Sterilizing old Pots

Laura & Dave toadlily@olywa.net
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:39:34 PST
Hi all
   I'm seeking a little advice here, regarding sterilizing old pots ... big 
ones.  I was given a number of 20 and 30 gallon (~80 to 100 liter) pots.  I 
rally need these for potting some trees that just don't understand that I don't 
want them to grow for a while, especially the Siberian alder (/alnus hirsuta/).  
I'd rather not buy new pots, as the cost would be a couple hundred dollars.
   My dilemma is that the pots (with replacement plants in thrm) were 
temporarily set on the ground where a number of trees had been removed due to 
laminar root rot a year before.  Naturally, I don't want to spread this disease 
around.  If I soak the pots in a few inches of bleach solution, and scrub the 
rest of the pots with the bleach, will this kill the rot and its spores?   Are 
there better treatments available to the home gardener?
   I didn't make this off-topic, as perhaps responses could pertain to smaller 
sized pots as well, that could be used larger bulbs.

Thanks,
   Dave Brastow  - Tumwater, WA  where the winter has been mild and lacking much 
of our rain.



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