To use or reuse that is the question

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Do you re use you soil if you find a male

  • yes

  • no

  • other..please explain


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mactight

MOUNTIAN DEW
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I start my plants from seed.I use Fox Farm.So when I start my plant s and find out down the road that some of them are males.Can I just pull them males and re use the soil?or is that soil shot?If I can reuse the soil do I neeed to do anything to the soil?Chop up the left over roots or.......?
 
I voted for other and i say so because i think it all depends on whether or not you have introduced nutes to the soil yet or not.. If nutes of an kind are left in your soil and you try to put a clone or seedling in this reused soil things could get complicated to say the least (messed up PH level, burns, bad root development, ect.).. If the soil is simply.. soil then i would say reuse it man! Just make sure you have the roots of the old plant out ;)
 
hello!!!... we r talking about DIRT people... throw the USED crap out. as soon as you add water to the soil and have roots of a plant in there using that water, you have chemical reactions occuring. salts r being created within the soil - not benefitial to a plant.

just buy new soil, man... this is your BABY
 
recycle the dirt... build yourself a recylcing unit out of a 5gal bucket or rubbermaid container, add holes at the bottom of it.

Dump any used soil into it and set it outside for a couple months. The rain water will clean it out, and you shouldn't have a problem. if you're going to use nutes in your soil, you're not really going to benefit much from the soil itself. The soil itself, beleive it or not, will be abundant in nutrients only for a short period of time during the plants veg. stage anyway. This is one of the misconceptions about buying super fancy dirts. Anything without a slow release nutrient already added is going to be washed out, and absorbed by the plants quickly.

This is why people ADD nutrients to soil. I would just recycle it, and if you look around, people recycle their soil quite a bit on the forums.
 
I say get new SOIL..

I asked this very question when I started growing.

Now with a grow under my belt and some experience.

I WOULD GET NEW SOIL... WHY:

1. more than likely you'll have some gnats/mites and other critters
that more than likely will find your soil. Because of the ideal enviornment
for these pesky pita insects. Which in itself reason enough to use new
soil.

2. If you have grown and pulled males. Do you chop the trunk??
or do you litterally pull ALL the roots out the soil?? (imo impossible).
If not. left over roots = Root rot = pesky insects and etc

3. Salt build up which can lead to Nute lock.


Then again.. You never know until you try. So why not..
Do it and let us know how it goes..
 
IMO you need to get new soil for them everytime you put new plants in you can recycle the soil if you so desire but you do have to flush it out and fish out as much of the roots as you can. and al of that is jsut a hassle so its more efficant to just go and get another 2 buck bag of top soil. plus this way you wont get a build up of other things(bugs,perlite,etc) in the soil, which can cause issues down the road.
 
im with hick on this one dirt is dirtcheap, but if uve been growin for a while and no what ur doing mabey u could do it ,,i had to edit what i first wrote cause i thought i always heard on hear that ur not suposed to use ,used dirt well now im confused cause i look at the poll and i see its about half half and i see some good growers saying they reuse their soil so id say if it works for these guys then yes u can reuse soil cause ,,thank u for this thread ive learned something new today



HAPPY GROWIN TOM TOM
 
I beg to differ, though I respect all of your opinions...

Dirt is NOT cheap...

FoxFarm soil costs like $20 bucks, but $50 to ship a bag?! Come on.. that's expensive. It might be cheap if you can find the good stuff locally.

Bugs? Yeah... bugs are in everyones soil, NEW or used.

Salts? Salts can be cleaned out just as flushing bad nutes out can be. Also salts can be reduced if properly mixing your nutrients or using certain types of water. If you use hard water you're going to have more calcium and salt build ups.

Roots? I think you just shake the dirt off not literally sift through it to get the roots out. Besides, if you actually recycle the soil, not go straight from that soil into another grow in that soil, you'll notice those roots will just become another part of the organic material in the dirt. IMO recycling is using dirt that has been rehydrated, recontstructed, etc. I am sure HGB might know a thing or two about recycling soils... ? :) haha


I really don't think it matters all that much honestly... but you CAN use your recycled dirt without problems.


I would like to see an experience grower tackle this concept. A HONEST side by side comparison of plant grown in used vs new soil.

I can't afford shipping on a single $19.00 bag of FF so I don't even waste my time or money. lol
 
I wouldn't waste your time shipping in dirt... there are plenty of soils that are fine... for waaaay less then shipping it in.
Re-using can definately be done... but flushing the soil isn't the answer... it must be composted.
 
tom-tom said:
well now im confused cause i look at the poll and i see its about half half and i see some good growers saying they reuse their soil so id say if it works for these guys then yes u can reuse soil cause ,,thank u for this thread ive learned something new today

For the record... I would have put "YES", but I put "other"... so technically, it would be tied. :)
 
md.apothecary said:
IMO recycling is using dirt that has been rehydrated, recontstructed, etc. I am sure HGB might know a thing or two about recycling soils... ? :) haha

once a person gets there head around organics and becomes self sufficient there is no need to buy soil at all IMHO

i use fox farms for a base in living organics and non living mix's but very little now.... even tho i live real close to FF and only pay 11 bucks a bag I cant afford it really on my fixed income so it all gets used many many time's over here.

I have done enough side by side grows this way to know it can be done no problem with the same results when done right....

as for bugs in my soil.... got tons of them in mine as well as worms :hubba: without them in there my soil would not break down in a proper way...

the soil ONLY has to support the plant upright, and all the rest can be done via feeding the beastie's that FEED the plant;)

I live on $150 a month so new soil every grow is NOT an option here, and without reuse'n my soil I would have NO meds....

the info is posted here for peeps on how to rebuild your soil and grow on a budget....

in the real world no farmer replaces his soil every year as well as the earth doesn't get a fresh coat of soil every spring

grow on :48:
 
^^HGB^^^That there are some really good words of wisdom.Keep it GREEN:hubba:
 
Anyone here ever heard of the legendary growing group known as 3LB (Three Little Birds)? They have only bought soil once and have been reconditioning and reusing the same soil for years...I saved their article from the old OG forum and present it here in full...except for the photos...:

"We are about to go totally against the advice that Cervantes and Rosenthal and many others give concerning soil . . . the three_little_birds want to tell people that we ALWAYS re-use our soil . . . No soil has left the garden's of the three_little_birds since before the turn of the millennium . . .

we were discussing this among "the birds" the other nite - and one line that a little bird said comes to mind . . . "Farmer's don't strip their topsoil after a harvest - or even a few - in fact their soil is their most precious commodity - why should it be different for indoor gardening as long as proper care is taken to build healthy soil?"

Some “experts” will tell folks to throw out their soil after every grow . . . and we've known plenty of commercial growers that happily comply to make sure they do not have pest or nutrient problems. . . Maybe that even is the best solution for your grow, we can't say for sure, as always your mileage may vary. . .

We are poor simple medical users . . . and spending something like $20 for a bag of FoxFarm soil rubbed us wrong . . . our indoor herb grows have evolved to use 2'x3' containers . . . so with our container system it might take 2+ full bags of that soil for 3 plants in one of those containers . . . The three_little_birds wanted to save our money to purchase top quality genetics . . . not to buy simple dirt . . . so we decided there had to be a better way!

Now again . . . someone who is involved in commercial (rather than personal medical) production might not be so inclined to bother with making sure their soils stay healthy and all the work we go through to ensure our soil's health. . . but for us it is a labor of love and we feel our results speak for themselves. . . anyway, like we said . . our soil never leaves our grow . . . it has all been recycled to the point that we could not even begin to tell you how many times it's been through our system . . .

A good commercial potting mix has always been the base for our soil. . . We look for a product which is 100% organic . . . we recommend that you avoid ALL chemical salt ferts like the plague if you value your soil health . . . This especially includes timed-released chem ferts like osmocote . . .

Depending on what we have found for soil . . . we go from there. . . Some cheap organic soil mixes contain little more than peat, pearlite, and dolomite lime. . . These absolutely need amending to start off. . . Some organic soil mixes are much more complete and need little or no amending for starters. . .

Organic mushroom compost is certainly one of the hot soil mediums these days . . . and we've certainly had great success mixing it in with our soil remixes to add fresh organic matter. . . we often have “top-dressed” with fresh mushroom compost as well . . . after a couple years of experience with mushroom compost . . . we’ve found it to be a great source for an indoor soil base . . . and it’s proven to work well with remixes . . .

Now we’ll walk you through a description of the soil building process . . . lets imagine we started with an already amended soil mix like FoxFarm Ocean Forest as the base . . . perhaps mixed ½ and ½ with mushroom compost and added perlite . . .

Once through it's first grow (the plants fed only 100% organic with earth juice, guano and alfalfa teas, fish ferts, and liquid kelp). . . our container of soil has it's root balls pulled and it is dumped into a very large rubbermaid container w/ a lid (50 gallon container is our standard) . . . These container's are longer than our 2x3 growing containers, so with 2 people lifting and dumping . . . it's not too hard to keep this step neat. . . Each bin can actually hold more than the contents from a single grow-container . . . 2 grow-containers of soil will actually fit, but this makes mixing in amendments very difficult and messy. . .

Now we proceed to give back to our soil mix what our plants have taken (and then some) . . . We get out our kelp meal, bone meal, alfalfa (or blood) meal, greensand, rock phosphate, diatomaceous earth, and dolomite lime and get mixing. . . Depending on the soil's condition this is also where we might add a little more pearlite if soil compaction looks to be a potential problem. . .

Folks are going to ask us how much of these different supplements we add, and the only honest answer we can give is - it depends! If the plants we'd raised previously in that particular container had shown any signs of being short on a major nutrient . . .it's not too hard to throw in an extra cup or two of the appropriate organic supplement . . .for example we’d add extra Blood meal or alfalfa for N - Bone meal for P - kelp meal for K and other micro nutrients . . .

A nice full 16 oz plastic “dixie” cup of each of the prior mentioned ingredients would be our “baseline” for supplementing this round of soil re-mix. . . that actually equals a measurement of 2 cups (1 pint) . . . We will generally double this amount if any nutrient shortage has shown. . .

The greensand and rock phosphate are very slow to dissolve and be absorbed by plants, and are not normally used by many indoor container gardeners. . . Their slow release is what helps to make our system work . . . They will still be in our soil for the next couple of grows, doing their part for our soil health. . .

This is the point where we would also add some of our own compost assuming there is some finished and ready . . . if not some mushroom compost has proven to work . . . Our compost is made from the usual standards, household veggie food scraps and such . . . with the addition of all our used grow scraps. . . Fan leaf, chopped stems, and the "leftover's" from processing by bubble bag or tumbling are all composted and returned to the soil. . .

Now we will wet this whole mix down lightly and let it "cook" for a spell. . . We have a couple of large bins like this for soil remixing and composting. . . Folks always want us to be specific on amounts and times, and we do a lot of this by feel, so when we say we let the soil cook for a "spell" - how long depends on feel and need . . .

The minimum time our soil sits is two weeks . . . and it's sat waiting for use for a couple months like this during slower times or shut-downs in our grow . . . This time gives soil bacteria a chance to work and make the various organic amendments more quickly and easily available for our plants. . .

Now for the second grow . . . We use this soil again for another grow, watering with our usual array of teas, Earth Juice, etc. . . If needed, containers are top-dressed with compost (our own or mushroom compost depending on availability) as any soil settling occurs. . .

Upon yet another successful harvest . . the soil is reconditioned again . . . Once we reached our third mix of soil, we cut back on some of the soil amendments. . . The greensand and rock phosphate are still working from the last re-mix so we don't need to add any more of them for sure. . . .What remains in your soil at this point in terms of nitrogen and such may depend on your strain, some strains are much more greedy for some nutrients . . .

As an example of this technique . . . if our plants haven't shown any signs of yellowing as they mature, we figure there is nitrogen enough in the soil for the next round (at least to get started - we can add more N on the fly with fish ferts and teas if needed) . . and no alfalfa / blood meal would be added. . . If yellowing has occurred then a nitrogen supplement is added again. . . as we’ve gotten more adept at remixing our soils . . .

Just as a note about nitrogen sources . . . we’ve found that over time we can now judge better how much of the amendments to mix in from the beginning . . . and as we’ve increasingly switch from blood meal to alfalfa . . . we’ve found that we can add alfalfa meal with every soil remix . . .

Kelp meal is always added again since many of the major liquid organic ferts seem a little short on potassium, and also because we like the micro nutrients kelp meal provides to our plants. . . Dolomite lime will usually be necessary again too . . .and it's possible your soil will need even more lime this time than last. . . Any peat in the soil adds acidity as it decomposes, and the lime balances this as well as providing magnesium. . .

After the standard 15 - 30 days of standing moistened waiting for use this soil is used still another time. . . Now our soil has grown 4 crops of herbs and is still going and growing strong. . . At this point, we have started plants in our soil remixes directly alongside plants in fresh potting soil, just to make sure our mix wasn't subtly stunting our plants. . .

see pg 2...
 
pg 2...

The result was that the plants grown in our 4th and 5th generation soil remix did far better than those directly alongside grown in fresh from the bag FoxFarm OceanForest potting soil!

Because our garden was designed to be a continuous harvest setup . . . once we are to our 4th or 5th remix, it's starting to get hard to keep track of exactly what soil has been remixed where . . since half used bins of remixes are often dumped together to make room for another round of used soil coming from the garden . . So from here we simply continue adding amendments by feel as needed. . . as we’ve already described . . .

This is how the three little birds use soil. . . We know we break the rule we have all been told to follow - to never reuse soil. . . Even those "radicals" we have seen reusing soil, have always described letting their soil go out to their flower beds after 3 or 4 grows. We decided to push the envelope and see how far we could take it . . .

We still haven't found a limit for the number of times we remix our soil, and our harvests and plant vigor keep improving. . .

Oh . . just to add another bit of heresy . . . folk who have checked out our picture gallery at CW may have noticed our container grows suspended above the floor on wheeled furniture movers. . . It's a very convenient way to keep the plants in larger containers mobile. . . but you also must realize then (if you think about it) that out grow containers have NO drainage. . .

Our soil mix . . . which now has been remixed double digit times . . . has NEVER been flushed!

one more thing we might add - we certainly would not remix soil from any containers where we'd had a bug or disease problem - even getting bud mold would be enough for us to say - no thanks to a soil remix . . . if disease or pests strike your soil it will need to be discarded . . . otherwise we're still reusing the same soils in 2004 we used in 2003 . . . and those were used in 2002 and 2001 and 2000 etc . . .

our methods may not be for everyone . . . and we strongly encourage folk to use a keen eye to watch and "listen" closely to their plants . . . when we open a container of our remixed soil after it's "composted" . . . it smells like fresh earth . . . and as long as that's the case we plan to keep using ours . . .

As a final note . . . we are proud to report that earthworms live in our soil remixes now. . . not the big fat nightcrawlers that many folks associate with the word "worm" . . . these are smaller red wigglers . . . our container gardens aren't ideal habitat for worms . . . they are really too shallow . . . so in many ways we are amazed that worms manage to live in our indoor garden . . . and we use fish ferts and earth juice ferts in fairly high concentrations . . . again we are a little amazed that worms tolerate this . . .

but we've had plenty of worms (red wigglers) showing up in containers that had been through their entire bloom cycle as they were being remixed for recycling . . ."


Hope this helps y'all discover some new info...

Peace...j.b.
 
alot of stuff from the 3LB's is posted here :hubba:

i have a ton of there stuff on cd that i use to keep myself in check.... scoop on **** is another great read they put together as well and is posted here:D

mactight if you need more info on reuse'n your soil just pm bro... I know a couple of people that will be more than happy to beat organics into your head until you do get it... only been at this style of grow'n for 2 years now so not one to teach it yet as I still need help with it myself some times:eek:

truth said if you posted this poll 3 years ago I would have said toss the old soil and buy new soil and do it the lazy mans way like, and depend on some else like i did in the past for soil and nutes....

I had no choose but to learn new way's to grow on a very tight budget and glad now that I did have to learn:D

also didn't mean to rob your poll thread :eek: :48:
 
Man,I want to Thank EVERYONE for replying.Ihave learned ALOT,and I hope that some others did also.Thanks again EVERYONE.


HGB-I will be PMing you here soon bro.


Jb-Thats some good reading there.I'd like to read some more from the 3LB:D
 

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