Can you re-use soil after harvest?

north cali lol up by the emerald triangle?? They say thats the best grow spot but damn 80lbs out of 25 plants thats badasss - Hands down to you my friend...

u should compost it for a few months before reusing it. maybe even a yr. i like to digg big 3 x3 holes in the woods and fill them with old potting soils from plants i us them in a yr for outdoor crop.

MrZuLu said:

I have experienced three issues with reusing soils ~ 2 are problems one is a solution if you have the space.

Nutes depleted and unused are the main prob, unless the soil is totally root bound, there will be pockets of more and/or less nutes in various levels and concentrations.

The 2n prob is the roots and the pestilence associated mentioned above.

The best and really the safest way is to use the old soil as your dirt layer in a compost pit or pile. Even a Compost drum will suffice.

I take it a step further and have a worm bed that I turn the composted soil into the worm bed. The worms breakdown the roots with natural perfection! I use the worms for fishing and the soil goes into garden ~ both indoors and out.

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I think this is a brilliant idea - using your old soil in a perpetual self sustaining rotation. +kudos!

I always reuse old soil...I havent bought soil for indoor gardening in over a year. I used happy frog soil. Obvoulsy before harvest you flush EVERYTHING out, Then I just let the plant naturally suck all the moisture out of the pot then after harvest I Break up the root ball and soil, screen it out really well, add some coco( if needed) then let it bake in the sun for a couple days and viola! new soil. And then I just burn whatever roots are left after screening...A couple times i have just tipped out as much of the stem as possible then in the crater left behind i just plant a new baby. Ive never had problems doing this.

I think the main issues you will run into (as others mentioned) is nutrient levels, and parasites. Not just too little nutrients, but also too many salts built up. I think this could all be overcome, but it does require extra effort.

Comparing indoor to outdoor soil is hard because we simply can't recreate the bio-systems that happen in natural soil. Not to say you can't replicate it, but it certainly won't happen on its own like it does outside.

Nematodes + Microbials + More organic fertilizer = SOIL GOOD AS NEW

No pest in the soil can stand up to predatory nematodes...which can be purchased easily

Microbials break everything down

More fert add nutes that were depleted...

I think the term soil needs to be eliminated here. Fox Farm's Ocean Forest is not soil, it's not dirt, it is a soil-less potting mix. They do indicate they add sand but there would be trivial amounts compared with say a well balanced garden soil or loam. OF is meant to be light and airy just like all potting mixes so the plants can breathe. If you were to use soil in a container the roots would not have any room. The compaction would be so great you would essentially be creating concrete. I'm not saying it is as light as say seed starting mixes but they should really reconsider the use of soil on their products.

Think of potting mix as a room and the nutrients, trace elements are the furnishings. It's the basic environment. You can certainly replenish tired potting mix by adding the things that have either broken down or have been spent up. We're talking about a weed here that is pretty hardy. So it's not extreme rocket science. It's just that you will have to mix things up because a potting mix is not a total living environment like the soil in your garden. It's missing one of nature's tireless workers, the earth worm. In your garden you can top dress and let the worms bring the organic matter down. So mix in some new earthworm castings, some guano, test PH and adjust accordingly. Again this is a weed, it has learned how to thrive in the worst of environments. The thing is if the second use doesn't turn out as well as the 1st and you're prepared to blame the mix then you might as well get new potting mix. JUst don't dump the old stuff in the trash. If you have a garden side dress some plants or toss it in the compost pile.

does the woods reuse dirt yes...... final answer

You can RE-USE It. BUT WHEN USING FFOF. Why RE-USE IT? Isnt 1 reason togo FFOF isto not Have to Add nutes the 1st month? If your going to RE-USE SOIL, Might as well go buy some 99cent soil from home depot, same thing if not SAFER/BETTER than re-used.

chronicuser85 said:

pretty siilly question man

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Not silly at all. The fact the you dismiss with such well shall we say arogance is what is silly. The simple answer to the question is yes with work you could indeed reuse the soil. However when comparing time and cost to do this compared to cost of just replacing to me just does not make it worthwhile to reuse. A cubic foot of good potting soil is pretty inexpensive. And requires very little work to get it ready for your plants. Where as reusing soil from previous harvest requires cleansing of root matter and sanitizing as well as replacing used up needed nutrients. That's my take on the debate of can you use old soil.

I agree but you're replying to a member who hasn't posted in five yrs.....in a seven yr old thread

Think of this,
As soon as you start feeding soil once it is depleted.
You are using used soil.

If the nutrient levels within the soil are depleted then wouldn't that give you more control over your nutrients that you will be putting into it?? Coco has no nutrients in it what so ever and it has to be one of the best growing mediums you can use.

Ingvarida nercosimus maxima! (Waves hand) RISE! RISE!

I dump my just used soil out side in tubs, add some compost, give it a turn over and let sit. I'm using maybe 1/6th of the available soil in any givin cycle. Even the worms find their way in there. Root balls break down fairly quickly.

I think it gets better and better.

Lucky Luke said:

I dump my just used soil out side in tubs, add some compost, give it a turn over and let sit. I'm using maybe 1/6th of the available soil in any givin cycle. Even the worms find their way in there. Root balls break down fairly quickly.

I think it gets better and better.

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Yes. That.

These were indoor,
After harvest I left roots in the bags,
Put the bags out in the weather and just let nature start breaking things down.

When Im ready to use them
I don't stir the soil I just top dress.
Edit, tried for 10 minutes to post pics
Of the products I added but no go. I guess just use your imagination.

charface said:

These were indoor,
After harvest I left roots in the bags,
Put the bags out in the weather and just let nature start breaking things down.

When Im ready to use them
I don't stir the soil I just top dress.
Edit, tried for 10 minutes to post pics
Of the products I added but no go. I guess just use your imagination.

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I think they have upload issues because of the new https certificate. That’s a fixable problem. We got encryption, y’all! Rejoice!

Michael Huntherz said:

I think they have upload issues because of the new https certificate. That’s a fixable problem. We got encryption, y’all! Rejoice!

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So is that what that means now? I've heard ppl mention the https thing but haven't really heard what the difference is now

NugHeuser said:

So is that what that means now? I've heard ppl mention the https thing but haven't really heard what the difference is now

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Among other things, it means your ISP / proxy can't inject code into RIU pages to take over your computer or related badness.