For seeds to germinate, sterile conditions must be created. In this case, the risk of developing fungal and bacterial infections and mold is reduced. Purchased soil needs to be treated if there is no confidence in its quality. The mixture you have made yourself must also be disinfected. There are several ways to disinfect soil.
Freezing in winter
If you need a lot of seedlings, summer residents usually use soil from their garden for sowing. During the season, the soil at a summer cottage can become infected with various diseases, and pest larvae hide in it.
The easiest way to get rid of pathogens is to freeze the soil for 3-4 days, taking it outside or to the balcony. In autumn, dry soil is poured into a bag and stored in a barn or basement. As soon as the temperature drops to minus 15–20 °C, the soil is exposed to frost. After this, the bag must be brought into a warm place to allow weed seeds and pest larvae to awaken.
This cycle is repeated 2-3 times. The only disadvantage of this method is that freezing does not destroy late blight pathogens. Land contaminated with late blight is subjected to heat treatment. Purchased land from an unknown manufacturer also needs to be frozen. Unscrupulous agricultural firms may skip the stage of soil disinfection in order to reduce the cost of its production.
Calcination in the oven or microwave
Purchased or pre-prepared soil is poured onto a metal baking sheet in a layer up to 5 cm thick and poured with boiling water. You need enough water to slightly moisten the soil. After this, the baking sheet is placed in the oven and kept there at a temperature of 70-90 ° C for half an hour. Higher thermal exposure is unacceptable, as it will lead to mineralization of the soil, which will deteriorate its quality.
Heat treatment will destroy all pests and microorganisms. It should be carried out 1.5-2 weeks before sowing seeds for seedlings. After this, the earth is left at room temperature. In the time remaining before sowing, the soil microflora will be completely restored.
Instead of an oven, you can use a microwave oven for the procedure, reducing the processing time to 8 minutes (at medium power). The earth is first placed in a fabric bag and turned over once during the steaming process. If the volume of soil is small, calcination of the soil is carried out in 3–4 minutes at high power.
Steam treatment
You can choose another heat treatment method, such as a water bath. It is considered more gentle, as it will not damage the soil. Additionally, the soil is saturated with moisture. Steaming is conveniently carried out in a colander, which is placed over a pan of boiling water.
During the cultivation process, the soil is mixed. Steam exposure time is 10 minutes. Then, just as after calcination, the soil must stand for some time so that beneficial soil microorganisms can multiply in it.After this, you can start sowing the seeds.
Disinfection with potassium permanganate solution and fungicides
Using potassium permanganate is a simple and quick way to disinfect soil. The finished solution should have a bright pink color. The exact dosage is 3 g of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water, but you can also focus on the color of the resulting composition. To increase the effectiveness of the solution, use hot water. Before processing, the soil is placed in a colander. Then it is spilled and the excess liquid is allowed to drain.
In addition, you can use biological fungicides and preparations to improve soil health:
- "Fitosporin-M";
- "Baikal Em-1";
- "Renaissance";
- "Zamair".
The main active ingredient in them is beneficial bacteria. When they get into the ground, they actively develop and suppress pathogenic microflora. Watering with solutions of preparations is carried out 2–3 weeks before sowing the seeds.
Tilling the soil before sowing does not take much time, but brings real benefits. Do not neglect this stage of preparing the soil for sowing. Seed treatment also plays an important role. Both measures taken together guarantee the health and normal development of culture in the future.
