Re-using Soil

To composts in order to kill bad microbes it has to be at 120-150 degrees. After the initial mixing, compost pile will heat up quickly, staying hot for several weeks or a month. When it stops steaming it is ready.


If you do not have all the materials needed to heat it up to the point of steaming you have not even started.

It is possible to re-use the soil with out composting. However you run the risk of problems being passed on if there were any in the prior grow. If there were no problems then you probably would be fine.


Now let us talk about your buget for soil; stop buying pre-made soil with someones name on it.

I go to my local dirt and gravel store and by their potting soil mix. http://www.acmesand.com/topsoil/ 1/2 a cubic yard is about 100 gallons so that is $32 where I buy it.
Then add worm castings (the most expensive if you do not grow your on)
EWC with the compost is a good enough with teas however you can just top dress like you mentioned also.

Here is a place in california with soil premade in bulk all costs are really cheap.
http://www.kinneynursery.com/landscape-soil.html the Barnyard mix does not look too bad. 100 gallons $21 and your down the road. Get any toppings you want for about another $30 and you should be able to grow 35-45 plants for about $50.

Invest in buying some compost and ewc for teas and you should not even need dressings.

Very well put. Go for it hyroot, a 100% living organic soil will get better with each reuse. I remove as many roots as possible when breaking down the rootball, and again 1-3 days later fluff em out again (10 finger sifter is all I do).
It is up to you whether to reamend and cook/compost it, OR reuse it more as a living soilless, either way as long as the previous plants remained thriving and healthy it should be usable for some time.
Ditch the disposable economy mindset IMO, it is all that needs disposed of in 100% living organic cultivation i.e. the old way before agriculture's green (synth petro death to soils chemical) revolution.
Also, further down this same hole is no-till gardening, look into that too; save on soil AND labor or back pain for me. No one is pulling rootballs in the forest and the plants thrive as the microbes process the decaying plants into sustenance for the next generation.
I have been using both these techniques in my greenhouse and all my plants are thriving in soil reused 4-6 crops/seasons now (with fresh coco mixed in to wetten the indoor mix then just reused repeatedly), some in the same no till beds as last summers crops. I reuse my mix more as a soilless with Age Old Bloom, Kelp, Humic/Fulvic, and fish hydrolysate supplying organic inputs for the bennies to do their good. I know coco is superior to peat for reuse as it breaks into smaller particles slower over time. These are mostly my food production plants but my cannabis loves the reused organic soils too. I will begin reusing my soil indoors soon as the greenhouse is finally almost just add liquids! (theres always a few more transplants to do) I'll let you know how this goes indoor in a few months.

Kalyx no till gardening is very popular. When we till we break up the soil structure and kill benificial microbes that support the soil. It is all about the innoculation at that point the microbes actully replish the soil with what they exude.

Good farmers will tell you they do not grow food instead they grow dirt that makes food.

Again very well put. If I do break up the rootball, I reinoculate gomulus intraradices onto the new tplant rootball and re transplant usually within 3 days so my living soil has little time to go dormant. Agreed we feed the bennies and they feed the plant.

Thanks guys. Thay really helps. Everything I could find on the subject was pretty vague. Pers good lookin on the dirt buy. Im not in humby or mendo so those spots are too far away. Im much further south. I think I may have found some dirt places near by.

Also I was thinking of adding 1 bag of new soil to the old soil once its ready.. Since theres less than I began with. The soil I use is coco based too.

I used to feed with guano teas. Now I just top dress and mix in the guanos and what not and I get much better results. I watched a video of Dr.. Elaine Ingham giving a lecture on guano and compost. She said to only use guano in teas if there is a deficiency,. Plants will absorb it instantly. Mixing in the soil yields better results So I tried it and I liked it. I top dress with compost every 2 weeks too. Then feed a compost tea every other watering and my nutes last 6 months now instead of a month.


Pers , love the quote in your sig

Not being a shit, I am not a troll, but if you are going through 100 bucks in soil a month you must have a pretty good operation and thus why would 100 bucks to be sure to expensive?

Originally Posted by chrishydro

Not being a shit, I am not a troll, but if you are going through 100 bucks in soil a month you must have a pretty good operation and thus why would 100 bucks to be sure to expensive?

Not really I have a perpetual, every 3 weeks. I get the roots organic original soil. Its coco based and has alot of chunky perlite in it. . Its very fluffy and lite. So I get about 8.5 gal of soil per bag. 15 3 gals. Is about 5 bags x $14 + tax., sog (no more) was 3 bags every 10 days.

I have lots of bills. Not just my own, I help fam and friends when I can. Im just cutting costs where I can. I even made the switch from hid to par t5 and led to cut electricity costs. I wish I did that much earlier than I did. I went from a $400 electric bill to a $200 bill. I use my a/c much less too. Better yields and quality too

chrishydro

Not being a shit, I am not a troll, but if you are going through 100 bucks in soil a month you must have a pretty good operation and thus why would 100 bucks to be sure to expensive?

Hey guy with hydro in his name in the organics section; your starting your post with not one but two qualifying statements makes me wonder about you being a shit and a troll. JK.

Simple one word answer, although hyroot was more than nice with his. BUDGET. Most responsible modern humans have to instate one eventually. Let the man break the cycle of the disposable economy if he sees fit. Ditch the synth mindset, go organic, reuse your soil and be healthier. 100 bucks a month would do wonders added to my budget!

Hyroot - adding in some fresh mix (or something not so broken down) to get it back up to the original volume will ensure a better physical structure to your soil over time. Great idea! I like to add more coco and EWC/compost as the perlite and pumice don't go anywhere unless its really windy!