Soil steam sterilization

Soil steam sterilization treats soil with injected steam to kill pathogens, pests, weed seeds, and other organisms. Heat treatment can also affect beneficial soil life and soil chemistry.

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Soil steaming: A heat-based method that uses steam to treat soil, growing media, or greenhouse beds. The broader practice includes treatments that reduce rather than eliminate soil organisms.
Greenhouse soil: Soil or growing beds used to cultivate plants under greenhouse conditions. Repeated cropping under cover can allow soilborne pests and pathogens to accumulate.
Soil solarization: A soil-disinfestation method that traps solar heat beneath transparent plastic sheeting. Solarization uses sunlight rather than injected steam to heat soil.
Soil microbiome: The community of microorganisms living in soil and their collective genetic material. Steam can disrupt microbial communities that contribute to nutrient cycling and plant health.
Steam injection: The delivery of pressurized steam through pipes, probes, or other outlets into a material. Injection carries heat below the soil surface, where pathogens and weed seeds may persist.
Soilborne plant pathogens: Disease-causing organisms that persist in soil and infect plants through roots or lower stems. Their persistence in soil is a central reason growers apply steam treatments.
Methyl bromide: A volatile fumigant formerly used extensively to control soil pests and pathogens. Its phaseout made nonchemical alternatives, including steam, more significant.
Soil suppressiveness: The capacity of a soil to limit pathogen survival or disease development. Broad heat treatment may remove organisms that naturally suppress plant diseases.
Thermal inactivation: The loss of biological activity when heat damages essential cellular structures or molecules. Soil organisms differ in the temperatures and exposure times needed for inactivation.
Verticillium wilt: A vascular disease caused by soilborne fungi in the genus Verticillium. Steam can reduce inoculum in soil where susceptible crops are grown.