Oops

I had a "learning experience" last week. It's time to plant my fall cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, etc.), and I wanted to re-use some old transplant pots. I washed them with the hose, then I set out to sanitize them. Trying to be organic, I avoided using a chemical sanitizer and tried to harness the power of the sun. "Solarization" is a technique that uses a sheet of clear plastic over a garden item to raise the heat high enough to kill all the bacteria and fungus spores on the pots.

I laid out all of the pots to be solarized (over 300), placed the plastic sheet over them, and weighed it down with rocks. Then I sat back and waited a few days to let the sun work its magic.

Did it work? Well, we had temperatures in excess of 100 three or four of the days the pots were out. I'm pretty sure the heat was high enough to kill the nasties, but it got a little higher than I intended. Just look at the pictures:
The layout--all the pots


Close-up. These used to be square.

Sometimes you can learn from the mistakes other people make, and sometimes you can be the other people. This week, I am the other people. Oh well.

1 comments:

Pam said...

Nice to know there is the "other people". I thought I was the only "other people"! Sorry about your pots.

Post a Comment