Sterilizing regular potting soil

[Laserbeak]

I have this big strawberry planter that I had to remove from outside and took all the plants out of it. It then languished in a corner for a while and started growing mold, having flies reproduce in it, and other nasty stuff. The soil was brand new, so I didn't want to throw it away so I put it in a two gallon bucket and dropped into a pressure canner with about two gallons of water surrounding it to sterilize it. It is still coming up to pressure, I guess it takes a long time because of the amount of wet soil that's in it.

For those who know about pressure cookers and canners, how long do you think it needs to remain at high pressure to get rid of all these nasties?

[Leafmite]

No idea. I usually bake soil in the oven if it needs to be sterile and I want to reuse it. I line the pans with foil and bake them at 400'F for about an hour, then take them out, dump the dirt into the freshly bleached pot and then do the next batch.

[Laserbeak]

As far as I understand, the only way to be sure (other than nuking it from orbit ) is pressure cooking/autoclaving. Then superheated steam at double the atmospheric pressure is forced into every nook and cranny of the material.

You definitely need one if you ever want to grow mushrooms or other fungi. Plants are a little more forgiving and can defend themselves better.

[Leafmite]

I don't grow mushrooms so the baking method works well for me. I do admit, unless there is an obvious concern, I don't sterilize the soil. Yours does seem to be a most compelling candidate for it, though.

[Laserbeak]

This isn't for mushrooms, just regular plants. But the soil was really nasty.

I ended up processing it for 3 hours at 15 lbs/sq in. pressure so whatever was in there should have been killed ten times over.

[Joseia]

I started to sterilize potting soil after the time I went to mix up a batch and found something that looked like a slime mold growing on top of the soil. If i had used that without sterilization, it would have been game over, man, game over!