By heating you will kill all bugs, weed seeds, fungus spores and bacteria. However have you ever looked at freshly tilled garden soil. While it has plenty of creatures in it not all are bad. We do not live in a sterile world! Russ In a message dated 4/3/2013 12:13:39 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, fbiasella@watertownsavings.com writes: Hello All, I kinda do the same thing with potting soil and my home made compost. I went to the dollar store, picked up a few large aluminum roasting pans, covered and threw them in the oven until the temp reached 185 deg F. So far, so good. Fred in Cambridge MA...where someone forgot to tell April that it's April!!!! -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Dennis Kramb Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 2:47 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Was Cardamine hirsuta Sterilising potting mixture I bake commercial potting mix in an oven at 220 deg F (roughly 105 deg C) for 2~3 hours to kill fungus gnats & their eggs. Dennis in Cincinnati _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/