We used to fill onion bags and put them in a hot water treatment tank designed for banana suckers, then leave them to dry for a week or so before replanting as a method of keeping the stock clean. We had a gas heater in the bottom of the tank of water and left them until they got up to temp. I can't remember but 46 C seems to ring a bell. I know it felt quite hot. Since we were doing large quantities I am sure we would have had problems if it was too hot but all the bulbs grew very well in the next season after the treatment. We did sort the bulbs into sizes so I don't know if that was important but it allowed us to replant bulbs together of similar sizes and maturity and the bulbs were clean and dry before going into the tank. Getting your method right with onions sounds like a good idea to me or even with bulbs you have an excess of. > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > From: pbs@pilling.demon.co.uk > Subject: Re: [pbs] Heat treatment for mosaic virus > > Hi, > > In message <BAY156-W248FECDB93ECAC113B9B1FAEA40@phx.gbl>, Alberto > Castillo <ezeizabotgard@hotmail.com> writes > >recover. The reason is evident: to reach 46 C at the core the outer > >portion must be almost boiled. > > The laws of thermodynamics beg to differ. If your bulbs are exposed to a > constant 46C for long enough (above there is mention of 2 hours) the > temperature at the centre will be the same as outside. > > > -- > David Pilling > email: david@pilling.demon.co.uk > web: http://www.davidpilling.net/ > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/