Hmmm, this brings a couple of questions to mind: When using the BAKE method, what spices do you prefer to cook with? When using the Kettle Method, are you more of a Green Tea, or Oolong? So far, I skip the microwave method. mostly, mine is too small, to make it effective. It would take an awful lot of time to Zap all the starter I need. Frankly, I love BOTH methods and now use the Kettle Method, almost always.
Soooooooo Baking…. I’m a cinnamon and nutmeg girl all the way…. Kettle…. Oh I get my tea loose and mixed from a little shop in Edinburgh, their lady grey blue flower is my go to!
Here on the other side of the Pond, we have a little (maybe NOT so little) shop, @@eliandkate called Atlantic Spice. Rows and rows of either Bulk spice, smaller bottles, etc. And the entire back wall? Small tea bags, medium, size bulk loose, and AMAZING large bins of BULK. My daughters LOVE Tea, so, there's dozens of flavours, here in our pantry.
Great info for pest-free mixes. Another option is to open your greenhouse door when the temperature falls to -25C and freeze everything... oh wait, that's for my greenhouse. 😄
Thank you Eli, I'm sitting here on New year's Day and realise I can't sow my peppers in the seed compost that's been laying outside all summer then I remembered you sterilising your compost so here I am doing a batch in the microwave whilst listening to Elvis on Radio 2.🌞 HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎄
no that sounds like a fabulous afternoon... I tell you what... as a reward for being all grown up and not rushing to sow, I'll post a new video for you later today :D Just for you, shhhh don't tell anyone!
I'm watching this as I start to prep for spring bulbs, I've only got a few pots which I'll plant bulbs and direct seeds too later in summer, thanks for the tips!
There's peat land a few miles from my house. Years ago, I harvested some to mix with my compost for sowing my seeds. My windowsill in the conservatory was line with pots and trays. A few days later, the conservatory was full of Midges, and my wife threw the lot out. I was read the riot act.
The forestry down the road dug out drainage trenches so I had some peat to mix into my manure and it grew fantastic Strawberries, and perfect for acidic loving plants and my tomatoes did fantastic on it but wouldn't be a fan of having a midge cloud in my kitchen.
There is a fourth way, for those who have a wall paper steamer sitting doing nothing in the shed, it wouldn't take much to knock something together, say a couple of containers, and do bigger batches. Keep the videos coming.
Love the humour on this, made me chuckle, very entertaining as well as informative. I was just recycling some old soil this week using the kettle method, I had just seen your vid and so I was wondering the whole time how you did it in the microwave.
Thank you , Eli . I did not know the microwave method . Yes, I too was intrigued on the last video . I use the boiling water , but will be changing to Micro now. 👍
I've used boiling water to sterilise seed raising mix. Also the heating/baking method. I don't sterilise potting mix as I want as much soil biology as possible in there - for the outdoors of course, not indoors. Nice info. Cheers!
Never done that Eli but found your video interesting. I'm hoping the freezing temperatures have killed off the beasies at the allotment 🤔🤞 Lovely potting benches 😍 Happy gardening 🍀🥀🌻🌷🌱 ❤️
Oops! You get it all. In S Wales today similar experience. Now watching the Seed Starting Mix video. I’m relatively new to gardening. A relatively fit guy at 60 who had a spell in hospital re replacement titanium disc last August. This is when I discovered you both, watching your videos in the early hours during the week whilst convalescing. So this year is my real first year gardening. Thank you both for sharing your experience, skills and personalities
I’m having a big week of learning. First it was needing to brew tea to sow chillies and now it’s a microwave for potting mixes. Here was me thinking I only need to turn on my domestic goddess persona after harvesting. Soooo much to learn. Great video. Thank you. Love the new staging. It’s not expensive either! 😊❤
@@eliandkate only a domestic goddess one, where it comes to cooking up a treat in the kitchen (and using every single cooking utensil we own in the process) I am by no means a treat on the eye, ethereal being. 🤣 🤪
I'm always too lazy/impatient to sterilize the compost in the microwave etc.., what I usually do is every week or two just give a good drenching in the pots with the neem oil mixture. That seems to help :)
I’m usually a microwave-r as well for smaller batches but this year I tried something new. I don’t usually go the boiling water method because I don’t find I can add enough water for it to be effective (without making soup). This year I embraced the soup. Big old tub, half a bag of compost and 18l of boiling water. It was hot for hours. Then I added a big coir brick which generally is pretty sterile and that soaked up all the water. Came out pretty good. I’ve got about 100l in one hit. Time will tell if it’s worked though
Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode and the soup cook said, “No soup for you!” 😅 Oh, I used coir before and it can mold, then I read about salts in it. I had to throw out a couple flats. I never used it before and know Now it holds a lot of water and could have used a ton of perlite.
@@Tokyo_Titus when I say soup, I really mean soup 😂 it’s like 10x the volume of compost - I think that might be writing cheques vermiculite can’t cash 🤣 I did it specifically because 18l was the exact amount of water needed to expand the coir. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced much of an issue with growing in coir personally but I guess we all grow in different environments with different personal habits 🤷♂️
Eli I have moved on from neutral seed starting mix to Fox Farms soil. The Happy Frog and Oceans Forest blends have been fantastic and my results are much better. They sell it over there in your piece of the world so give it a shot and show us your results.
What great tips, I’m not sure if I’m too lazy to do it though. I tend to not be that organised (wish I was though). Your channel has been so helpful to me since I found it a couple of weeks ago. It’s super helpful because I live near Stirling so your weather/conditions are identical to mine . Thanks again 😊
Was a wee bit worried about using my microwave 😮 but was just fed up living with knats in the house with my early sowings !! Have given it a try ! Fold over the bags don’t seal them …otherwise they pop with the heat in the microwave😮 !!! What a fright !! But all good .. have learned 😅. So let’s see 🤞 ….. no knats !!😊
😂. My family all left for work so it’s time to bring the small bag of potting soil into the kitchen to bake before planting up house plants to give away tomorrow before I’m living in a jungle. 😂The warm dirt smell will be gone before they’re home because I’m off work today and plan to bake cookies. 😊
Ah that will be why I have little flies in the kitchen. I've recently re-potted the herbs in store bought compost! Maybe I should re-pot with sterilised compost.. Definitely will do this for toms and peppers for starting in the house. No more wee beasties, I will not be popular with the spiders now!
I've been sterilizing my soil in the bbq for a few years. Some say to only pasteurize and DO NOT sterilize. I don't see the value of that because I can add fresh compost to repopulate the soil with beneficial micro organisms. Thanks for a good idea with the microwave.
I knew a grower who used an oven that could fit a chair in to sterilize his soil. Obviously he needed something that size for 4 greenhouses with cuttings and seed. On a hot sunny day, a black container should get hot enough to get rid of most of the "nasties" and doesn't need power. I will be doing something like this to get those slug eggs toasted.
I use the boiling water method too. It takes care of both moisture and nasties. Thursday we got 40 cm of snow in two hours. And it's still coming down. Now we have milder temps coming, so it will all quadruple in weight. Then it will freeze and everything will get super hard, slippery, AND full of deep tracks. My legs will go bye-bye.
@@eliandkate It was almost impossible to see anything past your hand, so yeah. It came down. I'm just glad the wind didn't get any harsher. And I'm glad I don't drive :D
hi both of you i wan to try the microwave way can i do it put in a large microwave bowl or are the bags a better way to do it? just means ive got to fetch some bags lol! ty for this brill info knats are doing my head in!!! xx
Very interesting. Is this being done with your new store bought seed starting soil mixes, or compost out of your gardens? Do you think having the bags of soil out in the cold (-20s C ) for a week or so would have the same affect? It would be easier for me, and I’ve got weeks of fridges weather still to come. Thanks for letting me know. ❤
Let’s try this again! On Thursday this week you have been showing a Live video coming up. I want to join you, but I am time zone challenged. What time are you sitting down in your world to go Live? I ‘should’ be able to figure out what time to sit down in my world then! And yes I have to sterilize seedling mix as well this week, but I am painting the living room!!🙆🏼♀️
Also, I heard that if you boil water in a microwave and use it to water plants, the plants die. If this is true, it seems a microwave would harm the seed starting mix. I’ve never tried it but that’s what I heard.
I always did the boiling water thing but you have me thinking now. I have a big stand up smoker with 5 shelves that are almost 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep. It would hold a big amount of soil at once. I wonder if a little smoke would be harmful to seedlings? Gonna have to look into this.
Mmmm, I've never sterilised my compost but I remember watching Ronald do his and wondering if I should 🤔 Now I'm watching you and wondering if I should 😂 You said you had bad seedling success last year, did you not sterilise your compost last year? Love the microwave method. Thanks for the info. Take care 😊
Thank you Eli for your tips sterilising the compost. Just a little Q, the compost you are sterilising, has it already perlite in it and what kind of compost are you using?
Could I use a giant glass mixing bowl? It's big enough that it takes up the whole microwave. I'm thinking that I won't fill it up but about halfway and I'll make a big well in the middle. Especially if I can put some water in it and make it about the same thickness all around. Just think of a nice beautiful Oreo pie crust. I'm a baker so I know I can do it up, I'm just wondering is it okay? Will it hurt me to put food in the microwave after? I'm expecting that everything would be completely safe but I wanted your thoughts!
I’m guessing if you use a bowl you’ll have to adjust your zapping times as the bowl will be thicker…. Just the same as different containers affect cooking food in the microwave
Is that on a high setting in microwave Eli? And is this just your seed starting mix or do you do it with your potting compost too? Ive huge tubs i used for my potatoes, wondering if i should reuse the same compost, but nuke it first then top up with fresh compost? Or, do i just dump the lot in my garden beds and use fresh for my tatties? Theyre in 50gallon tubs, and ive got 5 of em... oh and i had near 2ft of Snow all week, split sunshine today and its all gone so, i got rest of my garlic planted ( ill with covid in Nov so garlic in very late )
On high yeah Only sterilise the seed mix and potting mix for seedlings… I don’t for the bigger plants It’s just about looking after the plants when they are little and vulnerable
IT’S TRECHEROUS OUTSIDE-STAY OUT OF THE WATER!! 😂😂 Your weather report reminds me of an old (8 yrs) TH-cam vid in Ireland where the weather report lady went viral. 😅 Look it up for a laugh. Question: You used the grill last year and got rid of it this year-Why? I thought that method was great! I Never had bugs until last year I used an open bag of soil-never again! Gnats and aphids! Tried everything and nothing worked until I took them outside to start hardening them off and sprayed with horticultural oil-that did it. I’m surprised Kate let you use the microwave for soil😅.
This is for either, although most folk would use bought compost for seed starting. Its a bit of a misconception that bought compost won’t have fungus or pest eggs etc in it, however even though the manufacturers use hot composting method (which is why it might be marked as sterilised), by the time it gets to you, it may not still be in that state. So this is something you can do to reduce the chances of problems for vulnerable seedlings
@@eliandkate thank you, i can see your point…..and on the premise of ‘eat a peck of dirt before you die’ it’s the microwave for me!…and I hope you are safe from the storm.
I've been told so many times not to sterilise my potting mixes because it kills good microorganisms as well as bad... I honestly am not sure which is best.
That makes sense, but I’m talking about the stuff for seed starting, so it’s stuff that the plants will be in for short amounts of time while they are vulnerable. I don’t sterilise anything I’m using with established plants
Hi Eli. 😱Can I ask two questions please? Do you put holes in the plastic bag before microwaving? I have read using hydrogen peroxide sterilizes the compost and wondering what you think of that method? Thanks. I find srerilizing compost super scary.😱
I don’t seal the bags so the steam can escape if needed I use hydrogen peroxide for house plants and fungus gnat but it would be really expensive to do that with all the seed mixes, so you can do the boiling water and get the same result
Microwaving soil is very slow and appears like a ridiculous task. I prefer the boiling water method because I can make larger batches. I remedy the overly wet mix issue by waiting until after the soil is sterilized to add vermiculite to the mix. This produces a perfectly moist and fluffy seed starting mix every time.
Ah but for very different purposes. This is only something we talk about doing with seed sowing and vulnerable little seedlings. When we rave about our fabulous soil life we are talking about growing plants 😀. It’s such an amazing topic, so easy to lose an afternoon reading through all the journal articles about it.
Hmmm, this brings a couple of questions to mind:
When using the BAKE method, what spices do you prefer to cook with?
When using the Kettle Method, are you more of a Green Tea, or Oolong?
So far, I skip the microwave method. mostly, mine is too small, to make it effective. It would take an awful lot of time to Zap all the starter I need.
Frankly, I love BOTH methods and now use the Kettle Method, almost always.
Soooooooo
Baking…. I’m a cinnamon and nutmeg girl all the way….
Kettle…. Oh I get my tea loose and mixed from a little shop in Edinburgh, their lady grey blue flower is my go to!
Here on the other side of the Pond, we have a little (maybe NOT so little) shop, @@eliandkate called Atlantic Spice. Rows and rows of either Bulk spice, smaller bottles, etc. And the entire back wall? Small tea bags, medium, size bulk loose, and AMAZING large bins of BULK. My daughters LOVE Tea, so, there's dozens of flavours, here in our pantry.
@@gregbluefinstudios4658 🤣🤣🤣
Great info for pest-free mixes. Another option is to open your greenhouse door when the temperature falls to -25C and freeze everything... oh wait, that's for my greenhouse. 😄
😂😂😂😂 I’ll do that next time we get those temps!!! Oh wait! 😂😂😂
Will a -7F work for freezing them? That's been our outside temp at nights.
Well, -25C is 13F, so I think you're good, lol!
Will that freeze aphids? One can hope!
Just curious where you from
The nuking method is brilliant!!! Thank you.
Hopefully it’ll make life a bit easier
Hi Eli & Kate, lovely shelving & you deserve a treat too. Great tips on how to sterilise your compost. Thanks for sharing and take care 😊
Thank you! You too!
Right. Far easier than I thought. Thank you!
Lovely potting bench!
Thank you Eli, I'm sitting here on New year's Day and realise I can't sow my peppers in the seed compost that's been laying outside all summer then I remembered you sterilising your compost so here I am doing a batch in the microwave whilst listening to Elvis on Radio 2.🌞
HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎄
no that sounds like a fabulous afternoon... I tell you what... as a reward for being all grown up and not rushing to sow, I'll post a new video for you later today :D Just for you, shhhh don't tell anyone!
I'm watching this as I start to prep for spring bulbs, I've only got a few pots which I'll plant bulbs and direct seeds too later in summer, thanks for the tips!
Awesome.
I wouldn’t bother with sterilising mixes for bulbs… I only do this for seed starting cause the seedlings are so delicate 😁
If you want to steralise compost then the microwave would certainly do the Job Eli. Good video
Was much quicker and less drama than I thought it’d be 😃😃
There's peat land a few miles from my house. Years ago, I harvested some to mix with my compost for sowing my seeds. My windowsill in the conservatory was line with pots and trays. A few days later, the conservatory was full of Midges, and my wife threw the lot out. I was read the riot act.
I would too….
The forestry down the road dug out drainage trenches so I had some peat to mix into my manure and it grew fantastic Strawberries, and perfect for acidic loving plants and my tomatoes did fantastic on it but wouldn't be a fan of having a midge cloud in my kitchen.
🐝 Thanks for the great video 🌻
You are most welcome 😍
Thankyou for posting this. Its the video I didn't know I needed!!! 🌻
Awwww, well needed is maybe a strong term but useful maybe? 😉
What lovely potting benches. Thank you for sharing how to reuse potting soil
Will be trying the microwave tip. Thanks for the details on how long to “cook” it.
I really hope it works as well as I think!!!!!
There is a fourth way, for those who have a wall paper steamer sitting doing nothing in the shed, it wouldn't take much to knock something together, say a couple of containers, and do bigger batches. Keep the videos coming.
Love the humour on this, made me chuckle, very entertaining as well as informative. I was just recycling some old soil this week using the kettle method, I had just seen your vid and so I was wondering the whole time how you did it in the microwave.
And ta dah!!! Now you know all 😂😂😂
Thank you , Eli . I did not know the microwave method . Yes, I too was intrigued on the last video . I use the boiling water , but will be changing to Micro now. 👍
👏👏👏
I've used boiling water to sterilise seed raising mix. Also the heating/baking method.
I don't sterilise potting mix as I want as much soil biology as possible in there - for the outdoors of course, not indoors.
Nice info. Cheers!
Brilliant that really helps. Thank you for the tips! 😊
You are welcome Suzanne 😄
I love the Micro wave idea and if I had a microwave I'd be cooking all I tonne of compost😂.
🤣🤣🤣
Never done that Eli but found your video interesting. I'm hoping the freezing temperatures have killed off the beasies at the allotment 🤔🤞 Lovely potting benches 😍 Happy gardening 🍀🥀🌻🌷🌱 ❤️
Ive only recently come across your channel, its great, down to earth, explanatory and fun swell, subscribed, love your stuff.
Glad to have you with us Shawn 👏👏
Thank you Eli
Hope you are both well and snug.
A bit behind with my seed planting this year, so great tip I’ll be using. Thank you again
Currently being hammered by crazy wind 😫
Oops! You get it all. In S Wales today similar experience. Now watching the Seed Starting Mix video. I’m relatively new to gardening. A relatively fit guy at 60 who had a spell in hospital re replacement titanium disc last August. This is when I discovered you both, watching your videos in the early hours during the week whilst convalescing. So this year is my real first year gardening.
Thank you both for sharing your experience, skills and personalities
@markrollings1762 oh ouch!
I have various “fixed” bits so you have my sympathies 😄
👍
Usually use the oven ,but don't often have the time. Never thought about the microwave. Thanks for the tip.
Wooohooooo hopefully this will give you options
I’m having a big week of learning.
First it was needing to brew tea to sow chillies and now it’s a microwave for potting mixes. Here was me thinking I only need to turn on my domestic goddess persona after harvesting.
Soooo much to learn. Great video. Thank you. Love the new staging. It’s not expensive either! 😊❤
Ha ha ha you have a goddess persona???
@@eliandkate only a domestic goddess one, where it comes to cooking up a treat in the kitchen (and using every single cooking utensil we own in the process)
I am by no means a treat on the eye, ethereal being. 🤣 🤪
@TheVegPlotThickens 😂😂😂 oh I don’t know… new jacket remember
@@eliandkate ha! It can’t be worse than the bag lady one. I won’t look homeless now 🙈
I'm always too lazy/impatient to sterilize the compost in the microwave etc.., what I usually do is every week or two just give a good drenching in the pots with the neem oil mixture. That seems to help :)
I’m usually a microwave-r as well for smaller batches but this year I tried something new. I don’t usually go the boiling water method because I don’t find I can add enough water for it to be effective (without making soup). This year I embraced the soup. Big old tub, half a bag of compost and 18l of boiling water. It was hot for hours. Then I added a big coir brick which generally is pretty sterile and that soaked up all the water. Came out pretty good. I’ve got about 100l in one hit. Time will tell if it’s worked though
Ha ha ha embrace the soup!!!!! I love that!!!
Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode and the soup cook said, “No soup for you!” 😅
Oh, I used coir before and it can mold, then I read about salts in it. I had to throw out a couple flats. I never used it before and know Now it holds a lot of water and could have used a ton of perlite.
@dustyflats3832 😉 yup that’s why we use it, it’s great for holding water 😂😂😂
Try vermiculite next time. It makes a more fluffy mix and absorbs the perfect amount of water.
@@Tokyo_Titus when I say soup, I really mean soup 😂 it’s like 10x the volume of compost - I think that might be writing cheques vermiculite can’t cash 🤣 I did it specifically because 18l was the exact amount of water needed to expand the coir. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced much of an issue with growing in coir personally but I guess we all grow in different environments with different personal habits 🤷♂️
my favourite sterelising method used to be an upturned bin lid on an incinerater when i had my allotment..........................brian
convenient and practical :D
Thanks for the tip.
Hope it makes a difference
Eli I have moved on from neutral seed starting mix to Fox Farms soil. The Happy Frog and Oceans Forest blends have been fantastic and my results are much better. They sell it over there in your piece of the world so give it a shot and show us your results.
What great tips, I’m not sure if I’m too lazy to do it though. I tend to not be that organised (wish I was though). Your channel has been so helpful to me since I found it a couple of weeks ago. It’s super helpful because I live near Stirling so your weather/conditions are identical to mine . Thanks again 😊
So how trashed is your garden this morning? We’re going to have to do a lot of emergency repairs before work today
@@eliandkate I was actually really lucky, the only thing blew over were my winter sown milk jugs. I hope yous haven’t been too badly affected!
thank you love the microwave idea!
It was easier than I expected
Was a wee bit worried about using my microwave 😮 but was just fed up living with knats in the house with my early sowings !!
Have given it a try ! Fold over the bags don’t seal them …otherwise they pop with the heat in the microwave😮 !!!
What a fright !! But all good .. have learned 😅. So let’s see 🤞 ….. no knats !!😊
Fingers crossed for no gnats!!!!!!!!!!!!
😁
@@eliandkate gnats! 😂🤣😂
@ScottishTraveller little gits!!!
Definitely prefer the microwave method, will have to do it when my husband is out at rugby match though.😂
🤣 we won't tell
😂. My family all left for work so it’s time to bring the small bag of potting soil into the kitchen to bake before planting up house plants to give away tomorrow before I’m living in a jungle. 😂The warm dirt smell will be gone before they’re home because I’m off work today and plan to bake cookies. 😊
🤣😂🤣😅🤣😂🤣
Ah that will be why I have little flies in the kitchen. I've recently re-potted the herbs in store bought compost! Maybe I should re-pot with sterilised compost.. Definitely will do this for toms and peppers for starting in the house. No more wee beasties, I will not be popular with the spiders now!
Ha ha ha no you will not
You'd think us Scots would have a special word for "haily snow"! Maybe even "windy haily snow" 😂
That’s it! Windy haily snow!! Maybe even bitey windy haily snow
I've been sterilizing my soil in the bbq for a few years. Some say to only pasteurize and DO NOT sterilize. I don't see the value of that because I can add fresh compost to repopulate the soil with beneficial micro organisms. Thanks for a good idea with the microwave.
Yeah I agree and it’s not like you are doing it to all your soul… it’s only for seed starting
So i can't reuse the bags and heres me thinking of making a nice mud pie 🤣
I knew a grower who used an oven that could fit a chair in to sterilize his soil. Obviously he needed something that size for 4 greenhouses with cuttings and seed.
On a hot sunny day, a black container should get hot enough to get rid of most of the "nasties" and doesn't need power.
I will be doing something like this to get those slug eggs toasted.
Unfortunately it’s never hot enough here for that
I use the boiling water method too. It takes care of both moisture and nasties. Thursday we got 40 cm of snow in two hours. And it's still coming down. Now we have milder temps coming, so it will all quadruple in weight. Then it will freeze and everything will get super hard, slippery, AND full of deep tracks. My legs will go bye-bye.
In two hours!!!?????
@@eliandkate It was almost impossible to see anything past your hand, so yeah. It came down. I'm just glad the wind didn't get any harsher. And I'm glad I don't drive :D
hi both of you i wan to try the microwave way can i do it put in a large microwave bowl or are the bags a better way to do it? just means ive got to fetch some bags lol! ty for this brill info knats are doing my head in!!! xx
If you cover it you could use a bowl… it’s about the steam 😁
@@eliandkate brill exactly what i thought ty so much! x
Great video Eli, good to see 3 ways it can be done. The microwave one looks like the easiest. Does it have to be for 4 minutes?
Technically it’s all about temperature but I didn’t wanna get all complicated
I prefer the microwave as well. I just find it more convenient and I don't like wet compost either lol
😂😂😂😂
Very interesting. Is this being done with your new store bought seed starting soil mixes, or compost out of your gardens? Do you think having the bags of soil out in the cold (-20s C ) for a week or so would have the same affect? It would be easier for me, and I’ve got weeks of fridges weather still to come. Thanks for letting me know. ❤
I can’t comment on your weather as it’s not the same for me but yeah I do this with shop bought as well
My plastic greenhouse has blown off the poles and the plastic ripped, and half my pots have rolled over!!! Thanks storm Isha😫😫
Wish we got some snow here though
It’s sounding wild out there in our garden too
I microwave mine too.
There seems to be quite a lot of folk here who do…. That definitely reassures me 😀
Would you recommend sterilisation for newly open compost/soil?
If it’s for seed sowing yup I do.
Thank you! I didn't do this but will when I pot up! would you recommend this om coco coir as well?
I do this to my seed starting mix, coco coir on its own shouldn’t need it
Let’s try this again! On Thursday this week you have been showing a Live video coming up. I want to join you, but I am time zone challenged. What time are you sitting down in your world to go Live? I ‘should’ be able to figure out what time to sit down in my world then!
And yes I have to sterilize seedling mix as well this week, but I am painting the living room!!🙆🏼♀️
It’s 8pm uk time
@@eliandkate thank you. That is what I assumed but TH-cam showed 3PM also but must of been taking my time zone into context.
Also, I heard that if you boil water in a microwave and use it to water plants, the plants die. If this is true, it seems a microwave would harm the seed starting mix. I’ve never tried it but that’s what I heard.
I’ve never heard that but can only imagine it would be an issue if you didn’t let the water cool properly first 😁
I always did the boiling water thing but you have me thinking now. I have a big stand up smoker with 5 shelves that are almost 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep. It would hold a big amount of soil at once. I wonder if a little smoke would be harmful to seedlings? Gonna have to look into this.
Hmmmm I wouldn’t put seedlings in there…. Although they’d be tasty
@@eliandkate LOL, thats true. Hey if you cant grow em, eat em!
Do you know if the plastic bags are transferring micro plastics to the soil?
No idea
Do you need to do this for new seed starting mix or only after it’s been used? I’m assuming the latter.
I do this for all seed starting mix. The bugs and bacteria can be in all growing medium, even the bags of stuff you buy
@ thank you Eli! Great info and I love your accent!
Thanks for the tips. How wet is the soil when you microwave it. Does it have to be quite moist?
Moist not wet
Can you please talk about the onions in the background? (in the greenhouse). U don't grow them from seeds? Peace ✌🏻
I do indeed grow onions from seed (there are a couple of videos on this), but I don’t think there are any onion seedlings visible in this video?
Great video as always ... can I ask please .... should you always make fresh potting mix or can you just sterilise old potting mix ? 😊😊
You absolutely can sterilise old stuff 😄
@eliandkate Thats brilliant news coz I made soooo much in the late Summer 🥰🥰
Mmmm, I've never sterilised my compost but I remember watching Ronald do his and wondering if I should 🤔 Now I'm watching you and wondering if I should 😂 You said you had bad seedling success last year, did you not sterilise your compost last year? Love the microwave method. Thanks for the info. Take care 😊
I did but a batch got mixed with unsterilised stuff and i lost everything 😢
@@eliandkate oh no, sorry to hear that 😞
It was a few weeks of stress but all good in the end.
Thank you Eli for your tips sterilising the compost. Just a little Q, the compost you are sterilising, has it already perlite in it and what kind of compost are you using?
So it’s my mix I’m sterilising, I’ve already made it up.
I just use cheap local peat free compost, nothing fancy
Thank you
Could I use a giant glass mixing bowl? It's big enough that it takes up the whole microwave. I'm thinking that I won't fill it up but about halfway and I'll make a big well in the middle. Especially if I can put some water in it and make it about the same thickness all around.
Just think of a nice beautiful Oreo pie crust. I'm a baker so I know I can do it up, I'm just wondering is it okay? Will it hurt me to put food in the microwave after? I'm expecting that everything would be completely safe but I wanted your thoughts!
I’m guessing if you use a bowl you’ll have to adjust your zapping times as the bowl will be thicker…. Just the same as different containers affect cooking food in the microwave
Is that on a high setting in microwave Eli? And is this just your seed starting mix or do you do it with your potting compost too? Ive huge tubs i used for my potatoes, wondering if i should reuse the same compost, but nuke it first then top up with fresh compost? Or, do i just dump the lot in my garden beds and use fresh for my tatties? Theyre in 50gallon tubs, and ive got 5 of em... oh and i had near 2ft of Snow all week, split sunshine today and its all gone so, i got rest of my garlic planted ( ill with covid in Nov so garlic in very late )
On high yeah
Only sterilise the seed mix and potting mix for seedlings… I don’t for the bigger plants
It’s just about looking after the plants when they are little and vulnerable
IT’S TRECHEROUS OUTSIDE-STAY OUT OF THE WATER!! 😂😂
Your weather report reminds me of an old (8 yrs) TH-cam vid in Ireland where the weather report lady went viral. 😅 Look it up for a laugh.
Question: You used the grill last year and got rid of it this year-Why? I thought that method was great!
I Never had bugs until last year I used an open bag of soil-never again! Gnats and aphids! Tried everything and nothing worked until I took them outside to start hardening them off and sprayed with horticultural oil-that did it.
I’m surprised Kate let you use the microwave for soil😅.
We actually got rid of the BBQ cause we never use it (except for the compost)
@@eliandkate I think I would have kept it🤣
Love the idea, but confused…..are you using your own compost or bought compost
This is for either, although most folk would use bought compost for seed starting.
Its a bit of a misconception that bought compost won’t have fungus or pest eggs etc in it, however even though the manufacturers use hot composting method (which is why it might be marked as sterilised), by the time it gets to you, it may not still be in that state. So this is something you can do to reduce the chances of problems for vulnerable seedlings
@@eliandkate thank you, i can see your point…..and on the premise of ‘eat a peck of dirt before you die’ it’s the microwave for me!…and I hope you are safe from the storm.
OK I have sat an watched this video 3 times what what what was the answer to eye spy 😮😂😅
🤣😂🤣😂🤣 DIRT!!!
I've been told so many times not to sterilise my potting mixes because it kills good microorganisms as well as bad... I honestly am not sure which is best.
That makes sense, but I’m talking about the stuff for seed starting, so it’s stuff that the plants will be in for short amounts of time while they are vulnerable.
I don’t sterilise anything I’m using with established plants
@@eliandkate that makes even more sense, thanks!
The microwave method seems easier 😊
I have to say, I think it might be…. I was hesitant and now I can’t understand why
Hi Eli. 😱Can I ask two questions please? Do you put holes in the plastic bag before microwaving? I have read using hydrogen peroxide sterilizes the compost and wondering what you think of that method? Thanks. I find srerilizing compost super scary.😱
I don’t seal the bags so the steam can escape if needed
I use hydrogen peroxide for house plants and fungus gnat but it would be really expensive to do that with all the seed mixes, so you can do the boiling water and get the same result
@@eliandkate Thanks Eli.👍 I'm really stressing over it. 🤔 All methods seem ultra scary but then so does the thought of the beasties. (Hello Kate👋).
There’s nothing scary so try not to worry.
And… it’s not essential, just another useful thing you can do, but absolutely not essential
@@eliandkate Thank you for your reassuring words Eli; so kind of you🙏
Microwaving soil is very slow and appears like a ridiculous task. I prefer the boiling water method because I can make larger batches. I remedy the overly wet mix issue by waiting until after the soil is sterilized to add vermiculite to the mix. This produces a perfectly moist and fluffy seed starting mix every time.
Isn't it a bit ironic that you're trying to kill off everything in the compost when others rave about preserving microscopic soil life?
Ah but for very different purposes.
This is only something we talk about doing with seed sowing and vulnerable little seedlings. When we rave about our fabulous soil life we are talking about growing plants 😀. It’s such an amazing topic, so easy to lose an afternoon reading through all the journal articles about it.
@@eliandkate Only an afternoon? Wow! I must be a slow reader! ;-)
@ApiaryManager 😂😂😂😂 or don’t get bored as quickly??