Sterilizing used mix question

[wxcrawler]

I had quite a bit of 3-2-1 mix that I used last year that I wanted to use again. I've read in this forum that "cooking" the mix can sterilize it. I've got a vertical propane box smoker that turns out to be almost perfect for this. So I did some experimenting today with 4 large roasting pans full of old mix. I fired up my smoker on HIGH ( with no wood, of course ) and left the 4 pans in it for about 6 hours. The smoker maxes out at about 300 degrees inside when it's 60 degrees outside, like today.

It worked pretty well, but I could only get the lowest pan to 170-175 degrees, according to my meat thermometer.

My question is.......is this hot enough? Many of the other threads I read mentioned 180 degrees as the magic number.

I think I'll try 2 pans instead of 4 tomorrow. Maybe I can get the mix hotter that way.

Lee

[amideutch]

http://goorganicgardening.com/soil/h...sterilize-soil

Evidently 180 degrees is not the magic number. Ami

[wxcrawler]

Thanks, Ami. This makes me feel a lot better about what I'm doing.