Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 11, Number 9, DeMotte, Jasper County, 16 January 1941 — Scientists Sterilize Soil With Electrical Device [ARTICLE]

Scientists Sterilize Soil With Electrical Device

Scientists at the Cornell university agricultural, experiment station are “pasteurizing’’ soils with electricity to . rid these soils of insect pests and weed seeds. Soils that have become unproductive are thus made productive, as heat disinfests or disinfects the soil. Many growers of flowers and vegetables who do not have equipment to steam-“sterilize” find that limited quantities of soil can be “pasteurized” with electrical devices, according to Prof. A. G. Newhall. A soil temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit was found high enough to insure the death of all important disease organisms and most weed seeds. Soil m greenhouse benches and ground beds was brought up to pasteurization temperature with a series of buried portable pipe-type heaters. Successful use was also made of an electric dairy-utensil steamer to pasteurize soil in flats or trays. - Danger from over-heating soibis reduced to a minimum by the new low temperature, electric pasteurization methods.