baking used dirt

[greenthumberish]

Now i know most people prefer not to reuse their old dirts...however, I've been reusing for quite a while now, with no problems. I just infuse the dirt with nutrients again. But first....I bake my dirt no really...I bake it at 350 for 2 hours to obliterate any kind of fungus or bugs that maybe in the dirt. Then I add nutes again. Generally some high nitrogen powdered bat crap 1/2 cup of that, 1 cup of home made humus, 1 cup of home made worm castings, and 1/2 cubic yard (5 gallon bucket), and 4 tablespoons of dolomite lime. So far, so good...just figured some other people may get inspiration to reconstitute their old used soil, so that they're not spending $20 bucks a bag each time they have a new round of plants...Fertz go alot farther than dirt, i've found, atleast in my neck of the woods. And baking your dirt in a cake pan for 2 hours at 350F is simple You can even do that to the regular ol' dirt you find outside, however then you'll need more ingrediants to add to your mudpie...for instance, perilite aswell, maybe even vermeculite, and some of those li'l clay balls used in hydroponics, to mix in to add drainage. Hope this helped someone!

 

[DLtoker]

Buying new soil for every grow is just silly practice. Healthy soil is jam packed with life. If there is life in your soil, that means the soil is balanced well enough to sustain life. Your plant is a living thing too. It's good to have a base of life in the soil to help support the larger life growing out of the soil... Just the thoughts of an organic gardener.

 

[pcduck]

I am confused to why such a high temp and time length?

I have read other articles on the subject which used much lower temps(175f) and time length(20 minutes) just wondering why?

 

[Johnnyrotten123]

...I bake my dirt no really...I bake it at 350 for 2 hours

How much is your electricity or gas bill?

 

[daddyo]

i see nothing wrong with baked dirt... im baked, so what... lol

seriously though, thanx for the post.
i have a mountain of old soil that i wondered if i could reuse.

 

[SPEARCHUCKER]

Im with Ducky on this one.
To kill all germs and anything else in cooking beef you just have to get the core up to 160.
Could cut that temp in half basically and save on the power/gas bill a little bit.

Good idea though. I wonder if you could build a glass box with a couple mirrors. Put it outside and roast the dirt up to 160 naturally, without cost.

 

[ozzydiodude]

why kill all the microorganisms that help to feed the plants?

 

[Johnnyrotten123]

:angrywife: scene>>> Johnny sneaking piepans full of dirt into kitchen, trips over nosey cat, spills a lil dirt, now on floor cleaning it up, oven blasting at 350 degrees- wife enters "What in the blankety blank are u doin"?:hairpull: " Nothing hunny, just gunna be using your oven all day to rid this dirt of parasites, and such, u do understand, right"?

 

[pcduck]

Good idea though. I wonder if you could build a glass box with a couple mirrors. Put it outside and roast the dirt up to 160 naturally, without cost.

I believe that this is what a good working compost pile does naturally.

 

[daddyo]

could always just toss it on the grill outside.
in a pan off course.
but im sure spear's idea would work also, cheaper too, if thats an issue.

 

[Johnnyrotten123]

could always just toss it on the grill outside.

Hey daddy-o, those Grateful Dead pawkin lot days still got those grill cheese sandwiches on your mind? Blues For Allah, thanks for the reminder, break out the vinyl today And i'll quit making "lite" of this topic as u guys seem very serious about this dirt "baking". Just non practical here in alotta ways imo-course i live in the country with acreage and cows, horses too and very good dirt everywhere. LET IT GROW

 

[dirtyolsouth]

I believe that this is what a good working compost pile does naturally.

I'm with pcduck on composting your soil. I don't think anything is wrong with baking the soil but it's not practical with the amount that I've got to bake for a bloom cycle. I've been using Subcool's super soil mix this grow and now that I'm completely organic I can't think of any reason not to toss it back in my compost tumbler after the cycle and amending it with bone meal, blood meal, worm castings, bloom bat guano, rock phosphates, azomite, sweet lime and some epsom salts. I'll add some mychorrizae and other beneficials and let it compost and cook for about a month.

For those of you already re-using your soil, do you tend to add less amendments when you reuse the soil? I'm wondering how much residual nute value the soil has after a grow and if doing my usual heavy amending will make the soil too strong...

Peace!

 

[greenthumberish]

baking it at 350 for 2 hours, doesn't spike my energy or gas bill Think of it as cooking dinner lol. Anyway, i kill off all the organisms yes at that heat, but then I re-add everything that I killed, but sterile and free from fungus that maybe growing in the soil. As for reamending the soil, I would take it easy as I stated at first, and that way you can kind of tell when your plant needs what..So far it hasn't failed me, and it's like i said - a personal quirke...And as for the wife coming into the kitchen and saying 'Why the F does it smell like mudpies' I would simply respond that I'm making cakes for my babies, and she wouldn't care a bit, since shes my legal caretaker However she knows nothing about what I'm doing by choice, since she hates the fact that I'm a stoner, but has no choice in the matter, since it's my life
As for recycling, and composting, I compost my own yardwaste, and add a few mixxed extras into it....and since the greens that rot there are so high in nitrogen, I find that very little goes a very long way, and it's good to have quote unquote 'blank dirt' to use. And i suppose my cooking temp is so high, because I want to be sure I killed everything, before repopulating the mycorizzae(spelling) nutes and all that fun stuff...

 

[greenthumberish]

If you've gotta bake it in bulk, i'd suppose compost would be the best way to go, however if you're just doing a small op, then oven cookin is what the doctor ordered....I at the moment have only a small number of plants in flower, but can do 1/2 cubic yard at a time, when I bake (5 gallon bucket) so in essense, all the dirt that is dead after this flowering cycle can be reused for veg/flower by the time the next children are set to live...

 

[bluealein56]

are you serious? your really putting dirt in the same thing you bake your cupcakes and delecious cakes in? why?
this earth is filled with dirt. if your gonna be adding all those extras to your soil you might as well use some quality dirt from outside. heck compost your old soil and trimmings and after about 8 months you will have what you need, probbaly in better shape than your "baked dirt"

Compost piles are easy and enviromentally safe and very effective.
It makes since to me that you would NOT want to kill off everything in your soil. there are good and bad bacteria, as well as good and bad organisims in your dirt. You dont want to kill it all as these good organisms are making the life line of your soil.
I would strongly reconsider "baking dirt". i think there are much better and less time consuming alternative to your chosen method.
whatever you do good luck:aok:

 

[SPEARCHUCKER]

baking it at 350 for 2 hours, doesn't spike my energy or gas bill Think of it as cooking dinner lol.

I dont know man. Unless you dont cook much.
Last year when me and the wife went on vacation for over 2 weeks just leaving the kids. The power bill was the lowest we have ever had cause they just ate out or made sandwiches.
And when its our turn for Thanksgiving at our place. The times we host it the power bill is up like 40-60 bucks over ones we dont all because of the oven running.
But we do use it bout every meal. All the time.
Guess it depends on how often your cooking the dirt.

 

[pcduck]

I just don't think I could handle the awful smell that permeates threw out the house.

 

[greenthumberish]

lmao you guys are crackin me up BA, no i don't use the same pans for cooking, they're my dirt pans!!! And as for how often I cook, not very often..and unfortunately, I moved recently, so my compost that had been going for over a year, had to be left behind...I could only bring 3 5 gallon buckets full of the compost that was there (my neighbors were probably like *** is that idiot doing, as I shoveled buckets fulla compost to bring with) So now, i've been in this new place for 2 months, and had to start over with compost...otherwise your completely right SC, compost would be the way to go...however, i'd still bake, and reuse every ounce of dirt I've previously bought..So far with me baking all my used dirt i haven't run into any problems as far as the microorganisams.

PC, it kinda smells like brownies...no joke atleast thats what the family says.

 

[Johnnyrotten123]

it kinda smells like brownies...no joke atleast thats what the family says.[/QUOT

all kids have made "mudpies" I can see it now "daddyThumb, u have room for these mudpies we just made?":dancing:

 

[Hick]

.."baked dirt".. I think I ate that as a special in some truck stop on I-40 once...