Physical Means. Heat is the only practical means of treating soil physically. Complete treatment, or sterilization, requires heating soil to 2120 F. Partial treatment, or pasteurization, requires heat of 140 to 1600F.
Heat. Heating the soil is very effective and the soil can be used immediately after cooling, unlike chemically treated soil. Many plant pathogens are killed by short exposures to high temperatures. Most plant pathogens can be killed by temperatures of 140°F (60°C) for 30 minutes.
Additionally, the contact kill delivered by the vinegar herbicide affects soil microbes and soil pH, though studies show these effects are often minimal and short-lived. Yet, some effects can be long-term for the occasional unlucky amphibian or insect hiding in your targeted weeds.
Bacterial predators, including bacteria-feeding nematodes, protists, bacteria (Bdellovibrio and like organisms, Lysobacter, and myxobacteria), and bacteriophages are responsible for bacterial turnover in soils that lead to many ecosystem services.
Sterilizing Soil with Steam
Steaming is considered one of the best ways to sterilize potting soil and should be done for at least 30 minutes or until the temperature reaches 180 degrees F.
The use of solar, dry or steam heat is the most effective non-chemical means to disinfect soil. The time to treat soil is before seeding or transplanting. Soil to be treated must be easily crumbled and be without clods or large pieces of plant debris. Soil must also have proper moisture.
Some common farming practices like tillage, excessive fertilizer and pesticide applications and monocropping can kill microbes in the soil.
It is important to note that there is no cure for bacterial wilt, and infected plants will need to be removed and destroyed.
Bacillus species dominate the bacterial population in soil and are numerous. They are followed by Cocci and Spirillum species. Winogradsky (1925) has classified soil microorganisms on the basis of ecological characteristics.
Mulching with compost can help increase the population of beneficial soil bacteria. Compost tea, if aerated correctly, can boost those populations as well.
Even though vinegar is an acid, it breaks down quickly in the soil and, therefore, is not likely to accumulate enough to affect soil pH for more than a few days. Vinegar causes a rapid burn to plant tissue of susceptible species, so unintended injury is quite likely without knowing more information.
But those effects depend in part on how long the vinegar solution is in contact with a particular surface, says Jason Tetro, a microbiologist in Edmonton, Alberta, and author of “The Germ Files.” “You need at least five minutes for killing bacteria and 30 minutes for viruses.”
(2010) reported that soil air-drying and re-wetting may kill up to 70% of the total soil microbial biomass. Reduction in microbial biomass following a DRW stress is attributed to the rapid hydration of microbial cells.
Physical Means. Heat is the only practical means of treating soil physically. Complete treatment, or sterilization, requires heating soil to 2120 F. Partial treatment, or pasteurization, requires heat of 140 to 1600F.
Options for treating contaminated soil include:
Chemical oxidation converts contaminated soils into non-hazardous soils. Soil stabilisation involves the addition of immobilizing agents to reduce a contaminants' leachability. Physical methods, like soil washing, use water to separate or remove contaminants.
In a single gram of soil, there can be billions of bacteria. There are an estimated 60,000 different bacteria species, most which have yet to be even named, and each has its own particular roles and capabilities. Most live in the top 10cm of soil where organic matter is present.
Soil bacteria are enumerated, and potentially cultured and identified by dilution plating. Here, a soil sample is serially diluted in water, and then dispersed onto agar growth plates. The resulting colonies are then counted.
The method consists in incorporating easily decomposable organic materials into the soil, followed by irrigation to saturation and soil cover with impermeable plastic. Cereal brans, molasses, ethanol, and vegetable wastes are the main sources of carbon used in ASD. The soil remains covered from 3 to 10 weeks.
Zap the soil
Get rid of weeds, fungi, bacteria, and other nasties in the soil by heating it up. All you need is some clear plastic and the power of the sun.
Survival of disease
The wilt bacterium is able to survive for periods up to 2 to 3 years in bare fallow soils, and for longer periods in soils cropped to non-solanaceous crops.
The size and composition of the soil microbiome is mainly controlled by two groups of predators: protists and nematodes. Protists are tiny single-celled organisms, while nematodes are tiny worms and the most numerous animals on Earth. Protists and nematodes together weight more than all the other animals on Earth!
Neutrophils provide the first line of defense of the innate immune system by phagocytosing, killing, and digesting bacteria and fungi.