Can you reuse soil after a harvest?

[Stonemason7767]

4th run in this soil.i put a couple inches of organic alfa pellets down before this run.

 

[elusiveshame]

Thanks for all of the info everyone!

I’ll do some testing on some test seeds and see how much trouble I run into in the upcoming weeks when it’s warm outside so I can muck around and not waste space in my tents.

I’m just trying to avoid spending hundreds of dollars on soil throughout the year if I can help it.

 

[CannaGranny]

I reuse mine. I just reamend and use less perlite each time. I’m an organic grower. No problem with this either. Plants are unaffected.

 

[midgesmith]

I've reused my soil twice so far for my organic grow. It started off as supersoil but I mixed in some light soil with it last time I recycled. I put a recharging dose of mycorrhizal and organic nutrients in each time and water with just water for the last 2 weeks and it seems fine. The manufacturer Ecolife says this is a good approach too. Seems fine to me.

 

[Mikedin]

The issue is that you don't know what's left in the soil. It could be a lot of some nutrients, a little of others. That can cause problems with the next crop.

I know someone who leaches a lot of stuff out with several washings of water. But that doesn't take everything out, just stuff that's easily soluble in water. I don't chance it, and I'm a frickin' soil scientist. It's a lot of hassle. You'd be better off learning a hydro technique, IMO, if you want to reduce soil waste.

I do reuse it in my veg garden. Nobody in my neighborhood has tomatoes like mine! No one has asked about why there's so much perlite yet. Maybe I should think of an answer before that happens. LIke there was a huge perlite deposit in my yard.

I say I added some perlite to my compost lol, all my soil gets dumped right into the garden as well. I bought some FF strawberry fields for my current run, one store wanted $27.99 a bag, went to my local farm and feed store and they had the same bags… for $10.99 needed 3 bags… bought 6 so I could hook up a family member lol

Or just have a big bag of perlite sitting around, local store sells 25# bags might grab one and mix it in with the garden actually lol

 

[steamroller]

I run synthetic ferts so I do not re use soil. Last run also had pest so may even buy new gear to grow in for the next?
The thought of some type of hydro keeps creeping in my head when it comes time to buy soil.

 

[Homesteader]

If you are looking to make your own, you will most likely need to invest in bails of peat and bricks of coco coir. Try to find a decent source or perhaps two. With inflation AND the legalization side, you are going to pay almost double what you would have two years ago. If you are actually looking to grow on a budget, you may want to get some rabbits or make a deal with a farmer. You can see my thread on how growing with just manure if working out.

Two inputs that may interest you for amending that I love.

gypsum
soybean meal
Not much else is needed after those two things imo. Pretty basic and it will cover you.



You also may want to start a compost bin or a worm farm but that may be another day.

 

[mysticepipedon]

The whole point to organic growing is to reuse the soil. Really good soil is developed over years and if your growing organically its a waste to throw it out after each grow.

on a large scale soil testing is done and amendments are added based on results.

im not an organic guy so im not the guy to help you with this. I have a lot of respect for those who do organics right and build their soil structure year after year

I have to disagree. Unless outdoors, the point of organic growing, indoors, for me is that less attention is required to the grow. That's it.

 

[Homesteader]

Nutrients should be balanced in correct ratios but often people will overload it with one of the amendments without realizing how nutrients will react to it and then they run into lockout or pH imbalance on the next grow. Potassium comes to mind on this.

Mulder's chart is a good guide on this but more importantly is to realize what cannabis is using up per grow. Calcium is a big one and I assume about 10% of the biomass

 

[Aqua Man]

I have to disagree. Unless outdoors, the point of organic growing, indoors, for me is that less attention is required to the grow. That's it.

Yup i stand corrected there is that reason also

 

[elusiveshame]

If you are looking to make your own, you will most likely need to invest in bails of peat and bricks of coco coir. Try to find a decent source or perhaps two. With inflation AND the legalization side, you are going to pay almost double what you would have two years ago. If you are actually looking to grow on a budget, you may want to get some rabbits or make a deal with a farmer. You can see my thread on how growing with just manure if working out.

Two inputs that may interest you for amending that I love.

gypsum
soybean meal
Not much else is needed after those two things imo. Pretty basic and it will cover you.



You also may want to start a compost bin or a worm farm but that may be another day.

So I do have some bricks of coco coir and some manure to make my own soil for my veggie garden (was watching tons of James Prigioni on youtube last fall) for when it gets warmer out. I also have a few bags of perlite, dolomite lime, and mykos, so I'm going to try and see how well that does with an outdoor plant in spring time.

I have a small compost pile in the corner of my backyard, but it's mainly just used soil from my previous grow and some plant matter that I toss in there, so it's probably nowhere near usable for growing without adding some amendments.

I'll def take a look at those 2 amendments.

I'm on a Amazon hiatus for a while (sick of paying for prime when the every package has been delayed a week or more), so I'm trying to find local places that sells these kinds of things, but sadly there's not much out here aside from some big box stores. Seems like all the small nurseries and home/garden shops have either closed (permanently or temporarily) around here, or are out of every nutrient and only carry a few things, which is either just potting soil or some miracle gro fertilizers.

 

[Bayrat5751]

Im an indoor grower in a very hot summer season region. So my growing season is October - March. When Im thru growing. I put my soil in 55 gallon trash bags,and seal them. Then into large black trash cans out in the sun until the next growing season. I use ferti-lome ultimate potting mix in the big red bags. At the start of the next season, unseal one bag and put in wash tub as needed. Put in some fresh perolite and a little new soil mix, and mix it up real good. sprinkle with fresh rain water, mix some more. Ready to go after that. I germanate in this soil, and away we go. Been doing this for a few years now. Buying good soil mix every year is very expensive, so I started doing this.

 

[elusiveshame]

Im an indoor grower in a very hot summer season region. So my growing season is October - March. When Im thru growing. I put my soil in 55 gallon trash bags,and seal them. Then into large black trash cans out in the sun until the next growing season. I use ferti-lome ultimate potting mix in the big red bags. At the start of the next season, unseal one bag and put in wash tub as needed. Put in some fresh perolite and a little new soil mix, and mix it up real good. sprinkle with fresh rain water, mix some more. Ready to go after that. I germanate in this soil, and away we go. Been doing this for a few years now. Buying good soil mix every year is very expensive, so I started doing this.

That sounds like a good idea.

I'm not sure what I'm going to try just yet, but I think it'll be a few different combinations to see what works and what doesn't for me.

 

[Homesteader]

Peat and gypsum are going to be cheapest at depot or Lowes. Soy bean and or rice hull is going to be cheapest in certain areas but if you want organic you'll need to find a coop or feed store. Riceland perhaps....I also use a lot of bone char as well. Bone meal works too just not as available as quick nor as much carbon available for microbes.

If people have soil that has non organic fertilizer just reuse it. Microbes don't care as long as it's warm and wet. Microbes need carbon, nitrogen, phos, sulfur in ascending order. 100.10.1..1...They don't seem to care about anything else if you give them what they want. Mix your old with fresh organic matter.

Leaves compost quick and many people give them away. May be something to look into if you are on the cheap.

 

[elusiveshame]

Peat and gypsum are going to be cheapest at depot or Lowes. Soy bean and or rice hull is going to be cheapest in certain areas but if you want organic you'll need to find a coop or feed store. Riceland perhaps....I also use a lot of bone char as well. Bone meal works too just not as available as quick nor as much carbon available for microbes.

If people have soil that has non organic fertilizer just reuse it. Microbes don't care as long as it's warm and wet. Microbes need carbon, nitrogen, phos, sulfur in ascending order. 100.10.1..1...They don't seem to care about anything else if you give them what they want. Mix your old with fresh organic matter.

Leaves compost quick and many people give them away. May be something to look into if you are on the cheap.

Great info! Thanks!

Unfortunately about the leaves - we have tons of black oak trees in my neighborhood (and in town), so I can’t really use them due to potential juglone toxicity.

Fortunately some veggies and plants are resistant to it, but I don’t think cannabis is one of those plants, nor would I want to smoke something with that in it haha.

 

[Homesteader]

Black oak shouldn't give you any issues. If you have walnut or butternut it may though. You could use any biomass though if you prefer another although you'll miss out on tanins. Corn stalks come to mind

Layer the biomass on the bottom of the bag and add soil and worms. Magic happens with the right temps and humidity.

 

[elusiveshame]

Black oak shouldn't give you any issues. If you have walnut or butternut it may though. You could use any biomass though if you prefer another although you'll miss out on tanins. Corn stalks come to mind

Layer the biomass on the bottom of the bag and add soil and worms. Magic happens with the right temps and humidity.

Ooops I meant black walnut.

 

[elusiveshame]

Black oak shouldn't give you any issues. If you have walnut or butternut it may though. You could use any biomass though if you prefer another although you'll miss out on tanins. Corn stalks come to mind

Layer the biomass on the bottom of the bag and add soil and worms. Magic happens with the right temps and humidity.

I'm not sure if any corn stalks are available in my area now that the harvest season has come and gone, but I am going to grow corn this year for sure, and since it's juglone resistant, I don't have to worry about it (fortunately there's a handful of veggies that are tolerant to juglone, so in ground gardening isn't out of the question entirely).

I'm definitely going to dig up some worms and make a little worm farm this year, or at least add them to the totes of soil I'm going to mix.

Out of curiosity, is top soil okay to use to mix in with growing soil? I got a few bags last year to level out some spots in my yard and I have 4 or 5 bags left that I'm not sure what to do with. Grass grew fine in it, but grass will grow in almost anything. I read a lot of mix reviews on it being used for growing plants (and maybe it's just not good by itself but mixed with things like manure and coir would be okay?)

 

[Homesteader]

I wouldn't use that bagged top soil for my grow or my garden. I kind of don't trust any of those companies especially with PFAs becoming such an issue. Not saying your bag has it and I am not against using sewer sledge on certain areas that are not being used for food production directly but people should be told when its in it and I suspect the cheaper quality ones do.

 

[elusiveshame]

Fair enough. I'll just use it to level out uneven spots and fill in holes then and keep it out of my gardens :)