Pictorial...How to clean Coco, Perlite, Geolite.

[wildflower]

its not soil man.

but yeh i always threw it away because i was worried about passing on disease.

But ages ago. i got some coco coir bags that had neem added to it..it was the most pest free grow I had, even better than canna that i bought into after because of all the hype.. . Neem is a natural pesticide and that even acts as a slow release fert. it comes in powder form too. anyone else heard of neem? thinking making up my own mix with perlite,expanded clay,coco coir with neem mixed through it.

[Guest Eikel]

You gotta use bleach and peroxide, otherwise pathnogens stay in the soil?

 

Err, no? Where did the pathnogens come from in the first place?

 

personally id never re-use soil mixes, but each to their own.

 

True, each to their own, but organics RELIES on the principle you reuse and "feed" the soil, which then feeds the plants. You can buy new potting-mix every time, or just keep a compost heap and dump your medium on it for a few months before reusing.

 

(Oh, and as Wildflower said, CoCo isn't soil, it's closest medium-relative is Peat, but it works good in composts anyway ).

[smelly2]

nice thread man i can reuse my coco never new that cause its expensive

[El_Badass]

handy thread indeed I read someone saying bleach and peroxide, does that mean you can use bleach like white king which from what I saw at the super market today contain sodium hypochlorite and or sodium hydroxide. I'm just keen to know if this stuff is safe cuz I couldn't find peroxide at coles.

[racingsnake]

handy thread indeed I read someone saying bleach and peroxide, does that mean you can use bleach like white king which from what I saw at the super market today contain sodium hypochlorite and or sodium hydroxide. I'm just keen to know if this stuff is safe cuz I couldn't find peroxide at coles.

 

You can also try the baby section and get some 'bottle' sterilizer...

Or homebrew suppliers and get some of their equipment sterilizers...

Easy to use and cheap too..

[Hanky]

I never bother sterilizing my coco/perlite between uses, I just give it a very good flush with PH corrected water to flush out any buildup of salts.

 

I've never had any kind of root problems/diseases, needless to say, if I did I'd get new media and throw the old stuff out.

 

Hopefully that never happens and I'll just keep using the same stuff I've been using for the last three years and 12 grows.

[EggMalt75]

what about sub'ing Grapeseed extract for chlorine bleach?

[GUNBUDS]

Man go buy some new stuff..

[ants]

Haha. So what does everyone do with their old medium?? Im new here and cant think of anywhere else but the vege patch. But ive only got so much space in the garden.

Can you throw it out? Seems a bit dodgy.

[louise]

I use a coco and perlite and reuse the medium 2 or 3 times... generally adding a bit of new mix to the old, after that the coco breaks down a bit too much so I separate out the perlite for reuse and add the coco into the veggy garden. Raised beds means there is always room for a bit more coco.