james76110
Seedling
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 5
I'm considering using diluted lime sulphur (1:30) for treating my used bonsai soil. Has anyone tried this?
Treatment of used bonsai soil.
- Thread starter james76110
- Start date
Danonito
Yamadori
what i've seen people do (and I also follow the same practice) is wait till the weather is warm , dry the soil completely in the sun, sift it in sizes and discard the leftover fine material. Provided that the majority of the soil is already inorganic, there is no real need to treat it in my opinion unless its coming from a sick tree, in which case you should just discard it completely to be safe.
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
You can bake it in an oven after sifting it to get rid of fine.
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
I would not use lime sulfur on soil. It contains too much minerals.
I put my soil out in the rain, then let it dry and sift the dirt out.
Most fungal spores can survive dry heat up to 110°C, and cooking your soil hotter than that might crack the particles.
So I don't re-use soil from sick plants, at all.
I put my soil out in the rain, then let it dry and sift the dirt out.
Most fungal spores can survive dry heat up to 110°C, and cooking your soil hotter than that might crack the particles.
So I don't re-use soil from sick plants, at all.
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
Nope, I just leave it outside on sieve boxes for a few months and them sift it out and store it in a bucket.
bwaynef
Masterpiece
You might notice that people go to some trouble to keep lime sulphur off of soil when its applied to the rest of the tree. That's probably instructive.
Zerotol is OMRI listed and to my understanding breaks down quickly once applied. Being mostly peroxide, it breaks down to water and oxygen, neither of which are harmful in soils.
Zerotol is OMRI listed and to my understanding breaks down quickly once applied. Being mostly peroxide, it breaks down to water and oxygen, neither of which are harmful in soils.
Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
Id prefer an aluminum pan on a BBQ grill to doing it in my house
WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
I just treated 2 batches yesterday and have another 3 to do today. Mine is a mix of pumice, Permatil (heat expanded slate) and composted pine bark. I used a large disposable aluminum turkey roaster pan, put in about 3” of used soil, and cooked it on the grill for 30 minutes. Bonsai Jack recommends 30 min at 200 degrees but I couldn't keep my grill below 300 so that’s what I used. After cooling I put it in a clean dry 5 gallon bucket from Lowes. The heat treatment should kill just about anything in the soil and also got rid of all the left over organic matter except for a few large bark chips. So now all I have to do is add back some sifted pine bark and it’s ready for repotting which also began 2 days ago.
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
I am thinking about using my electric smoker. 225 deg F 12 hours should kill most everything.
AnacortesSteve
Yamadori
- Messages
- 80
- Reaction score
- 92
I put my old substrate in a big tub that I use to mix my grow mix, which I don't use in potted bonsai. I then add more pine bark, pumice and composted manure. Remember there are a lot of good fungus in there too and this helps the younger 1 year old to 3 year old trees grow. These are in #3 air pots so I don't worry as much about drainage.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Skip the lime sulfur. If you really really want to re-use bonsai soil put relatively dried out soil in a black plastic garbage bag. Leave the bag in the sun all summer--don't open it. shift the soil every couple of weeks. Should be sterile from the heat by the end of the summer.
Tieball
Masterpiece
Similar. I put old substrate and soil in unused wooden boxes and cover with a black tarp. I just place the full boxes together and cover with the tarp held down by rocks wherever needed and keep it in a full sun location. Periodically, when I remember, I use a trowel to shift the material around and cover it back up. I usually leave it covered for several weeks as every day isn’t sunny for me. After that it’s open for use.
Deep Sea Diver
Imperial Masterpiece
We water wash, heat treat ours and sieve. Batch awaiting heat treatment. Fast and back in action asap.
Cheers
DSD sends
Cheers
DSD sends
For years I’ve used deep baking trays and 20min @ 200’c in the oven but A it stinks and B our new fan oven will blow perlite dust everywhere….not good.
After LOTS of head scratching I finally settled on trying an electric rice cooker to steam the soil! I picked up a 2L one for £5, bit small but I can run it in the garden as a bonus…
After LOTS of head scratching I finally settled on trying an electric rice cooker to steam the soil! I picked up a 2L one for £5, bit small but I can run it in the garden as a bonus…
I just found this, very useful:
Heat treatment of soil for plant propagation
Describes the importance of heat to sterilize soil
phytosphere.com
Michael P
Omono
Studies of soil solarization for agriculture show that higher temperatures are achieved with clear plastic instead of black.
Deep Sea Diver
Imperial Masterpiece
Great article!. Pretty spot on, covering all the bases. Short of being a bonsai oriented article.
Actually using a rice cooker is ingenious! Love to see images and results. I see a 64 cup in the local hardware that we could try if your results turn out positive.
Using newly washed medias in an oven ( we use 450F / 90 minutes) can be odiferous if the media has remaining organic material. The high heat also hardens up the media a notch.
Good rinsing usually helps an awful lot. Most batches we bake often have only a mild smell. It is not for everyone! It helps the my better half does bonsai too.
The high heat causes a long phase of steaming. Akin to a rice cooker
Never mentioned we always stir the media at the 3/4 point. That was to
Never heated perlite. Akadama, pumice, lava, marble and kanuma are all we recycle. Grose mixes with perlite are near impossible to rinse easily.
Looking forward to seeing the results.
Cheers
DSD sends
Actually using a rice cooker is ingenious! Love to see images and results. I see a 64 cup in the local hardware that we could try if your results turn out positive.
Using newly washed medias in an oven ( we use 450F / 90 minutes) can be odiferous if the media has remaining organic material. The high heat also hardens up the media a notch.
Good rinsing usually helps an awful lot. Most batches we bake often have only a mild smell. It is not for everyone! It helps the my better half does bonsai too.
The high heat causes a long phase of steaming. Akin to a rice cooker
Never mentioned we always stir the media at the 3/4 point. That was to
Never heated perlite. Akadama, pumice, lava, marble and kanuma are all we recycle. Grose mixes with perlite are near impossible to rinse easily.
Looking forward to seeing the results.
Cheers
DSD sends
BrianBay9
Masterpiece
Around here used soil in any container is going to get over 200 F every day, all summer long. Last year we had 60 days over 100 F.
Deep Sea Diver
Imperial Masterpiece
Pretty hot!
( btw we are talking about over 200C which is over 400F. )
Cheers
DSD sends
( btw we are talking about over 200C which is over 400F. )
Cheers
DSD sends
BrianBay9
Masterpiece
Well crap, 200 C will melt most plastic. Why so hot? 100 C will kill almost all mold and fungal spores. Some heat resistant bacterial spores might survive for a while, but not extended exposure.
Last edited:
