Sterilizing old Pots
Laura & Dave (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.