One of the mandatory conditions before sowing seeds for seedlings is the disinfection of planting containers and the soil itself.
Soil is not the last thing that determines the health and development of future seedlings. Many gardeners prefer to prepare the soil themselves. We will tell you how to process it.
Today you can find a lot of recipes for preparing soil mixtures for each vegetable crop. The most important thing is to disinfect such a composition to get rid of pests and pathogenic environment.
Method one: freezing
A good option if the winter is frosty. Then it will be enough to put a bag of soil on the balcony and that's it. Then the soil is returned to the warmth for 7-10 days and then again put out in 20-degree frost. The procedure is performed 2-3 times. If the thermometer hardly drops to -5 at night, then you will have to use the freezer.
The second method: calcination
In this case, the soil is heated. There are 2 options - in the oven and in a water bath. Both are equally good at helping to get rid of diseases and pests. In the first case, the soil is poured with boiling water, and then put into an oven heated to 90 degrees for 30 minutes.
You can use a microwave, but then you will have to pack the soil into bags of up to 1 liter or glass jars.
It is more difficult to process the soil in a water bath - you will need a cloth bag, a colander and a saucepan of suitable volume. Place the bag with soil in the colander and hold it over boiling water for 30-40 minutes. It is important to observe the temperature regime. If you exceed the threshold of 100 degrees, you can completely sterilize the soil.
Method three: disinfectants
The best option is potassium permanganate. The easiest way: prepare a pink solution in warm water, water the soil generously, and after a few minutes water it with clean water. But in this case, beneficial microorganisms also risk dying. To revive the environment, you will have to add bioadditives - "Baikal M", "Siyanie", phosphobacterin, azotobacterin or their analogues.
Method four: biopreparations
This is the most democratic option, when both the soil is disinfected and pathogens die. The best preparations are trichodermin and phytosporin. They can be added to the soil after any of the above disinfection methods.
And lastly! The most important thing is not to forget to treat the container, especially the one that was used for planting last season.
