Thoughts on reusing soil...

[Dizzworth]

I wanted to see what everyone's spin was on reusing soil year after year. Is it good? Bad? What sort of things do you do at the end of the year to kill roots. Should you hit them with zymes? I had a shitty year with my first attempt of reusing it. Are there certain things i should add more of? Any thoughts would be great. :)

 

[outwest]

What's your process for reuse?

outwest

 

[Dizzworth]

What's your process for reuse?

outwest

My initial thoughts im going to do this year is hit them with hygrozyme a couple times before i amend the soil. Going to remove any big chunks of roots. My amendments will be the following.
organic worm castings
steamed bone meal
grow and Bloom bat guano
blood meal
rock phosphate
Epson salts
(dolomite)
azomite (trace elements)
powdered humic acid
gypsum
green sand-silica
i am thinking i will add a fresh bag of soil to each hole when everything is transplanted. My questions are though..How much of all these amendments do i need to add? I Have 400 gallons smart pots. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[cannabeans]

Buy a soil testing kit. Once you have a baseline for what is left in your soil....you can ammend accordingly. That is probably the easiest most accurate to re use your soil!

 

[caregiverken]

yes, re-used soil is a good thing :)

 

[Seamaiden]

I wanted to see what everyone's spin was on reusing soil year after year. Is it good? Bad? What sort of things do you do at the end of the year to kill roots. Should you hit them with zymes? I had a shitty year with my first attempt of reusing it. Are there certain things i should add more of? Any thoughts would be great. :)

Good, not doing so is incredibly wasteful. You'll probably need to process it a bit, but for *me* that would mostly be comprised of reinoculating microbes (via ACTs, Capulator's beneficials, whatever your preferred method, just get 'em in there) after you've done a little amending, mostly with rock dusts and powders.

Leave the roots in there, they should decompose just fine and it's a form of returning nutrients to the soil. Leave OUT the Epsom salts, they'll wash through in one or two waterings I'm sure, so aren't a good long-term source of Mg or S.

If your water's hard, leave OUT the dolomitic lime. Rock phosphate (soft rock, I hope) takes about 2 years to become available to the plant via microbial activity; i.e. breakdown. So keep using it, but have another source of P in the mix.

Why both gypsum and dolomite lime here? I'm not so sure about the utility to be found using gypsum in this context, I'd have to double-check its form of Ca, but if it's solely the Ca you're after then also oyster shell flour is a good source, though again its Ca is in the form of CaCO3 and the carbonates are difficult to 'break' apart, more often can build up in soils causing high pH issues as the carbonates constantly neutralize acids.

As for amounts... I guess I should pay closer attention during math class! But if you're using 400gal SPs, what about finding a good local bulk topsoil, and simply lightening that up with something like rice hulls (provide potassium silicate, by the way)?

Microbe inoculations are last, and remember that specifically mycorrhizae need the roots of living plants in order to live, so putting them into soil with no living roots won't be helpful here. Other microbes can perform their jobs, of course.

 

[GR33NL3AF]

The thought of buying new soil has never crossed my mind and I can get it at cost - why make a mess emptying and refilling pots....or beds :). Haven't had a problem yet with left over bs in the soil....and if you do, enzymes and ACT!

 

[sky high]

I'm a year or so into reusing soil. My experience/approach:

Many folks don't like FFOF/FF soils. I can say I've had better (Power Flower from NoCal is the rockin'est bagged soil I've ever used) but as far as commercial stuff...it's done me OK. Not a fan of the Roots stuff/the funky coco/perlite mixes. I just like something that looks like dirt...even if it might not be. But I digress......

In reusing soil...I simply keep more perlite, worm castings, guano, and trace minerals on hand... and add those back into the soil that I shake off from the rootballs after each grow. Mix it up... and it usually sits around a bit...unless there's a huge transplanting/up-potting going on/etc... then I'll just start right back in. My approach is to go light on the re-intro of any additives because everything we add along the way has the same elements in it and alot of organic matter hangs about quite awhile. The last thing I want is a soil that just is too hot from the start. I can always add in amendments/etc....later.

every-so-often i will simply buy a couple of new bags of soil and add those in as well.....cus after awhile it seems the mix gets more and more perlite heavy (or light..however you see it)

Not a science...not at all. I go on visuals from the last plants that were grown in the soil I'm workin with. Did they perform? Were their problems? If not...reuse. If so...trash it and start over.

Sumpthin else.... If you use perlite (I know seamaiden..i know)... try wetting it in the bag... and while it is damp......sprinkle/shovel (LOL) your microbe/benficial product....or yer kelp powder.. or whatever it is you add to the soil on the perlite and coat that shit up with it. >Whatever< it is will get in all those little fissures... and IMO.... it makes a difference in root mass/etc cus the microbes get spread out widely in the medium vs. just sprinkling it under the rootball/adding it to the dirt/etc...

just another thought/tip from a crazed mind .... YMMV with sanity levels and general givin a fuck... :D

 

[royfree2grow]

I wanted to see what everyone's spin was on reusing soil year after year. Is it good? Bad? What sort of things do you do at the end of the year to kill roots. Should you hit them with zymes? I had a shitty year with my first attempt of reusing it. Are there certain things i should add more of? Any thoughts would be great. :)

from my understanding it's completely fine to reuse, never did it myself but i'm planning to next season. i'm gonna flush with sugar to completely remove all salts, let it rest for awhile and mix it with a mid-grade soil-mix @ a 2/1 ratio (in favor of the fresh soil), then amend.

 

[Dizzworth]

I'm a year or so into reusing soil. My experience/approach:

Many folks don't like FFOF/FF soils. I can say I've had better (Power Flower from NoCal is the rockin'est bagged soil I've ever used) but as far as commercial stuff...it's done me OK. Not a fan of the Roots stuff/the funky coco/perlite mixes. I just like something that looks like dirt...even if it might not be. But I digress......

In reusing soil...I simply keep more perlite, worm castings, guano, and trace minerals on hand... and add those back into the soil that I shake off from the rootballs after each grow. Mix it up... and it usually sits around a bit...unless there's a huge transplanting/up-potting going on/etc... then I'll just start right back in. My approach is to go light on the re-intro of any additives because everything we add along the way has the same elements in it and alot of organic matter hangs about quite awhile. The last thing I want is a soil that just is too hot from the start. I can always add in amendments/etc....later.

every-so-often i will simply buy a couple of new bags of soil and add those in as well.....cus after awhile it seems the mix gets more and more perlite heavy (or light..however you see it)

Not a science...not at all. I go on visuals from the last plants that were grown in the soil I'm workin with. Did they perform? Were their problems? If not...reuse. If so...trash it and start over.

Sumpthin else.... If you use perlite (I know seamaiden..i know)... try wetting it in the bag... and while it is damp......sprinkle/shovel (LOL) your microbe/benficial product....or yer kelp powder.. or whatever it is you add to the soil on the perlite and coat that shit up with it. >Whatever< it is will get in all those little fissures... and IMO.... it makes a difference in root mass/etc cus the microbes get spread out widely in the medium vs. just sprinkling it under the rootball/adding it to the dirt/etc...

just another thought/tip from a crazed mind .... YMMV with sanity levels and general givin a fuck... :D

Thanks for the input sky!

 

[Dizzworth]

Good, not doing so is incredibly wasteful. You'll probably need to process it a bit, but for *me* that would mostly be comprised of reinoculating microbes (via ACTs, Capulator's beneficials, whatever your preferred method, just get 'em in there) after you've done a little amending, mostly with rock dusts and powders.

Leave the roots in there, they should decompose just fine and it's a form of returning nutrients to the soil. Leave OUT the Epsom salts, they'll wash through in one or two waterings I'm sure, so aren't a good long-term source of Mg or S.

If your water's hard, leave OUT the dolomitic lime. Rock phosphate (soft rock, I hope) takes about 2 years to become available to the plant via microbial activity; i.e. breakdown. So keep using it, but have another source of P in the mix.

Why both gypsum and dolomite lime here? I'm not so sure about the utility to be found using gypsum in this context, I'd have to double-check its form of Ca, but if it's solely the Ca you're after then also oyster shell flour is a good source, though again its Ca is in the form of CaCO3 and the carbonates are difficult to 'break' apart, more often can build up in soils causing high pH issues as the carbonates constantly neutralize acids.

As for amounts... I guess I should pay closer attention during math class! But if you're using 400gal SPs, what about finding a good local bulk topsoil, and simply lightening that up with something like rice hulls (provide potassium silicate, by the way)?

Microbe inoculations are last, and remember that specifically mycorrhizae need the roots of living plants in order to live, so putting them into soil with no living roots won't be helpful here. Other microbes can perform their jobs, of course.

Thanks for the help sea. Your always have good things to say!

 

[Ohiofarmer]

re-using soil is my preferd method. As you re-use smart pots year after year tho, you will have to water the plants your putting in them more and more and eventually the pots become ineffective. If you put the girls straight in the ground or in a bed then you can use a Mantis tiller or something bigger to help break down the leftover roots so the enzymes can decompose them easier. Just my 2 cents Take it easy

 

[Pushrod Monkey]

Some studies have shown soil reused at least 3 times has the highest level of beneficial microbes present.

 

[chromedoggy]

Talk to Ian at at Biologic in Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma County), he has a great system of beneficials, very user friendly, lots of good info. We have been amazed at the results.

 

[Dizzworth]

Talk to Ian at at Biologic in Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma County), he has a great system of beneficials, very user friendly, lots of good info. We have been amazed at the results.

thanks man. Im not too fare from there i will give him a shout.

 

[caregiverken]

RE; Used soil

I put these plants in a bed that I had just Harvested out of ....Oct.1st

I didn't add anything...and never fed them...nothing but water (mostly rain)

 

[Seamaiden]

Holy shit, Ken. Are you certain that you were completely new when you came here? Because I still remember you as the new guy, but look at what you're doing now. You have a knack.

 

[LexLuthor]

Hey Ken, what strain are those?? It looks like something from DJ Short.

Sorry Dizz for getting off topic, I'm just curious.

 

[caregiverken]

Holy shit, Ken. Are you certain that you were completely new when you came here? Because I still remember you as the new guy, but look at what you're doing now. You have a knack.

:) Thanks Sea maiden.
I guess Its just a lot of beginners luck ;)

Hey Ken, what strain are those?? It looks like something from DJ Short.

Sorry Dizz for getting off topic, I'm just curious.

1st pic is Rock candy
the other is Ewok Both from Alien :)

 

[outwest]

I just threw a buch of well rooted clones into y first batch of reused soil. It holds way more water but the plants seems thrilled. So far so good.

I used some guanos, ewc, frass, compost, bennies, dolomite, and azomite. A lit of poop in there!

outwest