cleaning used leca

[Phal grower]

Like the title says I just want to clean and prep some used leca that held at least a couple plants that had scale. So would you use bleach? what %? Or maybe boil? I just want to make shure I kill the little freeloaders. Thanks.

[billc]

A while back I remember reading someone had baked their leca at 300-350 degrees for a while. Can't remember if it actually worked for them. I wouldn't soak it in bleach, unless you were going to flush it a Zillion times. Bleach and roots are not a good combination.

Bill

[Tsuchibuta]

Do you have a pressure cooker? You could pressure cook them to sterilize them as well.

[Phal grower]

Thats a good point Bill, that bleach would be hard to flush out of the leca. My oven is'nt working well either thats why I was thinking maybe just boil it. I'll try to do some more research, maybe I missed something somewhere.

[Merlyn]

I think boiling would fix their wagon !!! Not many things can live through that !

[silken]

I would think boiling for a good 10 or 15 mins would be fine. That's how you sterilize jars for making preserves. And scale could not survive boiling temps. I boil my Leca before re-using.

[Phal grower]

Great, I feel pretty good about boiling now to kill those lil blankety blanks. Thanks.

[Ray]

Actually, boiling does not kill all bacteria, but the pressure cooker is a good idea.

I take the slow approach:

1. Let it dry thoroughly
2. "Winnow" it in a breeze or blast of a fan to get rid of dried organic matter
3. Soak for several days with a bleach or Physan solution.
4. Rinse thoroughly, and you're ready to go. If you are interested in removing mineral deposits, after the disinfectant, soak for several days in water containing calcium nitrate and/or Epsom salts.

[keithrs]

You can bake it and clean your oven at the same time.

[Phal grower]

Ray. So if boiling doesn't kill all bacteria then am I safe to assume that a virus could survive as well? What % bleach solution would kill everything, and what do you think it would take, as far as a rinse-soak, to get all the bleach out compleatly? Thanks.