Soil Steriliser
stevebowtie
Posts: 5
My Dad used to have a home-made soil steriliser that he used to make seed compost and special soil for his chrysanthemums. It was a cuboid shaped, open box, the ends and base of which were wood and the long sides metal. This box slid onto two L shaped brass rails which were connected to the mains electricity supply, so that when switched on, one side of the box became positive and the other negative. To use the device the soil in the box was well wetted with water, the box slid onto the rails (which were fixed to but isolated from the base of a bigger box), the hinged end of the outer box closed which enabled the power to be turned on and the consumption read from an ammeter. The resistance through the wet soil caused the temperature to rise to the point where the water started to get hot and evaporate. As the water evaporated the resistance increased and the soil got hotter. Eventually (usually overnight) so much water would evaporate that the current couldn't flow any more. The ammeter said zero. Job done!
Does anyone have one of these or the plans for one please? I think he found the plans in a gardening magazine of the time but we're talking about the late 1950s or early 60s
Sorry about the long description!
Posts
Sounds like a bit of a shocker!
Sounds like a fire hazard to me! I think in these modern times it would be considered a bit too dodgy. I googled soil steriliser & got this . http://www.thermoforce.co.uk/soil_sterilisers.htm
I am sure there are others & at least they would have a thermal cut out to prevent overheating and a fire. My uncle used to sterilise his soil by balancing trays on top of the steam boiler he used to cook up the pigswill. Wouldn't want to do that these days either.
used to use an old pigswill boiler to sterilse soil
it was the round type and i used to put water in the bottom put a dustbin lid upside down over water and then put my soil on top of the lid
i then lit the little fire underneath the boiler the fire heated the water above it and the steam found its way through the soil sterilising the soil.
simple but effective
For small quantities, couldn't you use a microwave, or one of the steam sterilisers used for baby bottles?
I guess it would be considered too risky these days, mainly because it required a modicum of that quality which is in such short supply nowadays - common sense.The beauty of it was that we could make two cubic feet at a time and it kept the unpleasant pong in the garage. Best of all it killed all the slug eggs.
Thank you for the replies.
Steve
If you can find anyone who has access to an autoclave (local school or uni) they could do you cartloads. The other alternative would be dry heat sterilisation. In the oven with the entire load (right through the middle) at 160°C for two hours.