re-use soil??

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shuggy4105

The grass is greener...
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hi all at MP, this one is really for one of the mods-"Elephant man",but anyone with an opiniun on it is welcome....
anyway, i read you re-use your soil e-man? How do you do this, and what requirements are needed to begin a new crop with the re-cycled dirt?(nutes etc if any).
all posts :welcome: ,
cheers.:48:
 
i reuse soil sometimes when i buy fox farms i just add some nute and ferts before i start a new plant and flush the soil out 2 or 3 times and then wait a week and plant my plants in the reused dirt
 
I wanna thank you first for making a thread, private messages are welcome, but 5000 heads are always better than 2, and I am a crazy old stoner...LOL.

Here's what I do bro, probably other ways to go about it.

I have probably over 300 gallons of soil here, not all Fox Farm, and of course 40 gallons or so is just perlite. There are several bags of cheap local (nursery...not wal mart) planting mix in there too, like $6 for 2 cubes, not all that exotic or special.

Only maybe 25% has plants in it....the rest is on a 'rotating composting cycle'.

Lets divide it into 4 rotating bins/piles of soil, and you can input amounts that suit you.

25% is in use, lovely plants right? Let's say for 2 months.

Next bin is of course 25% again...it consists of the soil from my most recent harvest. Some 'screen' out as much root mass as possible, I don't. I break it up and give rootballs to my worms. Along the way at this point you can toss males and trimmings in this bin if you like...whatever my worms don't eat go in this bin. This bin doesn't really get mixed much, I generally let it dry completely, to help break up organic matter (mostly roots). This bin will sit for 2 months before rotating also, follow me?

Next bin has just finished the previous process and is ready for amending. Here is where it gets a little tricky, you have to have notes or something going to remember how that grow went. Did they yellow early? Bump the N. Did stems seem weak at harvest and they were not intaking well? Bump K. See where I am going? Keep track of any deficiencies you may have encountered. This part is not really as hard as it sounds, if you are all organic, your soil micro-biology will be 'large and in charge' and really does alot more than we think. I add all of my quick release amendments now, earthworm casings go full strength always, like 25%. Other items may be dependant on what you can get, nearly everything but traces and guanos will fall under this category. These always get replaced 100%, unless my notes tell me otherwise. My slow release stuff like azomite, rock phosphate, greensand, guanos, crab meal, etc., all usually get replaced at half strength...once again, unless my notes tell me there was a problem. This bin sits 2 months of course, but this bin must be wet...not saturated, but wet...must not be allowed to dry. It also must be mixed (aerated) at least once a week...every 3 days is about what I do. It will get warm during say week 2...it is supposed to. This bin is a great place for leftover teas and plant drainage, but again, try not to saturate it.

The next bin is pretty much just waiting...it is done and ready to go...but the longer it sits the better off you are. At this point, weekly mixing is fine, probably not necessary. Sometimes I go ahead and start filling my containers, no harm done letting them sit full waiting for a seed.

As far as how much to add, well...depends on what you start with...if you intend on using Fox Farm, I can probably give you specific amounts of what I add...otherwise, it depends on how depleted your soil is, and what kind of amendments you have. Please don't ask me how to reuse non-organic soil, or any soil that has been pounded with chemical ferts for 2 months straight...I don't have any experience with that, but it has been done.

I feel I should point out Ocean Forest soil will do 2 grows just fine, without composting or adding anything but liquid ferts or teas and maybe an occaisional foliar fix. Of course vegging times have to be factored into all of this.

Cheers to all who make an honest attempt at reusing good soil and learning to maintain their own.
 

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