We used to steam soil to sterilise it. By the time we ordered in screened top soil, mixed it with compost, moved it to the steamer, steam it for ~1:30 min per load (we did ~ 8 loads a year. Oil fired boiler hooked to steam pipes.) and then moved it again to storage. It was way cheaper and quicker just to order extra artificial soil (Like the stuff you buy at Home Depot in a bag.) When our steamer broke and they wanted $20k to replace it we dropped making our own soil and never looked back. (Our steamer was from the 70's and beyond repair)
As for how this guy is doing it... first how is he making the steam? It take's a lot of energy to turn water to steam.
Second, he steamed the area before planting his Strawberries. Great, what does he do the following year? All strawberry plants I have ever grown last 3-4 years. What's his plant for next season? He can't steam the field again, that would kill all his first year plants.
I heat soil in the oven to sterilize it. Use it for a toy race car model setup. I don't see how sterilizing soil which would kill beneficial nutrients will help a plant.
The steam is used to kill seeds, bacteria, insects and spores. The plants are looking for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and the heat won't really effect them. You can then add back in or supplement with fertilisers afterwords. In his case I'm sure he is using some sort of soft manure (Cow, horse or sheep) for fertiliser since he is organic.
Basically kill everything so the soil is sterile, then added your manure (That is also temped to 160-180F to kill weeds but does not effect the nutrients.) then plant your crop. At that point you should have almost no weeds and fungus ect. Just stuff that blows in on the wind. By the second season though there will be a lot of weeds. So either he is doing a lot of maintenance or it's is only effective for a season.
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We used to steam soil to sterilise it. By the time we ordered in screened top soil, mixed it with compost, moved it to the steamer, steam it for ~1:30 min per load (we did ~ 8 loads a year. Oil fired boiler hooked to steam pipes.) and then moved it again to storage. It was way cheaper and quicker just to order extra artificial soil (Like the stuff you buy at Home Depot in a bag.) When our steamer broke and they wanted $20k to replace it we dropped making our own soil and never looked back. (Our steamer was from the 70's and beyond repair)
As for how this guy is doing it... first how is he making the steam? It take's a lot of energy to turn water to steam.
Second, he steamed the area before planting his Strawberries. Great, what does he do the following year? All strawberry plants I have ever grown last 3-4 years. What's his plant for next season? He can't steam the field again, that would kill all his first year plants.
I heat soil in the oven to sterilize it. Use it for a toy race car model setup. I don't see how sterilizing soil which would kill beneficial nutrients will help a plant.
The steam is used to kill seeds, bacteria, insects and spores. The plants are looking for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and the heat won't really effect them. You can then add back in or supplement with fertilisers afterwords. In his case I'm sure he is using some sort of soft manure (Cow, horse or sheep) for fertiliser since he is organic.
Basically kill everything so the soil is sterile, then added your manure (That is also temped to 160-180F to kill weeds but does not effect the nutrients.) then plant your crop. At that point you should have almost no weeds and fungus ect. Just stuff that blows in on the wind. By the second season though there will be a lot of weeds. So either he is doing a lot of maintenance or it's is only effective for a season.
Ah ok yup add that manure 👍🏻💪🏻
Steamed straws? Like steamed hams?