Cleaning pots etc.

Hi All,

Do I need any special kind of cleaning agent to clean the pots I have used this ready for next, do I just use washing up liquid?

Rusty

 

I just rinse mine in cold water and store them. I've had no problems with plant failure.

 

It is a good way to operate helps cut down on fungal attacks. Lemon scented washing up ...stolen unashamedly from the under sink cupboard.

 

tesco baby sterilising fluid (costs a pound for 1.25 litres) .... dilute 15ml to 2 litres of water ... soak, then rise well with fresh water

 

I've adopted this practice this year for the first time. I never used to bother cleaning pots before reuse, but seeing as I was having my first ever large(r) scale go at raising plants from seed, I thought I'd have a go at doing it right.

In my heated propagator, the first batch came out without issue. The second came out with a bit of mildew, and by the third, within a couple of days the whole lot were just covered in mildew. Quite obviously the fungi had got a good foothold in there. So once that batch was out, I sterilised the propagator and all the used pots. The next batch in there got no mildew at all, so that's what I do now.

I used some sterilising powder that I got from the home brew shop. You put a spoonful of it in a a couple of pints of water and it makes a fairly potent disinfectant but without leaving any residue.

 

I use a Jeyes Fluid dip rince, After washing in washing up liquid

Mainly because I got a 5Lt can of Jeyes for £7 at the Sunday market
Along with a 15Lt drum of Sodium Chlorate weed killer for £10

The Sodium Chlorate is old stuff, as
A. I understood it was now banned
B. It did not have the fire retardent label on

It certainly works though as I put it on next doors ground elder garden.
Their side along my border, and now there is 2' of clear ground :-)




Jack McH

 

Isn't sodium chloride table salt? If that's right, then what's the difference between that and sodium chlorate? (I'm no chemist )

 

I accept that it's 2 ft of clear ground Jack, but apart from plastic flowers, what can you put in it?

 

It is their garden NOT MINE :-)

Jack McH

 

I wash them in washing up liquid in a large trug , then rinse in a Jeyes fluid solution. Going to do it very thoroughly this year , as I had a fungal disease wipe out quite a few of my seedlings - not one salvia left
Now Jeyes is very expensive £7 a litre from Wilkos . As Clueless suggested would sterilising solution be OK for pots ? I used to use Milton for my homebrew, that was 25 years ago !

 

I usually rinse them in some cold water to take off any soil, then put them in a tub with a mix of household bleach and water and leave them to soak for a few hours (or days!) and then wash them as I would anything else ie by hand in the washing up bowl, hot soapy water or if I have enough of them to make it worthwhile, run them on a quick cycle through the dishwasher. I do make sure they dry properly and if it's sunny I spread them in the sun before stacking just to make sure they're absolutely dry. I haven't had any problems with any I've reused carrying disease, having said that I don't think I'd bother with all that if the plants previously in the pot had had any sign of infection either.

 

The active ingredient in Tesco's (etc.) liquid baby sterilizing/Milton fluid is Sodium Hypochlorite, exactly the same stuff that's in cheap thin bleach (5% Sodium Hypochlorite) which costs a mere fraction (29p for 2 litres) of the price of expensive baby products and is what I use (diluted) for sterilizing. I tend to see mention of bleach solution for sterilizing gardening equipment more on U.S. than U.K. websites. And it doesn't stink like Jeyes Fluid does.


http://www.milton-tm.com/frequently_asked_questions.html#1

So 400ml of Tesco Value cheap thin bleach costing less than 12p is the equivalent of one litre of Milton Fluid costing £2.39 @ Tescos.

I seem to recall that Milton is twice as strong as Tesco's own brand sterilizer, so 250ml of thin bleach costing less than 8p is the equivalent of a 1.25 litre bottle of Tesco's stuff costing £1.

 

I understand Jack. And it appears they 'ain't into gardening so it won't stop them from enjoying the "natural" look form of garden ,

 

10% Bleach solution it is then , thanks Scrungee
Daphne and Oggie have the answer..............