• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

Re-using potting soil

W

wordwiz

This year, I bought potting soil that was considerably more expensive than normal. No complaints - it really made a positive difference in how the plants grew and I'll use it again next year.

But, I didn't get rid of every plant I raised, nor have I transplanted all of them, so I have a significant amount, maybe 80 quarts of potting soil left in pots with plants growing in them. I'm pulling the plants out and adding them to my compost pile, leaving me with just the potting soil.

It's full of roots and probably has some residual organic ferts left in it. But it has been watered, has dried out, been watered, dried out, over and over.

I don't want to use it so sprout seeds but will it work in containers - in your experience? I want to start about 30 tomato plants later this summer, more than likely in soil rather than hydro. My thoughts are to transplant the seedlings into *new* potting soil but to fill the bottom, sides and top with this stuff.


Smart or not???

Mike
 
it might be about as good as the cheaper stuff you bought.I wouldn't see any prob. just mix like some of your compost into there it will probably work.
 
I re-use all my old potting soil and soiless mixes, but I mix it with aged manure and other organic material and till it a few times then mix it with new stuff in containers
 
I re-use potting soil all the time, but I make sure to add some new compost in with it to make up for lost/used nutrients.
 
Great, I should have a decent amount of compost later this summer. The only thing I worry about is introducing bugs into the area. But once I got some Neem Oil and used it with Safer Soap, I didn't have any aphid problems.

Mike
 
It makes me happy too, Patrick. I ended up with close to 120 quarts of left over potting soil. If I mix it with compost and some new potting soil, I should have more than enough to grow 32 plants this fall.

Mike
 
Totally. I've talked with people who specifically mix their soil with the intention of performing/keeping it's composition for optimal performance (ie- not turning into concrete) up over multiple seasons. In my limited experience, perlite seems to me to be a pretty good potting mix amendment between containerized plant changes. For aeration anyway.
 
wordwiz said:
The only thing I worry about is introducing bugs into the area. But once I got some Neem Oil and used it with Safer Soap, I didn't have any aphid problems.

Mike
Click to expand...

Easy fix-
After you cut the stalk, prior to taking the dirt out of the old container, toss it in the microwave for 2 minutes per pot. Ding, fries are done. So are all the critters, too. Once you nuke it you can safely toss your old dirt in with the new stuff.

Now, back to summer with me! :lol:
 
Hinky said:
Easy fix-
After you cut the stalk, prior to taking the dirt out of the old container, toss it in the microwave for 2 minutes per pot. Ding, fries are done. So are all the critters, too. Once you nuke it you can safely toss your old dirt in with the new stuff.
Click to expand...

Hinky,

The first thing I would need to do is to send she who patrols the kitchen and microwave on a vacation! I can just see me telling her I need to cook 30 5-gallon containers of dirt in her zapper! I love cast iron skillets but I suspect being hit upside the head with one would change my mind. :onfire:

Mike
 
You can sterilize soil outdoors, if needed, in thin layers with a sheet of plastic over top in the sun. Simple and effective
 
POTAWIE said:
You can sterilize soil outdoors, if needed, in thin layers with a sheet of plastic over top in the sun. Simple and effective
Click to expand...

And would avoid a skillet upside the head! Except... if I have to repot the middle of January, couldn't I simply spread the PS out on plastic or whatever and let the bugs freeze to death?

Mike
 
wordwiz said:
And would avoid a skillet upside the head! Except... if I have to repot the middle of January, couldn't I simply spread the PS out on plastic or whatever and let the bugs freeze to death?

Mike
Click to expand...

Nope- my greenhouse goes dead cold in the winter and I can still get outbreaks of spider mites and the like. Eggs of pests will overwinter and hatch when warmed back up. Solarization might work down in the south but it's pretty much useless up here.

wordwiz said:
Hinky,

The first thing I would need to do is to send she who patrols the kitchen and microwave on a vacation! I can just see me telling her I need to cook 30 5-gallon containers of dirt in her zapper! I love cast iron skillets but I suspect being hit upside the head with one would change my mind. :onfire:

Mike
Click to expand...

I just told The Mopwringer/Diaperchanger© that every so often I'd be nuking buckets of dirt. She just shook her head and said something about me being weird and cleaning up after myself. It's dirt, it's not like it's going to boil over, sheesh...

One thing people don't think about is that if you add manure or compost to your gardening soil, you're going to be adding weed seeds and larva and other bad shit to what might otherwise be sterlie media and you'd better sterilize it.
 
IMO, if yer Compost has stuff living it it..yer doing it wrong...

Stuff should get hot enuf naturally to prevent most of that...perhaps it's nto being ventilated or turned enough?
 
Quad,

I bought new potting soil this year. Grew seedlings upstairs where nothing has grown before. Had aphids. Think I killed them all, but if I was a betting person, I would wager a fair sum of money that a few lived and are hiding in the PS. Plus, no matter how long compost cooks and how hot it gets, if it is outside and not locked up in an airproof chamber, there is a chance of infestation.

100 percent eradication of pests is nigh impossible if I'm going to use PS/compost but I figure that reusing the same stuff over and over is going to increase the odds of bugs. Or am I wrong?

Mike
 
Well, yeah..

Heh, I'd I'd actually responded to Hinky but forgot to quote..


I meant while de-comp is going on sure there SHOULD be some beneficial insects involved...but as it heats up an such, they'll leave by the time it's black, cooled, and ready to use.

Here's my fave linky on compost: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Organics/HomeCompost/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top