Reuseing Soil, Yes or NO?

To all you dirt growers out there, do you reuse your dirt after harvest?
What could be the down side to this?
lock out?

Let me know your thoughts on this, dirt is new to me

Peace
M

You can, i woudnt st it though.. It can bring unwanted peskks.. and could potentially cause lockout.. I wouldnt reccomend using dirt again.. It would probly be worth it in the end to just buy new stuff... If you insist on re-usu\ing then use half old soil, half new soil..

I don't agree with this dirt is dirt, do u think farmers go out and buy new dirt every year to grow their crops in? if anything all they do is have a rotation of their fields where the let certain parts lay fallow for a period of time. Here is a grow I'm doin right now using some FFOF soil for its 2nd grow, all I did was add worm castings a bit more lime, and a lil vermiculite. And of course make sure u till the soil properly before planting anything. I posted another pic of the 1st plant showed sorry it looked like I had the DTz when I took that one.

reduce reuse recycle....i love reusing my dirt..i just, re amend it... put more perlite a little coco and plant...they love it...no worries

I jus flushed out the buckets till clear water was running out, now im gonna let it dry a bit, and reuse it. it will be my first time tho, so ill pay attention to any problems.

wouldnt the chlorine from the city tap water kill off any pathogens that might be in it anyways ?

use Friendly mycorrhizal fungi it eats old roots and helps new ones

i never reused old soil to much roots and time. i just throw it around my yard and break it up. Iv done it so much my whole garden and maybe half my lawn is pro mix potting soil.

yea you need as a minimum to recondition it .. like them farmers .. but they also let it sit for a year or two to let the soil renew and the nutriens and micros to work ... or they grow a winther crop and use it for fertilizeing the soil ...

dont be so cheap .. use them 10$ on some new fresh soil ..

I cant even imagen how stupid .. dump and nubish I would feel .. if I use 3 months a lot of money on power/water/nutriens/seed/aso. and then got a shitty haverst Bc. I wanted to safe a few bucks ..

if it is Bc. your lazy .. use coco .. it can be reused with no problems what so ever .. as you will add all stuff plants need .. a littel like hydro .. coco is only the material it sits in .. you need to feed evrything els .. ther is also a bottel of some flush for coco .. cheap .. dunno .. no experiance .. but it is to flush it and renew it before reuseing it agin ..


only way I would "reuse" it .. is if I had a compost going .. trow it in ther for a few months ...

sumthing I found online as I did search for a good soil mix for my next grow:



[h=3]Recycling Soil[/h] Used soil - Reusing soil has a few downsides such as it makes it easier for diseases, viruses, and pathogens from entering your garden. Also peat based soils break down and become acidic. If you fertilize with chemicals you'll end up with salt buildups that will slow growth. Unless you like to take chances, have a good eye, and a good horticultural understanding, you may be better off with staying with fresh new soils. That said;I grow strictly organic and I've always reused my soil. I don't sterilize the soil between plantings as my soil is full of microbes and predatory bugs that keep the bad bugs under control. After each crop, I chop up the soil and root balls with the leaves, stalks, etc and let compost for about 3 months. I then mix it up and add about 2 - 3 cups of lime for every 50 gallons composted soil. I also add about 1/2 cup epsom salts, 2 liters bone meal, 1 liter blood meal, 1 liter kelp meal, 1 tsp trace elements, and enough perlite to regain the porosity of the original soil. I used to add a bag of manure, but I was getting fertilizer burn and so have stopped now. As I've been fine tuning this, the plants just keep getting healthier and I haven't had any real pest problems for quite a while.
I know this is a controversial approach and maybe even risky, but it allows me to keep my garden pretty much self contained. I don't attract attention by buying bales of soil every 3 - 4 months year around, or in the disposal of leaves and soil after each crop. It's definitely not for those who want sterile crops and those that use pesticides and chemical ferts. I believe in working with nature, not against it.



Update: After several generations, a nutrient imbalance developed which was only solved by leaching the soil thoroughly. My hunch is that one of the micro nutrients was building to toxic levels. I guess farmers don't get this problem because they have the winter rains to leach excess nutrients from their fields.

So then since I've never really done any type of hydro or aeroponics could the same thing apply those mediums, do they need to be changed with every grow because they absorb the salts and other micro nutes overtime? But what if the soil is flushed out, if u can simulate outdoor growing conditions then can't u do the same to simulate rain and flush out the build up in the soil?

I wouldn't re use soil in pots. In the ground, sure

I agree with obijohn. I use it in my outdoor grow. It is great for preconditioning your planting hole. I have been reusing the same soil for 4 years now, just revitalizing it with castings, lime, bone meal, blood meal, kelp powder, perlite, and guano. I mix it with the amenities and let it sit for a couple of months before planting. I throw everything but the kitchen sink in there! I have had good luck so far. I have a pretty good size area now that is mostly used soil with amenities added.

dvs1038 said:

So then since I've never really done any type of hydro or aeroponics could the same thing apply those mediums, do they need to be changed with every grow because they absorb the salts and other micro nutes overtime? But what if the soil is flushed out, if u can simulate outdoor growing conditions then can't u do the same to simulate rain and flush out the build up in the soil?

Click to expand...

as I see it ... you dont reuse soil unless you have a compost to trow it in ..

you use them few $ and buy some new fresh (not dead) soil .. and make a good mix ..

if your lazy or want to safe money I sugges you go with a coco grow (coco fibers) as its "clean" so to speak .. with coco you can do the flush (even got some cheap liquid stuff for it) you realy cant do in soil as soil is meant to keep a lot of stuff for the plants .. coco is not .. its closer to hydro .. you add what the plants need with your watering mostly .. soil keeps all kind of micros and trace elements ..

but agin .. I guess it depense on what you like .. oganic in soil with no real problems with nutrien burns .. underfeeding aso. that tast good and hold no chemicals ..

or a littel faster growing crop that maybe get a bit bigger .. but dont tast as good and can hold salts/nutriens ..

and I bet cost is like the same .. with the organic soil you need to invest some in stuff to add to the soil .. with coco/hydro you need nutriens .. PH/ecc meters aso.

guess its a mather of temperment .. try em out and see for yourself ..

I add new dolomite, blood meal, bone meal, compost and fungus/bacteria. Then let it cook. I reuse it for garden plants..maters, herbs,etc.
edit: I flush it first.

Heres a good article by the 3 LB's regarding this subject. https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/20291-endless-soil-remixing-with-the-3lbs/

You can, but why risk bug contamination, fungus growth and the root garbage.. dirts cheap, lighting a room for like 3 months to find out your re-used dirt fucked you grow op is not... sorry but i say NO... pay the money, get some fresh dirt, work it!

Ok well Shall I post pics of the grow I do after this one using the same dirt, and like I said b4 the pics I posted r of plants being grown in soil that has been used in previous grows. And where r is this fungus or contamination supposed to come from unless u bring it into ur grow room urself by not keeping it sanitary. Or by throwing bug infested clones in there, luckily I cut all my own clones from plants I grew from seed. I like coho's idea too.