loss of beneficial microorganisms be too high of a price to pay?

11/21/2015 4:00:16 PM

Nampa

Good question. A hundred years ago when I was taking horticulture classes in college, we sterilized the media with steam. The bagged soil probably doesn't have beneficial bacteria either. If you had the option to sterilize and then add bacteria, that would be the best i suppose. Soil texture with low compaction is probably going to be the biggest factor. My guess is that awesome pumpkin soil may not do as good as commercial media in a pot. It sounds like a great experiment though. Please share your results!

12/10/2015 1:32:10 AM

Lymington UK

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=151856
DJ looks like we went to the same collage and the same year. I've grown up with steam and it works a treat with more benifits than growers think. We have a hot water boiler as of this year so won't be able to steam again. bnot, I would not worrie about losing good bacteria as they will be the first to come back.
Ian

12/10/2015 1:09:44 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

thank you for your responses. I am just about ready to start my growing experiment. I have 6 tubes 6 inches by 36 inches about ready to start growing carrots. Each tube is going to have a different growing media in it.2 bagged commercial growing media, my pumpkin soil, and 3 tubes where i am experimenting with homemade "super soil". I did bake my soil so in all tubes i will be adding biologicals. Wont know the results until next fall.

12/10/2015 5:22:48 PM