I have struggled with this too. Here's my thinking: I use only pro-mix, soiless mix, so I am hoping that there are no soil borne diseases in there when I load up those containers again for the season. I will probably give ones that developed that "green edge" last year a bit of a rinse, but if they just have some promix "dustiness" to them, I won't be washing them to make them aspetic. There are just not enough hours in the day....

Looking forward to hearing what others say.... and REALLY hoping they say go for it! (smile)

Nancy

Tiffy--- This is what I do usually.
After transplanting, I pile them up in an area and when nice warm day comes along in the spring or summer, I rinse them out with the hose, let them dry in the sun and then put away in a large plastic garbage bag. I do not get all the dirt out of them, just most of it or whatever the hose can get out, and didn't have any problems last year. I realize it's too cold now to do this, but might want to be thinking ahead for this spring and summer.
I would think since these are outside they shouldn't have a problem with disease because mother nature does it the same way. Just my opinion.
Duane

I'm so glad you brought this up. I've been thinking I was the only one. I've taken so many leaps of faith away from
'sterile' and I've wondered if I would just pushing it too far to reuse the jugs without getting them clean again.

When I think about scrubbing last year's 200 jugs, it seems an overwhelming task. It's next to impossible to get all the old soil out without soaking. And now that it's cold, it's an inside task. I don't like the idea of any escaped peat making its way to my septic tank.

On the other hand, I think about the time involved in making baby trip-ready, driving to the recycle, hoping for cleaner jugs within reach, dealing with the wrath of hubby when I pull in the driveway with another load of milk jugs, then cutting and washing new ones.

If the only factor was washing old versus washing and cutting new, I'd wash and cut new ones in a heartbeat. It's the other stuff that really complicates it.

And on a related topic, which should probably have its own thread, I've been sterilizing all my used soil with boiling water. This really slows things down. What if I eliminated that step? ProMix was discontinued here last year, so I hoard and reuse it like it was gold.

Sorry, tiffy, no answers. Just more questions.

My thought is, if they're stored dry, pathogens would perish. If they're outside and wet or damp, I'd wash.

I don't save my jugs. I cut and mangle them pretty much to make planting out faster and easier. But my regular planters for potted plants I don't worry about. Before storing inside, I hose them outside and dry in the sun as Duane describes, then store in my basement over winter. I don't think problems have resulted from it.

Karen

My best guess is that this would be okay. When the containers are exposed to well-below freezing weather, I would think the temps would kill any germs or at least keep them under control. You could brush them a little to get rid of excess soil, etc.

I do pretty much what Duane does - had a huge pile of used containers last September, soaked them in plain water, scrubbed a little, rinsed them, let them dry in the sun, and put them in big garbage bags. For those that went back in the recycle bin, I just rinsed and dried and then nested them to take up less space in the bin.

IMO soap, bleach, etc. are totally not necessary.

Seedmama, only indoor seed starting needs sterile soil. Outdoors, it's going to get all sorts of critters and bugs anyway. I just toss the soil in the containers, sprinkle my seeds, water with a mister, and throw the top on them. It's raining again so I'm sure everything out there is nice and wet.

Thanks everyone.

I do some yard clean-up in the sprouting area intermittently throughout the summer and toss the containers in our 'shed' under the deck, unwashed and unscrubbed. I was thinking pretty much the same thing you were Terrene - the sub-zero temps will kill anything left on them. :O)

Less time prepping, more time sowing. Sounds good to me!!

Seedmama,
If I were in your zone, I'd be boiling too. More to kill slug eggs and insects which may have got into the soil than anything else. That's just IMHO. :O)

Tiffy, thanks for the reminder on why it's a good idea to boil. Sometimes I get in the habit of something and can't remember why I do it. It reminded me of how many seedlings I lost my first year of WS to pill bugs and some sort of gnat or fly whose name I can't remember right now.

I think I've got a pill bug nursery going on in my yard. But so far, none have made their way into the WS'd containers. *fingers crossed*.

prolly fungus gnats.

The first couple of years, I washed my reusable containers with hot, soapy water - then diluted Clorox onto them. This year, only hot, soapy water and no Clorox. I figured that if the seeds can reseed in my garden with all kinds of who knows what on it, my containers are fine.

Carrie

When I plant out I swish the empty container in a pail of water which gets most of the mix out, then let dry in the sun before storing in plastic bags.

Last year I started washing them in soap and bleach before sowing. After reading someone's post that she/he did not wash them I decided to quit washing. As someone else has said the mix isn't sterile anyway. Had great germination in the spring as always.

My favorite new jugs are water jugs. No need to wash and no stinky sour milk odor.

Something I have to remember come planting time.... rinse out containers and then store them!

I had some old soil mix left over that was stored in a fiberglass bin on my patio, I used that for my first set of containers. I sure hope nothing got into that mix! I always do all my favorite flowers first... I hope that wasn't a mistake. I didn't even give any thought to using it! It'll be ok...

Hey, remember, no coddling, right? CASUAL. We are doing like mother nature does, with a helpful shove (the greenhouse). My very first year I mixed my own garden soil with bagged mix, unsterilized. And I didn't wash my containers last year. (This is my third year)

When I start tomatoes indoors, though, (I sell them, so they have to be big, and that means starting indoors), I go all out with the sterilizing thing. But, I believe it's the indoor temperatures that make it so easy for disease to run rampant. The cold nights our sprouts experience, and the usually lower humidity, probably keep disease in check--it does that with Damp-off. Indoor tomatoes seem so sensitive, if I wintersowed some, I think I'd use sterile stuff for them. They do survive my (believe me) disease-ridden garden soil just fine (and then catch up with the indoor-started ones quickly).

By the way, if I remember microbiology correctly, freezing and even boiling cannot kill some pathogens. Some make "disease seeds" called endospores, which can basically live forever. That's why boiling doesn't prevent botulism, (acidity does.).

Seedmama, my pill bugs and slugs seem to stay out of my containers. Why, I don't know. But if I had fungus gnats or slugs, I guess I'd try to sterilize the soil too. Mosquito dunks are supposed to kill fungus gnats, you could test a couple of jugs with some powder from a dunk (or find the powdered B. Thuringiensis v israliensis) to see if it works. Also, do a few jugs with old unsterilized soil to be the control, you should see bug problems in there. Then, if it works out ok, you could skip the soil-sterilizing next year.

I used to wash all my containers in the first years; now I just knock the dry soil out of them and swish them around in some hot water. So far, no problems.

PV

"By the way, if I remember microbiology correctly, freezing and even boiling cannot kill some pathogens. Some make "disease seeds" called endospores, which can basically live forever. That's why boiling doesn't prevent botulism, (acidity does.). "

Gosh I love this forum!! Darned if I can remember that Biology class over 30 years ago... Sweet! I relearned something new today. :O) Thanks ST!

I just got rid of an itch this afternoon and sowed some foxgloves in a few containers which I just brushed the old crusties out of. Ahhhh, feels good. :O)

Nope.

Used ones are stored in trash-bags that are not completely closed, so air will always circulate, and they are mostly put away dry anyway. I try not to clean them up when they are wet, but pile them in a corner by the house to let them air dry before picking them up in a day or two.

No issues with bugs, low germ, or anything else.

What I meant up there was No, I don't wash them. If they are moist/wet when I empty them, I wait til they are dry before storing. But no washing/cleaning going on here.

This is year number 6 for me and no way, no how, to I wash, rinse, clean, scrub any container to be reused.

If they are scummy with green mold remains, they get tossed. Otherwise it's, plant em out and toss the containers aside in the back. When I get around to it they are collected and bagged in large trash bags by type of container and back in the cellar they go for next year.

Containers that can't be reused because they are passed their reuse time get tossed.

Now, my first year was a different story.

I had passed the "you're crazy, you're nuts, you're insane" stage with hubby and daughter still in college. The proof was "in the pudding" as the saying goes and they saw the results.
Poor Mom, wasn't really crazy after all. That is until mid summer and daughter saw me with the hose, bleach, scrub brush and all.
Then she said the following to me.

"OK, Mom, isn't this supposed to be easy, simple, cheap, fun? Isn't this a way of telling Ma Nature, 'OK, you can do your thing, you have the control, but under my terms. I will control where the seeds go instead of you, but you will control everything else.' Isn't this supposed to be the 'contained process of Ma Nature germinating seeds when they are supposed to germinate and getting healthier, better, stronger plants?
Since when did Ma Nature start using soap, bleach, scrub brushes and elbow grease to get things to grow?
If she did, the stupid poison ivy wouldn't be growing all over the place, bleach would do it in and it would do in the weeds too. And you wouldn't have to wash anything cause she would be using elbow grease.
By the way Mom, 2 things. if you don't rinse out the bleach enough, you will prevent the seeds from germinating cause bleach will soak into the soil and oops, do in the seeds AND biology 101, it ain't gonna kill the stuff you want it to kill, but will do in what you don't want to do in.
Continue with this nutty thing you are doing, and by the way you have over 800 containers to do, I will retract my apology about you. You will be crazy, insane, nuts."

That ended the scrubbing, bleach and all the rest.

Never did it, not going to start and have at least 90-95% success rate in germination from first year on.

Fran

I just put the tops and bottoms into big clear plastic garbage bags and throw them into my heated crawlspace. I drag out the bags in January, tap out any dried soil into my planting medium and go from there. No worries here. It's not like I'm going to eat the stuff, I'm planting seeds in it!
Anyone worried about manure mulch on their veggies?
Pffft!
It's all dirt!

confession - I didnt save my containers!!
Last year, I was overwhelmed with soo much to do anyway, who had time to clean and store recyclables? Plus, I REALLY didnt want to give myself ANY reason to do as many different varieties for the coming year!
This year, I started fresh, new recycled containers, scaled down to Iced Coffee cups!

I don't save mine, either, I toss them every year. I chop up the milk jug, cutting both front corners, then slide the whole blob out and into a flat. Cut into HOS, and plant. It makes plant-out go much faster and easier for me. The next year I use fresh milk jugs.

Karen

I wish I had jugs! (Milk jugs that is). Alberta still has them, but not Ontario (sigh).