How to sterilize tree branches

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Soap, a good scrub, allow to dry overnight, a good vinegar bath, let dry for an hour, cover in mite spray, introduce later in the day.

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Are you positive about that? I doubt that this procedure eliminates any bugs, parasites that may be inside the branch that can crawl out of holes, cracks etc?

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Originally Posted by jxl

Are you positive about that? I doubt that this procedure eliminates any bugs, parasites that may be inside the branch that can crawl out of holes, cracks etc?

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The water is scolding (should have added that) and of course vinegar has a high pH that kills many microorganisms. Obviously water near boiling temperatures is going to permeate through the wood's crack and crevices incinerating any exoskeletons. As far as how sure I am, I have had a few of these branches in cages for almost 3 years without any incidence. Now that I think about, I think Greg Maxwell would just use soap and water on his wild collected branches with a touch of bleach maybe...of course he is out of the Chondro business now from what I hear now.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Freezing doesn't kill everything.

Soak branch in bleach water, then bake at 300 degrees in the oven for 30min-1 hr.

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I would go with this. Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe bacteria are more resistant to acid than they to bases. I'd rather clean with bleach (high ph level) for this reason. I know there are some resistance to higher heat too. I feel like using this combination would be best to kill MOST types of bacteria that could be found there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

The water is scolding (should have added that) and of course vinegar has a high pH that kills many microorganisms. Obviously water near boiling temperatures is going to permeate through the wood's crack and crevices incinerating any exoskeletons. As far as how sure I am, I have had a few of these branches in cages for almost 3 years without any incidence. Now that I think about, I think Greg Maxwell would just use soap and water on his wild collected branches with a touch of bleach maybe...of course he is out of the Chondro business now from what I hear now.

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Vinegar has low, not high ph. But this^ would probably be another effective method at disinfecting. Another option, with an even lower ph, would be good old lemon juice. It would leave your branch smelling better than vinegar too haha.

What I did to bake the branch I found was sawed it into pieces that fit into the oven, then screwed all the pieces back together when it was done. Yeah it's a little extra work but it worked like a charm.

OP,cut the branch in half bake it in your conventional oven.. Then when done go to Home Depot or lowes and buy some stainless steel brackets and stainless steel screws and put your branch right back together. Make sure it's stainless steel,don't want it rusting in your enclosure from the humidity of course..why didn't I think of this,9 hours ago when I replied,lol,makes all to much sense..if you wanna get fancy,get a chisel and chisel down the branch a bit so the brackets fit into the branch and then cover with some sort of non toxic wood puddy...

If I don't find someone with a bigger oven, I'll just have to cut it in pieces small enough and stitch it together after baking.

Thank you all for suggestions, ideas :)