Used Soil

[kingfish]

I've always wondered if last years soil would be ok to use a second or maybe third time. Here is the result of my current grow. The one on the left front is a Black Sugar from Seedsman. The one on the left in the back is from a hermied seed from Nirvana. The seedlings are 3 Black sugars, Kosher Kush and a White widow. All in last season's soil.

[crucialbunny]

I always recycle my soil. I just yesterday began the process of recharging last season's. I have a few 50 gallon trash cans that I add the old soil into along with fresh compost and castings from my worm bins. I sprinkle in some powdered oyster shell, kelp powder, and Azomite. I try and keep it moist throughout the winter and adding molasses to the water about once a month to keep the bacteria happy. Turn it over every few weeks. Seems to work better than many of the top brands I used to buy.

[ChubbNugg]

Yes. the ole trash can trick. works good once you get it down. blackest richest most humus dense soil I ever saw. A handful of it on just about any plant would perk it up.

[OldManGrower]

I have usually made a mixture of 1/3 last years soil, 1/3 new garden center top soil and 1/3 mushroom compost. As a strictly indoor grower, I do not wish to import pests, spores or plant diseases into my otherwise relatively sterile grow tent so I do not use outside compost. Sounds like fun though.

[ChubbNugg]

Mushroom Compost. Wow. That sounds like some good shit man.

[grouchyoldman]

Hi OldManGrower,
I'm equally paranoid about bringing pretty much anything from outdoors into my grow room. I fought the Borg and won, but once was enough!

The sad thing is that I make the most righteous soil for use in my small orchard and I wish I could trust it indoors. *sighs*

-Grouchy

[crucialbunny]

I have used my homemade soil repeatedly indoors and never had any bug issues. In fact, USC did a study that found organically grown plants had fewer insect problems due to microbial activity in soil. When I used to buy bagged soils I often had issues with fungus gnats.

[Mr.furley]

Hey kingfish,
Looking good my friend so keep doing what you do, if need be you can always re-immend soil, top dress works to.

How'd you like that for winter solstice? right on time lol! Stay warm.

[kingfish]

Hi Mr.furley, did you survive the inclement weather? Had a busted water pipe which made a mess in the basement.
I'm kind of behind in my growing this year, so I think I'm gonna run out and might have to buy some. SUCKS. I will stay in touch. Have a good one my friend.

[Smokesteve]

Personally I had bad luck with reusing soil. But I use organic soil and boost with salts. I imagine the soil had some salt left in it and the nutes were mostly used up. Certainly that's how my plants reacted.

[OldManGrower]

If you flush once or twice prior to harvest and only use a third of your used soil, you should be just fine.

[Gingerbeard]

Figure people who grow vegetables in the ground reuse soil for years. A little amendment and you have old new stock.
If soil is reused without amendment, does it become inert like coco?

[Franklin]

If you really want to go down a rabbit hole like I have, start reading about living soil. Or even no till growing. I had gotten sick of spending so much money on soil every time I wanted to do a new round. The goal is to replicate nature and use soil indefinitely, even making it better over time through the use of continually top dressing with compost, and using bacteria and microbes to your advantage to turn the good stuff in your soil into nutrients that plants can use. Tons of fun videos on the build a soil YouTube site. If you really want to go down that rabbit hole, I recommend picking a season and starting at the beginning to learn all you can. I just finished season 3 and learned so much.

[ChubbNugg]

Soil, by itself, is usually some type of decayed matter. It's always soil. If you want that soil to provide nutrients, then you need the bio team to digest the soil and make that process a bio available nutrient source to your plants root zone. If you know how to harvest mychs and cultivate bactocillius, then that's all you need to "recharge" the soils ability to provide those nutrients. All of that is just a loose way of saying how I understand the soil food web works. It's awesome, and, It's a whole nother world.

[Going2fast]

Yeah all of my used soil goes into my compost heap. I'm constantly amending it with fish parts, crab shells, seaweed, garden scraps and such. My problem is it's too rich so I have to cut it so to speak. Been only using a third of a bucket but have a few this round with a half. I never had a problem with bugs coming in with the compost other than those weird flies but they are harmless. Fungus gnats are a part of growing in soil but they are easy enough to maintain. I do turn the pile often.

[Blowdout2269]

I usually have to cut my soil as well. My first living soil build was hot as hell. Had to tone it down a lot.
Gonna try my new mixture on these autos in the next couple weeks.