Screwdriver's reused soil in a bucket thread

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screwdriver said:
Not sure how long I can let it bubble.


12-48 hours...
short brew time at temps of 75-85* for a bacteria bloom

long brew time at 60-75* for a fungi bloom

:)
 
Hello HGB, thanks for the info. Finished all the teas and more important cleaned my mess. The foam, as it rises, brings tiny bits of stuff and deposits a small growing ring/layer around the bucket and whatever the foam touches. After that stuff dries its tough to clean off.

I can't believe its been 2 weeks since I touched my buckets. I've been so lazy about stirring. I look at the buckets as I light my pipe and thats about how far it gets. So I have finally decided to do something and actually did something.

They were getting dry so I added some fish water to moisten. How much? The first picture is the beginning of the mix after I poured the fish water. In the blurry picture you can see a clump of wet soil.
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After I mix completely, the water is evenly spread throughout soil. I don't want to see any "mud" swipes from too much water on the side or bottom of the bucket.
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I don't think I have a need for all the soil for awhile so my plan is to dry the soil in the buckets that are ready to use so I can store it. The remaining soil is enough for the short term. As I walk through the house I see several dieing plants which means more soil for the buckets in the near future.
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screwdriver said:
Hello HGB, thanks for the info. Finished all the teas and more important cleaned my mess. The foam, as it rises, brings tiny bits of stuff and deposits a small growing ring/layer around the bucket and whatever the foam touches. After that stuff dries its tough to clean off.

your welcome :) and yes that ring can be a pita to clean after it dries.... only let that happen once here and now cleanup is done right after the tea is feed....

nice to have soil in storage thats for sure and I have never had problems with storage after it is well dried....

peace
 
I finally got around to adding the skunk #1 remains to my buckets. The discarded fan leaves have been mixed, but are still noticeable I cut up the framework of stems into little tiny pieces and put them into bucket three, the most recently used up soil.
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The root ball from that girl I put into bucket 2. I like to think that the main root area at the bottom of the stalk has something special to it.
 
good day screwdriver,

when you make tea do you add the left material into the soil buckets?

there's millions of beastie's left in it and they love to dine on old plant matter;)

peace
 
Hello HGB, Mutt.

I don't see an alternative other than to put that bacterial infested, half eaten, mess into my buckets.:hubba: I can still make out some alfalfa, but most of it is unrecognizable. Amazing how fast things disappear.

I have a plant that has wilted away. I see a value to that for my buckets? Hard for me to explain other than most it came from bucket so why can't it go back into my bucket? The plant may be dead, but there life there somewhere. I also think of it like conserving energy, walk up a flight of stairs to throw it away in the garbage or swivel my chair and dump it into my bucket. :D
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Is there a way to test soil health, ghetto style? I've used a soil NPK test and the test has always shown the maximum color on all the scales. Are they accurate? I'm also curious about this "salt" build up. Does my "salt" increase because I reuse the soil?
 
cool idea.. wish i would of known about it before i grew my most recent plant in soil that i found cigarette butts in and dead dried roots from another type of plant. LOL...
 
Things are active again. I planted a blue mystic seed and see a problem. It looked like, to me, that there was a ph issue maybe locking out some nutes. I don't know, so instead of growing confused, I choose to do little to nothing although I did top dress with lime and crossed my fingers. I see a female preflower so she's a keeper for now. The two healthy girls (I assume) in the bottom of the picture were planted in the same soil and not showing signs like the blue mystic. They are my cross of BBxNL x BBxNL. They look just like the mother. The BBxNL cross are about 140 cm and have 10+ nodes, but not alternating. In the past it has been a good sign of a female if it hasn't showed sex by the seventh node.
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Just harvested my girl and the remainder of material goes into the buckets to be reused.

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Haven't touched my buckets lately. I'll go and stir them this weekend. Here's an update on my girls in the soil. My blue mystic had a little bout with something while my BBxNL cross had no issues with the soil (Lower picture right side cut mostly from picture). Same soil same bucket. I think I just forgot to mix in some lime at the planting. She seems to be doing fine from my perspective. I think she around 20 days into flower.

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Have you been pumping your reused soil back up with nutrients? you know you have to layer your nutriences in the dirt correctly that is what partialy tells the plant whhat stage to go into and it controls the growth rate of the roots, as well as the plants, certain nutriences should only be on the bottom so the roots shoot down to them. From your pics i can see a leaf and it let me know that the plant it came off of had some deficiencies it looked like nitrogen potassium and phosphorus deficiencies. but anyways get back at me.. if you have any questions..
 
Hello, best in berkshire county.

Welcome to the forum there is a bunch of good info here and have a fun grow.

I occasionally add some N,P,K with included microstuff and love.:heart:
I think a layering technique may work better in a larger container than what I use.
My blue mystic had a problem early on. My guess was magnesium deficiency, but then I saw some leaves curving. I also look on the labels of the stuff I put in the buckets and there seems to be magnesium on several labels so I figure there is enough magnesium. I kind of don't remember putting lime into the mix. Anyway, I top dressed it with some lime and watered.
I have transplanted and topped dressed her, since, and she appears to be happy to this date..

:afroweed:
 
Finally got around to doing something with my buckets. I've been moving things around with my ventilation fan and really neglected my buckets. There was white stuff growing in there. So I go and mix it all up again.

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I started six more seeds in my soil and will try to start a journal to help me track my girls. I need just enough for the size of my planter since I'm planting all six in the same container. I added about 30% perlite and a tablespoon of ag lime. I'm not going to add any N,P,K just yet. I'll top dress later.

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That's my soil. Done nothing with it, not even stirred. I know I really should mix it more. It seems that when I mix it on a regular basis and tending to my buckets the organic stuff breaks down faster and becomes unrecognizable. Since it has been sitting and I haven't been mixing I can still pick out some stems. Note to self, mix more.
 
My bad not following up like a should. Thanks so much for this thread screwdriver. ;) this is a major contribution IMO. :D
Keep it green dude. :D
:48:
 
Thanks Mutt.

I don't think you have to do much to recycle your soil. It is a good idea to do things proper, but it isn't a hard fast rule. I would like to figure out what the things are that I'm doing right and wrong. I forget and my memory can get distorted so if I post it, it is there for reference.

Here's my latest girls. Left is blue mystic, right is my seed that I made from two BBxNL.
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Thank you so much SCREWDRIVER..I was wondering how I could reuse my dirt.It seemed to be such a waste to throw all that away plust dirt is exspensive when you buy 8+ bags at a time.And the nearest "dirt" store is 20 miles away.So I thank you so very much!!!!! It will save me alot and alot :>)
have a great day and be safe
 
Hands on is the only way to grow & prep. Thanks Bro

KGB
 
Thanks tcooper1, 8 bags :shocked: thats alot of buckets. That sounds like a job for a rubbermaid container. They got big totes to mix in.

Thanks for stopping by KGB30.

A little update on the soil. Getting ready to plant some seeds so I moved some dirt around. The bucket on the right is #1. I put a couple scoops from #2 and added some perlite and lime. I'll start the seeds in this mix and cross my fingers my homemade seeds come through.
From bucket #3, far left, I put a couple scoops into #2, middle. I gathered up all the roots and the root ball from the red tub and put in #3.
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In bucket #3, I sprinkled some my zyme stuff and then mixed together. I also added just plain water to each bucket to moisten.
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My buckets tucked away in their new home. In a cabinet, hidden from nosy people.
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And for those interested, the story of the orb in the top photo. I positioned the camera so I could view the red tub without the camera interfering. I could see the view finder of the camera also. As the flash went off I saw a flash ball at soil level, out of the corner of my eye really wasn't looking at the view finder because the battery is low and it blanks out the screen. I assumed a reflection from something in the soil. So I look very close and nothing in the soil seemed reflective.
I'm almost positive I saw that flash in the tub, but that looks like an "orb" thing.

The orb in the second picture I attribute to a big finger print on lens of camera.
 
Well, I had an awesome post about my buckets yesterday, but I don't see it. It was probably the best post I ever made. The pictures were the greatest and described everything perfectly. I guess I didn't "submit" after previewing.

This is what I got now.

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Its been 12 days since I harvested my blue mystic and put the remains into bucket 3. Just see a couple partial leaves and the main stem that I didn't cut up yet.

I also added some fish fertilizer water too moisten the soil. I did add too much water in bucket 2, so I'll have to stir more often for the next couple of days until it drys up a little.
 
Keep rockin' man. So many more people should be doing this... :aok:
 

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