converting anaerobic soil to aerobic soil

Whats your views on using a soil that got left out in a bucket in the rain, has that unpleasant smell about it. Only left for 2 days like this. Will it be ok to use if i get sufficiant air to it? Or should i start again?

Id start over just based on bad smell if its only a bucket worth. Good soil smells fresh almost clean

Aerobic microbes thrive in aerobic conditions, anaerobic microbes thrive in anaerobic conditions. So in theory if you got some oxygen into the soil and made the conditions unsuitable for anaerobic microbes and more suitable for aerobic microbes, the anaerobic ones should go away and the aerobic ones should take over...

That being said, if it's only a bucket full you might be safer just starting over. Depends on the size of the bucket I guess...

SlappinAhoe said:

Whats your views on using a soil that got left out in a bucket in the rain, has that unpleasant smell about it. Only left for 2 days like this. Will it be ok to use if i get sufficiant air to it? Or should i start again?

Click to expand...

Totally safe once you aerate it some more. Don't dump it or throw it away.

Dump the soil out and mix it up, mixing and turning multiple times a day. Once the bad smell is replaced with the good smell, you'll be okay to use it. However, you will have to re-amend it a little bit as you're mixing it up.

Reason being is because that smell you are smelling is ammonia; a form of nitrogen gas. So, you're quite literally smelling your Nitrogen "evaporating" and will need to either mix more amendments in, or simply top dress more frequently to compensate for the loss.

Easily salvaged though. Just sprinkle in 1/4-1/2 of the amendments you used when you initially made the soil. Then dump it, and keep is evenly moist and aerated. Mix it daily, preferably 2-3 times a day. The more you mix, the sooner it'll be good again.

I only used trash cans/containers for soil twice, almost always go anaerobic and need to be dumped on a tarp and turned multiple times a day. So, I just stopped using cans to store the soil and just leave it out in the open.

With enough turning and mixing, your soil should be back to normal in under a week. In fact, since you only have a small bucket, it'll likely only take a day or two.

Hope that helps.

Just let some air into your mix. Don't throw it away.

Dump it out, let it dry, mix in more aeration and make sure there are holes in the bucket for airflow and drainage if you're gonna leave it outside. The anaerobes will mostly all die off or go dormant and the aerobic microbes will outcompete them. Soil doesn't "go bad" unless it gets polluted(or is way out of balance with hard nutrients to mobilize), so unless your house is a DuPont factory you're probably fine.

I have aerated the soil for a day and the smell has gone.