Between grows soil storage

[Frost]

I plan to grow in soil, what is the correct way to store any extra soil until the next crop cycles through my tent?
my gut says cool, dark, in something with a good lid seal. But to not waste money and resources,
I would truly like to hear from an experienced grower on the best way. Thanks.

[kingfish]

Hi Frost and welcome. I keep the bag that the soil comes in and keep the soil 'till the next time I grow again. My current grow is in its 5th cycle. I store it in my garage.

[crucialbunny]

I use 35 gallon plastic trash bins with a lid. I recommend 1 or 2 small weep holes in the bottom to keep it from fermenting. Throughout the off season I add worm castings, compost, and molasses tea periodically to keep it biologically active, Invariably some worms and their eggs from my castings begin to reproduce in there also keeping it happy and active.

[Bluey]

Above all it must be kept moist. The micro organisms that good soil needs to feed your plants will die off it's allowed to dry out and the soil will degrade.
It also won't hurt to add a balanced organic diet to it but then you will be needing either aerobic or anaerobic climate in the soil for propper composting.

[AGH]

I keep mine in big rubbermaid totes. If it's moist, I keep the lid slightly ajar.

As others have mentioned, if you want to keep it 'alive' for organic grows, it will take occasional maintenance. However, I grow organic and about a month before it's time to start (if I've taken some time off from growing which I do in the winter because it gets too cool in my grow room) I will start 'cooking' the soil by adding whatever amendments I want, keep it moist, etc.

Just avoid anything too moist as that can cause 'bad' bacteria and microbes to grow and nobody wants that!

[Frost]

Thank you all very much for the advice!
👍

[Gingerbeard]

I'm all about letting the soil dry out by whatever means.
A fresh bag of soil contains lots of active bugs and junk. Usually it's fungus gnats. No idea if it kills good stuff.

[OldManGrower]

I've been growing strictly in soil for the last four years. Assuming your soil comes in bags, I just leave any extra in the bag and seal it with tape or clamps. Also when I start a new grow, I use about 25% of the previous soil in my mix.

[Phlash]

For potting soil storage if your doing it in bins or bags I wouldn’t worry too much about maintaining biology as it’s easy enough to reinoculate it for our purposes with a quality compost or worm tea introduced at time of planting. Don’t pack your stored soil tight and periodically aerate to prevent anaerobic conditions.

Typically growing in pots and feeding with plant available nutrients circumvent some of the biological symbiosis that is optimal for a diverse biome anyways, this is where the plants themselves feed the biology which they in turn feed the plant.