shamrocknb said:

First time organic grower so sorry if this has been asked a hundred times but how do you keep living soil after harvest ? And second do you pull the root ball out or leave it ? Does it still need to be watered ?
Thanks for any help.

Blue dream # 1 growlog - Grow with Jane

Growing Blue Dream by 00 Seeds Bank, currently in curing stage, grown in soil (gaia green living soil 20% worm castings gaia green 4-4-4 all purpose...

growithjane.com

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Personally I throw it in a big tote and use it for A potted plants and or B top dress the vegetable garden. That's how I reuse it. I temove most of the roots but you do t have to really depending on what your doing with it

What size are your pots, and if you want to keep them going just keep the soil moist. Leave the root ball in, it will slowly get eaten by the soil. How long are you going to be from your next grow?

shamrocknb said:

how do you keep living soil after harvest?

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I remove it from the pots, dump it in a bin and mix it up. I pull out the larger roots and throw them away.

shamrocknb said:

And second do you pull the root ball out or leave it?

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I chop it up with a trowel, so I leave most of it. The dead roots will compost in the soil.

shamrocknb said:

Does it still need to be watered?

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I let it dry while not in use. That can help kill pests. A week or two before I plan to start new seeds, I mix the soil with whatever amendments I plan to use, and that includes rehydrating it.

Week4Bytch said:

What size are your pots, and if you want to keep them going just keep the soil moist. Leave the root ball in, it will slowly get eaten by the soil. How long are you going to be from your next grow?

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They are 5 Gal pots ,this is my flowering soil so probably 3 or 4 months before next batch is started and ready for flower.

shamrocknb said:

They are 5 Gal pots ,this is my flowering soil so probably 3 or 4 months before next batch is started and ready for flower

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Might have better luck and results with a 10 gallon pot if your doing organic approach. Heck maybe even a 15g. But if space is a problem 5g is doable just a little more work with keeping it up and going. I'd go ahead and just pull the root ball out, reamended the soil, top it, work that in real good top 3 inches and let it cook (breakdown) for the 3-4 months and it will be premium for ya when it's time.

I reuse mine to grow veggies. Like @Week4Bytch said, 10+ gallon pots are way more manageable than the smaller sizes if you're going to keep using the same soil for a hot minute.

Try and cut the main stem a bit higher next time. After about two weeks you can break the stem off and leave as much of the roots as possible. I put my seedling directly in the hole from the old stem. The old roots break down to silica’s. They also already have the symbiotic relationship with the mycelium in the soil. I don’t know that everyone understands the no till organic living soil. Reusing your soil for years.

Natep said:

Try and cut the main stem a bit higher next time. After about two weeks you can break the stem off and leave as much of the roots as possible. I put my seedling directly in the hole from the old stem. The old roots break down to silica’s. They also already have the symbiotic relationship with the mycelium in the soil. I don’t know that everyone understands the no till organic living soil. Reusing your soil for years.

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Natep said:

Try and cut the main stem a bit higher next time. After about two weeks you can break the stem off and leave as much of the roots as possible. I put my seedling directly in the hole from the old stem. The old roots break down to silica’s. They also already have the symbiotic relationship with the mycelium in the soil. I don’t know that everyone understands the no till organic living soil. Reusing your soil for years.

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Thanks this makes sense to me I will cut higher next time !

shamrocknb said:

First time organic grower so sorry if this has been asked a hundred times but how do you keep living soil after harvest ? And second do you pull the root ball out or leave it ? Does it still need to be watered ?
Thanks for any help.

Blue dream # 1 growlog - Grow with Jane

Growing Blue Dream by 00 Seeds Bank, currently in curing stage, grown in soil (gaia green living soil 20% worm castings gaia green 4-4-4 all purpose...

growithjane.com

Click to expand...

Never pull foot ball in living soil. It's all about the rhizosphere. That's the world around the roots. You feed the life in the soil. Not the plant. Nematodes, predatory mites, red wigglers, microbes, cover crop (I grow basil, cilantro, mint, lavender, parsley in between. Preying mantis, lady bugs. Lots of clean air. But mycorrhiza is crucial and it's useless in small pots. It works best in big deep pots with multiple plants. Watch fantastic fungi. The fungi acts as a middle man, it attaches to roots and connects plants. If one is short on N it will ship N from another plant in exchange for carbs. They also act as root extensions, getting into places faster than the tree. And areas too dry for cannabis roots, helping prevent roots from locking up, and if you play with dry back get it. I start dry back generally the last week, and black out 3-4 days before harvest. I want the fungi stretching and thinking the plant is dying in shock so it pumps that plant with whatever it has until the plants turn. Always keep wet. Never gave water run through it. Don't worry about PH, true living soil PHs itself. But keep water under 100 ppm. Preferably RO. I use mammoth silica, canna control, and P or you can make Mammoth P it's so expensive. I use unsulfured black molasses for carbs. And avacado treatment to bring the red wigglers up from the bottom. They aerate, and after feeding you will have a well if fresh worm casings. If you get into living you will become a soil nerd. I vermicompst, spray nematodes on everything in and outside on 1 acre. Never use neem, chrysanthemum oil kills everything, diatomaceous earth is your friend. But use correctly. It's the hardest to grow but best medicine, no salts, I can fit my nutes for 2 years in a small drawer. I let the life in the soil do it. In fact I've had to cut it because it was hot. If it dries all your bennys die. Bennys, Myko are what make living soil living soil. Careful not to dry out Bennys with diatomaceous earth




I grow craft and build commercial grows, generally hydro. Imo if you're not in at least 30 gallons forget about living soil. I'm in 300 gallons. I cut and plant next to last harvest, 4-6 plants, 1 led light.

well, the soil - after it gave a lifetime to a plant - is a bit dried in terms of feeding materials. One of the simple ways to reuse it is mixing with compost or chicken poo

GreenNotYellow said:

well, the soil - after it gave a lifetime to a plant - is a bit dried in terms of feeding materials. One of the simple ways to reuse it is mixing with compost or chicken poo

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I re amend with worm castings and build a soil craft blend. I usually do it right when I harvest. That way it gets a couple weeks to break down. Then again when I flip to flower.

Natep said:

Try and cut the main stem a bit higher next time. After about two weeks you can break the stem off and leave as much of the roots as possible. I put my seedling directly in the hole from the old stem. The old roots break down to silica’s. They also already have the symbiotic relationship with the mycelium in the soil. I don’t know that everyone understands the no till organic living soil. Reusing your soil for years.

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I don't understand why some folks believe soil couldn't or shouldn't be reused. It's constantly reused in nature. The key to reuse involves how the soil is revitalized.

LoveGrowingIt said:

I don't understand why some folks believe soil couldn't or shouldn't be reused. It's constantly reused in nature. The key to reuse involves how the soil is revitalized.

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I don’t get it. I have like 500 bucks in my big bed. I think I’ve had 6 or 7 runs in it so far. I think it will hold up for another 10.

LoveGrowingIt said:

I don't understand why some folks believe soil couldn't or shouldn't be reused. It's constantly reused in nature. The key to reuse involves how the soil is revitalized.

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The potential to carry diseases, bugs, toxicity, viroids, viruses, etc. from one grow to the next, is the biggest reason.

That being said, I reuse all my soil, but I have a specific system. Straight organic grow, then reuse with mega crop for a round or 2 then in to the vermicompost for a minimum of 6 months.

I'll second 300gal comment. Get a good organic re amend or a good balanced 4-4-4 type one, try to avoid big corporate guys and find more craft stuff with rock dusts and sea, veg type ingredients. Cover crops help, worms. You can reveg your favorite strains in those pots that way, if you just leave a couple branches with foliage after harvest. I keep a small lower canopy to retain after harvest and sustain the plant for the 3 week reveg period.

I also have just stored them dry and brought them back to life, a good craft blend really helps, in my case Bokashi Pro Gro really helps.

Did I miss something about the mini chips ahoy top dress they seem to have? You might be onto something there. Feed the microbes man.

shamrocknb said:

First time organic grower so sorry if this has been asked a hundred times but how do you keep living soil after harvest ? And second do you pull the root ball out or leave it ? Does it still need to be watered ?
Thanks for any help.

Blue dream # 1 growlog - Grow with Jane

Growing Blue Dream by 00 Seeds Bank, currently in curing stage, grown in soil (gaia green living soil 20% worm castings gaia green 4-4-4 all purpose...

growithjane.com

Click to expand...

Didn't notice you already feed Gaia Greens, that's a pretty decent line for living soil for sure. I forgot to say I revegged the same plants in the same pots at least 4 times with a combination of a bunch of craft stuff along with Jobes all purpose and 3-7-4 in the background as my longtime organic local tool I used before I learned about properly sourced nutrients from John Kohler and his buddy Josh Boogie Brew lol, they'll tell ya, if not TD will. And go Bugsby. I also pulled out some 1 gallons and brought them back to life a few times with decent results, but best just for seedlings and sexing when you cant start off in your final pot. Gaia wasn't available or affordable at the time and I wanted to stretch out the expensive stuff from blue sky organics and other things. No compost teas, just seaweed, fish, bokashi pro gro and other treats like fresh aloe, mumms sandwich sprouts cover crop. With the new line just delivered from Optimize Organics to me here in Ontario from BC I am ditching the Jobes asap and skipping over Gaia Greens as its much less diverse than Optimize's line, and switching to their super soils if when have no reveg projects going on, but promix veg on its own or with some of the white bag mixed in a bit has been alright too I guess.

Soil.Sheppard said:

Didn't notice you already feed Gaia Greens, that's a pretty decent line for living soil for sure. I forgot to say I revegged the same plants in the same pots at least 4 times with a combination of a bunch of craft stuff along with Jobes all purpose and 3-7-4 in the background as my longtime organic local tool I used before I learned about properly sourced nutrients from John Kohler and his buddy Josh Boogie Brew lol, they'll tell ya, if not TD will. And go Bugsby. I also pulled out some 1 gallons and brought them back to life a few times with decent results, but best just for seedlings and sexing when you cant start off in your final pot. Gaia wasn't available or affordable at the time and I wanted to stretch out the expensive stuff from blue sky organics and other things. No compost teas, just seaweed, fish, bokashi pro gro and other treats like fresh aloe, mumms sandwich sprouts cover crop. With the new line just delivered from Optimize Organics to me here in Ontario from BC I am ditching the Jobes asap and skipping over Gaia Greens as its much less diverse than Optimize's line, and switching to their super soils if when have no reveg projects going on, but promix veg on its own or with some of the white bag mixed in a bit has been alright too I guess.

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Josh Boogie Brew!! Is he still around?

Week4Bytch said:

Josh Boogie Brew!! Is he still around?

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Oh yeah, and as determined as ever! Boogies on his titanium organic bike delivering the Boogie Brew on time. Those guys got an ongoing series now with John and TD too, Utube, Johns Channel Learn Organic Gardening at Grow Your Greens. Johns always on top or ahead of the curve. He just found studies involving germination, one confirming soak in 70c water 158f I believe, and another using soak with a vaccum. So he combined them both, pump and soak for over 5 minutes and into the soil with the best germination rates. Josh is getting into nutritional yeast (unfortified no doubt) (hard to find$) and bokashi now too. And always amazing insane lit rants about deadrients and liquid or corporate slaughterhouses of disease, toxic poop and even meat by products they can call organic these days.

He's got another 4 episodes now I just learned about with his buddy Super Seth. Really great stuff, the soil build here is just nuts.