Stinky Milk smell in jugs

16 years ago

Hi, this is my first year winter-sowing and I am loving it! Many thanks to this forum and the FAQs and Wintersown.org for making it very easy for a newbie to get started. Sowing my first containers went very easily and smoothly, after benefitting from all the great ideas I've been reading.

My son and I don't drink milk or large bottles of soda, so I've been raiding the recycle bins in town for gallon jugs and large soda bottles (even stopped at some bins in a neighboring town to get jugs). What fun!

The gallon plastic jugs people use for Spring water are my favorite (no rinsing needed!), and any bottles used for soda or Cider can get rinsed pretty clean. But no matter how much I rinse the milk jugs they still seem to have a little of that stinky milk smell. Is it okay to use them, does that smell affect the soil or plants and does it go away when the jugs sit outside?

Also, someone in the Newbie thread mentioned they were using Vitamin water bottles (20 oz). Are these bottles big enough for effective winter-sowing and how about soda bottles that are smaller, the 24 oz size? We have a bunch of those waiting for bottle return.

TIA for advice.

Here is are my first 16 containers I just put out in the snow yesterday! I numbered the outside with "permanent" marker (we'll see how permanent) and also there is a marker inside the jug as well.

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Comments (10)

clumsygrdner
16 years ago
I'm a newbie too, but I found that the smell went away once the jugs were outside.
trudi_d
16 years ago
If you're raiding bins for milkjug they should be rinsed/soaked with water, detergent and some bleach before you store them or use them. Also, don't store milkjugs with caps on them.

Once they go outside the sun, fresh and cold air will dispell the smell.

T
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kqcrna
16 years ago
I really only rinse most of my own milk jugs in tap water and they're fine. If I've collected stinky ones from other people I add a little Clorox (about 1 Tbsp.), fill with water, and soak for a short time.

Karen
seedmama
16 years ago
I light a candle before I make the first stab in the milk jug, then I wash them in very hot soapy water. The flame seems to get the odorous gas almost immediately.

I don't work very hard at washing them. If they need a serious scrubbing I just send them back to recycle. I see you are using flaps, whereas I cut horizontally all the way around, leaving just 2 inches intact. The difference in cuts could impact the ease in washing.
terrene
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the replies, I'll try a little bleach if a jug is really stinky. Seedmama, do you hold the candle inside the jug? I didn't try washing out the jugs after I cut the flaps - maybe that would help.

This is my first time WSing - so I'm probably worrying about something that's pretty small in the grand scheme of things.
seedmama
16 years ago
I just keep the flame of the candle somewhat near the milk jug when I first stab it. It seems to kill most of the odor that bursts out of slightly swollen jugs. If I'm doing one or two I may not bother, but if I'm doing several it really cuts down on the odor in the kitchen.

I'm intrigued that some are not using soap. Prior to learning about WS I was not only washing my containers for cuttings, but also soaking them in 10% bleach solution. It was a real leap of faith for me to eliminate the bleach soak on everything, but it did indeed prove unnecessary.

I'll probably continue with hot soapy water simply because I've been preparing containers all year long, bagging them in large trash sacks and hanging from the attic rafters. Letting the smell dissipate (sp?) naturally in the attic would probably not be cool. However, on containers that are "fresh" I may just take another leap of faith and rinse well.
dancinglemons
16 years ago
I do not have too many milk jugs but the ones I keep are rinsed out with water until all evidence of milk is gone and then I put 1-2 tsp of vinegar into them and some water and shake well with top on then pour out and leave open to dry. Vinegar is really good for cleaning stuff. Kind of old timer cleaning solution that I have recently discovered again.

DL
terrene
Original Author
16 years ago
Great idea DL, I use white vinegar for cleaning a lot and think it's less toxic than bleach. I had a stinky refrigerator in a rental unit one time, and put a pan of vinegar in it for a couple weeks (fridge was turned off and left open a crack for ventilation). Worked great to dissipate the smell!

As Trudi suggested I also leave the tops off the milk jugs while I'm storing them.
stage_rat
16 years ago
That candle idea is a good one, seedmama!

Mild to medium stinky: I just put in some warm/hot water, and a squirt of bleach, shake and pour. I have a squirt bottle of dilute bleach at my kitchen sink, because I use it a lot.

Very stinky, such as from a drop-off center, with obvious milk dregs: I avoid those now! Maybe with the candle I'd try those again, but that initial stinky surge is just too much.

We don't sterilize our pots when we plant a container garden, so I don't see why I should sterilize containers for outdoor seed-sowing. I sterilize everything for indoor sowing, but that's because dampoff is a real risk there.
seedmama
16 years ago
Stage rat, I still avoid the very bad ones. You may recall last year in my Diary of Newbie that I was picking up milk jugs from the side of the road. What a mistake. I now know to leave the really bad ones at the recycle center. The best ones come from home. Second best is collecting on Wednesday morning before the neighboring town collects recycle. Most of those are less than a week old.

When I dumpster dive I only take from the top, with the (sometimes misguided) notion that the ones on top aren't as old.

Stinky Milk smell in jugs

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