Soil experts...help!

OK,all of my experience is in hydro. Soil is new to me but I'm looking to make the switch because of the convienience and overall taste of the bud.

So I found a big bin of soil at my Moms' house. It looks clean but it's been outside for sometime un-used.

I don't want to bring in any bugs or other pests.

What is a good way to sterilize soil? I heard putting in the oven works but I'm not sure. If so how hot? how long?

Also,can you re-use soil? what do you have to do to it after you harvest a plant?
Thanks

Trust me, dont use that soil. It is worth the few bucks for some quality soil. Your plants will thank you. Peace

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I would just spend the dough and buy some new stuff. It would be less risk and effort. You could also blend it how you want. I myself used a mixture of soil and red lava rocks layered for a semi hydro effect in my last indoor grow. you can googlee semi hydro marijuana and see a pic of how I layerd it and some info on the concept.

I've been looking at Fox Farm soil, seems expensive. $20 a bag. is that soil worth the price? or would the soil at the nursery down the street for $9 a bag be good enough?

I mix a lot of outside soil with good soil for my outdoor plants and it works fine, I just put some newspaper on top of the soil and replace it each day until the soil dries out enough to kill any harmful pests.

Id say fox farm soil is worth it ive used cheap soil before and now I use Fox Farm all the time produced better buds for me

The foxfarm soil is great stuff and will give you great results however, if you can get pro-mix and some worm castings it may be cheaper and the results will be similar, if you use a good fertilizer when watering.

Heat Treatment

Temperature control is CRITICAL when heat treating soils. Overheating or under heating can lead undesirable results. Most disease-causing fungi are killed by a 30-minute treatment at 140°F.

Plant parasitic bacteria, most plant viruses, and soil insects are killed at 160°F for 30 minutes, and most weed seeds between 160° and 180°F for 30 minutes.

Remember: the higher the treatment temperature, the greater the number of beneficial organisms that will also be killed.

DO NOT OVERHEAT! Chemicals toxic to plant growth can be produced in soils when temperatures reach around 212°F (boiling point of water and temperature of steam). This more commonly occurs with soils having high organic matter content. A maximum treatment of 160°F for 30 minutes is suggested.

Oven Method:

Place the soil in containers so that the soil is level, not more than 4 inches deep. A glass or metal baking pan will work fine. Cover each container tightly with aluminum foil. Place a meat or candy thermometer through the foil and into the center of the soil. Set the oven to 160-180°F and heat for 30 minutes after the soil temperature reaches 160°F. After the treatment, allow the soil to cool.

just in case you do use the old soil

I'd go for the fox farms or another similar brand that comes recommended on here, as far as i know miracle grow is a no no.

Great info No Grow thanks.

No problem. Just trying to help.

When using fox farm soil do you need to add anything(perlite) or is good out of the bag?

CannaBoss said:

I've been looking at Fox Farm soil, seems expensive. $20 a bag. is that soil worth the price? or would the soil at the nursery down the street for $9 a bag be good enough?

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I like to buy the foxfarm ocean forrest, and then I mix it down 1/3 FoxFarmsoil 1/3 perlite 1/3 peatmoss, this makes an excellent airy spongy soil and it's alot cheaper than using the foxfarm by itself...

Fox Farm Ocean Forrest is the way to go.