Heat sterilisation

Abstract

Practically all of the soil-borne pests and diseases which attack seedlings and pot-grown plants can be eradicated by heat treatment of the materials before they are used for making the composts. This method of controlling soil pathogens was first used by glasshouse growers at the end of the nineteenth century and rapidly increased in importance until the 1950s, when virtually all the mineral soil used for making potting composts was heat sterilised. Since this time, the increasing use of loamless composts made from materials such as peat, perlite, vermiculite, plastics, etc., which are virtually free of pathogens and therefore do not require sterilising, has meant that heat sterilisation is not such an important factor in the preparation of pot plant composts as it once was.