Re-Using Soiless Media (Peat/Vermiculite)? Breaking down roots?

I am using the 50% peat and 50% vermiculite as advised by Dr. Bruce Bugbee and discussed in this: thread.

My question is about, whether it might be possible or not to re-use the bag with the media after somehow breaking down the roots?

For example one might need to help the roots break down somehow, by applying some h202 or something, then remove the remaining stalk and flush, dry it out and and then add more amendments (gypsum and lime are called for this this formula of Dr. Bugbee). Would this sound like a reasonable plan and how can I break down the roots as such???

Assuming you have good soil life from the previous run it will decompose the stalk and roots on its own.

I'm not using soil mate, just soiless of peat/vermiculite.

Overgrowtho said:

I'm not using soil mate, just soiless of peat/vermiculite.

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Just dump it out remove the stem and root ball,all the little feeder roots can stay they'll do no harm.Re pack and grow on.

Of course we can physically do it, but I am looking for an answer which addresses more about the question of chemical composition. Anyone on this forum in particular, whom I could ping about it?

Overgrowtho said:

Of course we can physically do it, but I am looking for an answer which addresses more about the question of chemical composition. Anyone on this forum in particular, whom I could ping about it?

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roots are made of cellulose and lignin, breaking down these is easy.
Root decomposition is driven by three major processes: chemical litter composition, soil biota and soil abiotic environment

mudballs said:

roots are made of cellulose and lignin, breaking down these is easy.
Root decomposition is driven by three major processes: chemical litter composition, soil biota and soil abiotic environment

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Thanks for chiming in. I am not sure what that means or the implications for a soiless media however?

Overgrowtho said:

Thanks for chiming in. I am not sure what that means or the implications for a soiless media however?

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the implications discussion would be academic, i just provided what the root is made of and how it breaks down over time. i personally would not mix decomposing matter with a soilless media. you dont want rotting roots next to clean roots mate

I grew a cauliflower this year in a pot of soilless medium that now has cannabis growing in it.
Ended up waiting about a month after chopping the CF, pulled the stump, then planted the herb. (It was in a solo cup.)

Zero problems so far.

Chunky Stool said:

I grew a cauliflower this year in a pot of soilless medium that now has cannabis growing in it.
Ended up waiting about a month after chopping the CF, pulled the stump, then planted the herb. (It was in a solo cup.)
View attachment 4974643
Zero problems so far.

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he's in peat/vermiculite
i said im not getting in that fight, you wanna put dead stuff in ur soilless be my guess.

mudballs said:

he's in peat/vermiculite

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I recycle peat medium. Heaped outside for rain and time to leach it. I also reuse the fabric bags. Does this answer your question?

hotrodharley said:

I recycle peat medium. Heaped outside for rain and time to leach it. I also reuse the fabric bags. Does this answer your question?

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i dont have a question, i can see everyone attacking, i only answer the guy i dont care what the fuk you or anyone does with their roots and soilless

mudballs said:

i dont have a question, i can see everyone attacking, i only answer the guy i dont care what the fuk you or anyone does with their roots and soilless

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Well blow it out your ass, cupcake. Stuff yours, boy.

hotrodharley said:

Well blow it out your ass, cupcake. Stuff yours, boy.

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if thats what it takes for me to get out of this thread and topic, have at it

mudballs said:

he's in peat/vermiculite
i said im not getting in that fight, you wanna put dead stuff in ur soilless be my guess.

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I'm in peat/perlite, so...

My little experiment will show whether or not your advice has merit.

Good luck bro.

Chunky Stool said:

I'm in peat/perlite, so...

My little experiment will show whether or not your advice has merit.

Good luck bro.

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i gave no advice, only my personal stance, im not gonna promote what you are doing as acceptable norm

Overgrowtho said:

Thanks for chiming in. I am not sure what that means or the implications for a soiless media however?

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just because your medium is "soilless" doesn't mean it's sterile. Peat moss is known to be a good source of wild microbes on its own, and vermiculite has been shown in studies to be able to be innoculated with and hold onto benefical microbes for up to 6 months at room temperature, meaning if you grow outdoors and you don't do cover crops, the microbes in your medium could still be surviving until your next planting.

To speed up decomposition of your rootball, try molasses water or compost teas. Dry amendents will certainly help feed and encourage the microbes to do their thing as well. But given all that it would probably still take a few weeks or months to break down imo, so probably not interesting if you're an indoor guy looking to reuse it quickly. Would love to hear your results if you tried

out of curiosity, what's the reasoning behind the h2o2? In my mind that'd be disinfecting all those decomposers that you're trying to encourage

I think despite using peat and vermiculite, my medium is sterile because I didn't put anything living into it, just salt nutes and h202, h20.

It makes sense to give the dead roots time to break down nevertheless, and media to leech in the rain outside or something.

Thanks everyone, for giving your advice. It sounds like I can re-use it as an experiment with one plant at least, like an experiment. I think I likely need to re-amend with lime and gypsum (my original formula from Profesor Bugbee) every 1 or 2 runs.

I took out the stem and root ball, helped break it up, and have some fabric pots / media leeching in the rain now.

I breed marigolds for fun and do a lot of experiments. To save space, I put several plants in bigger pots, then cull the ones I don't want to breed before collecting seeds.
When undesirable plants get chopped, dying roots do not become a problem for the remaining plants.

One of these days I should pull a root ball and do an autopsy...
-- edit --
Also, my experiment is somewhat invalid because brassicas interact differently with soil than cannabis. (They have antifungal properties.)

from my understanding as peat breaks down it becomes more acidic. also prepackaged soilless mixes that are peat generally come premixed with lime that brings the ph up to around 6. im going to assume if your planning on recycling this stuff you should add some lime and test the ph before using it