Reusing your soil, what is your process?

Kirstenstarted grow question 9mo ago

If you reuse your soil, please let me know your process below! How do you store your soil between runs etc. Thank you 😊

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BelSun_420answered grow question 9mo ago

It’s a process that doesn’t guarantee good results, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get them either. It’s a risk because you don’t know exactly how many nutrients are still available in the soil and what you might need to add to balance it. I’d only do it if the previous grow was organic—otherwise, I wouldn’t risk it. That being said, my Durban Poison actually grew in reused soil, and I didn’t have major issues, just a slight excess of CalMag in the early stage, which forced me to do a flush-style watering to balance the nutrients in the soil. To reuse my soil, I stored it in a plastic container for a month, watering once a week with molasses to let it cook over time. I added some fresh soil, a bit of SuperSoil, worm humus, mycorrhizae, and leftover solid nutrients from previous grows, like silica, fish meal, blood meal, alfalfa, and dolomite. That’s also why I took the risk—it was more about using up the leftover nutrients I had at home and avoiding the hassle of carrying old soil from my room to the garden. 🤣

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Organomananswered grow question 9mo ago

Rule #1...........new planta, new soil. Don't be a tightwad. Old soil is depleted, has a build up of salt, questionable pH, carries the risk of pest and diseases and would need a heap of work to make it safe and suitable for another harvest.............why risk an entire crop by trying to save a few bucks??

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WillynLunaanswered grow question 9mo ago

I reuse soil. If you're able to recognize deficiencies and you're able to remedy any you may have on your own, its not that hard of a process. Remove all roots to the best of your ability. I add dolomite lime at 2 tablespoons per gallon. I also add either worm castings or cow manure depending on whether my soil is being used inside or outside. (Outside gets the manure.) Also, if I reuse it outside, more than likely its going to have either tomatoes or bell peppers in it so the soil kind of gets a natural "rotation" of crops.

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m0useanswered grow question 9mo ago

You need a lot of space to do it right. Want to compost it or cook it so everything gets broken down then refortify and your good to go. Some users do this in big black plastic bags others use a composter. if your space is limited is easier to just get new soil. My family used to live down the street from me and I would dump all my old stuff in their garden beds. but that's no longer an option. so I just dump it in the random garden beds in the city planters.

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Ultravioletanswered grow question 9mo ago

Depends if your going organic or synthetic. If your blasting the medium with concentrated salts, then soil is nothing more than a medium, a medium for water and minerals, care not how it's treated only how well it retains moisture. Till or no till. Organic soil is another thing. Current soil has some soil I've used for 4 years in it, eventually just topping it up to about 80-100gallons of nature's finest. Generally transfer to tote or to pot of similar size, mix the soil or till my desired dry ammendment to restore what was used. Humic acid helps with tillage by improving soil structure, particularly by breaking up compacted soil, which allows for better water infiltration and root growth, making it especially beneficial in no-till or conservation tillage systems where soil disturbance is minimal; essentially, it helps the soil "till itself" by improving its aeration and drainage properties. Main concern with organic is to maintain the living soil and try not disturb microorganisms too much.

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NoVC01answered grow question 9mo ago

My used soil goes into the compost bin. We chop it up and let it alone. Roots disintegrate. When ready add NPK. PH up or down, magnesium rather than calmag. Those are absolute building blocks. Should be good enough for seedlings to start and grow first two sets of true leaves before your first feed.

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Green_clawsanswered grow question 9mo ago

It's an art of its own and in my eyes the way forward, we should already know how to do this but new things being found out all the time and the soil food Web is another world. Grow bacteria, fungi and feed them there's so much to learn on this, I do almost same as what your doing,store in black bags and big plastic box's, adding a mix of pellets, Alfalfa,blood fish bone, molasses potassium humate to break organics down quicker ups the CEC..Lacric acid bacteria.bags of nettles good for N and then cold stored well just outside in the shade works here for me.. perlite and clay pebbles at the end.. That is a hobby in its self it should be enjoyed and not made hardwork.. Best to get a big pile going and then you can add too and it will charge that soil quickly. I also add leaf mold.. Hope this helps.. Happy gardening

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00110001001001111Oanswered grow question 9mo ago

it's fine, but probably not worth the effort unless really strapped for cash. the amount of time it takes to do it vs how much you make per hours may mean you are underpaying yourself by a wide margin, lol. remove the organic material, i.e. roots, and add whatever amendments you want.. should be fine. My first several grows i re-used fox farm ocean forest with extra perlite 3-4 grow cycles. never bothered taking out the roots, either, lol. I was treating it like a soilless medium after the first grow, so it worked fine. Nutes were exhausted from that first grow, so no worries about an imbalance. I would not do this now that i have more experience.

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Spike-GreenGroweranswered grow question 9mo ago

Hello again. I've only just started it, but the soil of my last run is being used as a bin for vermicomposting. Mind you, that involves using worms. The 40L pot stands in its own separate tent with temp and rh adjusted accordingly. I put a drip tray on top that functions as a lid to keep light out. The worms and microorganisms will eat leftover vegetables, fruits and old leaf/plant clippings. In return, their poo aka worm castings can be collected every couple of weeks. Fellow grower Valiotoro reuses his soil as well, but for his outdoor grows. You may want to contact him or have a look at his outdoor diaries for further details and infos.

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Scrubbyjimbobanswered grow question 9mo ago

Personally I feel buying soil mixes is for suckers. We're talking about a product we literally add piss and shit to to make it better lol. If you're gonna reuse soil, clean out as much of the old root mass as is convenient. You on't get it all but the rest will break down eventually. If you plan to reconstitute it with compost, etc then you need to allow a little "cook" time before using it. It's probably best to give it at least a little time even if you plan to feed with liquid nutes to allow the old roots time to degrade. If you were using mineral salts in your previous grow, a thorough rising is advisable.

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All_our_small_plantsanswered grow question 9mo ago

Also ich benutze die Erde nie 2 mal. Erstens wenn du nur Bio machst ist es biliger ne neue Erde wie alles wieder aufwerten damit das alles paßt mit den Nährstoffe und so. Wenn du jetzt mit dünger mineralisch und so gearbeitet hast, dann sind so viele Salze im Boden das die Erde eigentlich Müll ist. Ich würde die einfach wechseln ist biliger und bessere Qualität.

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AsNoriuanswered grow question 9mo ago

Cheaper is to buy new soil, than risk to step up into many possible troubles, like undowngraded roots, ph swing, bacterial infection, pest infection , wrong nutes left inside and so on. 50 liters branded bag cost 20$ , you can grow 2 plants in it. Gram of weed cost around 10$ in most countries, so i don't see any smallest need of reusing it...

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