Do you get as terrified as I do at the sight of every bag or bale of medium entering your cultivation facility? Do you cleanse your medium before integrating it into the grow? What problems have you dealt with in the past because of foreign media? Let’s chat cleansing!
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I always flush my hydroton,new or old, with 220 degree water and my plastics, rubbers, and etc with 160 degree water and some things bleach. I have never had a problem before because I keep my nutrient mix chilled, and I keep a sterile environment. I never have any old or fallen leaves on my tables. What really started my sterile practices was simply looking at post from other people on various message boards and reading. So I basically learned from other peoples mistakes, or knowledge they were passed on.
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Have you ever used any kind of H202 or enzyme cleanse processes?
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Good point… treatment of new media is a cost effective preventative procedure; especially when unsure of the source or dealing with a new supplier. Heat is effective but somewhat limited unless reaching and holding autoclave conditions. The use of peracetic acid works great and is cost effective. Follow directions for ‘soil drench’ to determine dilution ratios of your chosen product. The advantages I see of H2O2 sterilization is it WILL destroy bacterial/fungal spores which heating (short of autoclave conditions) will not.
Just remember that after treatment you have a ‘sterile’ medium and you should inoculate with your favorite beneficials a couple times after introducing your plants…JMHO and Good Luck!!
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That is all great advice, Bob! Thanks for your input!
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