Can you re-use your medium after a grow?

[The Stoned Jester]

Heya all

 

Just wondering if it's a viable idea to reuse your dirt after a grow.

 

Im using canna terra pro, and i've just gotten rid of the stumps of the plant but have two 10l buckets of left over soil.

Are there any pro's / cons?

 

Like would the soil still have left over trace nutrients? also full of left over roots as well.

 

or should I just spread it out over my other non-canna plants in the garden?

 

 

[merl1n]

There's a few differing opinions Jester

Some say you can BUT dead root matter left in the medium will rot. The pathogens that can develop in decomposing roots can cause further root rot (and other diseases) in the new plant.

Some say you can spread the medium out, leave it for 6-12 months in the sun for the UV rays to kill off the pathogens, then reuse it.

Some potting mix companies put their mixes thru a  UHT (Ultra Heat Treatment), basically they steam clean it to kill off the harmful bacteria, but the technology to do so is expensive.

To be safe I'd recommend you simply play it safe and start again from scratch with a fully clean setup. The last thing you want or need is to be cutting costs by reusing your medium, only to have the plant turn to shit due to contaminated medium, ultimately costing you shitloads more than just a bag of potting mix

IMO, just spread it out and start again. Why risk it???

 

Merl1n

[billygoat]

Agree Merl.

 

Also, it’s cheap... well relatively in comparison to the overall cost of the gear required to grow successfully indoors ..

[(RR)]

Do a search on other forums under "no till grow" threads and diaries. Google comes up with a few good hits to ongoing group threads. Tons of good information around reusing their mediums, whilst barely pulling out the roots of their last grow. If you find yourself encouraged they're onto a good thing maybe you could try it and even share it here.

 

or not.....

 

All the best whichever you decide

[torrietree]

My plan has been to get a worm farm and chuck my soil and kitchen scraps into that for the worms to eat and poop through it all to rejuvenate the soil abit.

 

My outdoor plants are going into 30% coco 30% perlite 30% potting soil/blended manure 10% compost. So should able to finish the season give it to the worms and only need to bulk it up with some blended manure next season.

 

Unable to do no till at the moment

 

 

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[kloud9]

Here's a no til mix.

 

1/3 spaghnum peat moss

1/3 compost (coast of main)

1/3 aeration ( lava rock and pea gravel)

 

Then it's just the usual per c.f.

 

1/2 cup of kelp

1/2 cup of neem or karanja

1/2 cup of crab meal

 

1/2 cup of aragonite flour

1/2 cup of gypsum

About 3 cups of glacial rock dust

 

1 cup chickity doo doo

1 cup malted barley flour

 

 

 

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[billygoat]

C.f. ? Cubic foot ?

[kloud9]

[emoji106] I’m American [emoji13] [emoji23]

 

 

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[kloud9]

https://youtu.be/2XKIgfNpyr8

 

 

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[kloud9]

https://youtu.be/1X6W6-lgqZ4

 

 

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