recycling potting mix

[planthelper]

hi!

many years ago, a guy said to me, that he loves re cycling potting mix, and he thinks, the 2nd time around potting mix, is even better than, the 1st time around.

i never believed, this but a few months ago, i just re cycled the old mix, to find out, if this claim has merrit...

well, now i think, yes some potting mixes could get better over time, and i am converted. <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

but i think some rules apply, being that you would have had to fertilize the potting mixture, liberaly over the periode, it had it's first life.

i believe the potting mix get's better, the same way as old compost, has it's nutrients more available to plants than fresh compost.

i did some small scale comparesment, old mix versus new mix, and the difference was very clear to see. the fresh potting mix out of the bag (top quality brand), produced yellow leaves soon, and even additional fert applications, could not produce, as a nice green plant, as the re cycled potting mix, which to my astonishment, never produced yellow leaves, and which i neither had to fertillize addtionally!

edit:

forgot to say, but for cuttings, i would still only use, fresh mix.

aswell, one has to check the structure and water holding capacety of the re cycled mix, and make new adjustments (for example, add more gravel).

Edited February 3, 2013 by planthelper

[in_spirit]

Possibly due to good bacteria in soil?

[qualia]

the nursery i used to work at we'd recycle the soil, but only use it after pasteurizing it first in a big steam thingy. compost soil and plants and all it was really good first i started lots of worms and the plant matter would break down easily but then the manager switched and started putting in these additives fungicide/pesticide into the mix and the worms died and the plants would no longer break down as easily and all there was were slater bugs in the compost. a little disheartening i must say. but i suppose just plain recycling would increase the transmission of soil disease/pest so you might want to do something about that before using it.

[J Smith]

I recycle my potting mix. I sift to get rid of roots/big chunks, then mix the siftings in a bucket with approx 20% horse poo. Fill bucket with water and let it sit for a couple of weeks until it dries out. I use it in the bottom of my pots and fill the top around the plant with new potting mix. The large chunks/roots are used as mulch on my established garden.

[Stillman]

I'd be a bit nervous about passing on pest and disease.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Absolutely Stillman! I think until I am creating and composting my own soil ill just throw it out! Root mealies are a problem hear also so it's a big no no.

In saying that, in a good environment free of pest and disease I can see how the soil would be improved. It would give a lot of the pine etc a chance to breakdown and give the good bacteria and worms time to move in. I'd imagine you could speed the process up considerably if you added in compost and kelp (if local to the coast).

This has inspired me to run a few experiments 'resting' and composting my store bought soil before I use it. Ill give a few different bags a run with kelp, horse poo and a neutral one for comparison.

[Optimystic]

I think alot has to do with what you grow in the soil... like for example if you grow tomatoes its best not to grow tomatoes in there until the soil is restructured by say legumes or something different for a couple seasons... maybe leaving it out all season long is enough to take care of any issues or whatever.. I know here it woudl get baked and then a few chill months

but really I pretty much reuse all my soils since I use so much kelp .. never seems to be a problem and make a good filler for really huge pots/containers... I don't go by any strict method I just mix it into compost or whatever... I'll occasionally stick a plant in a fresher mix just to see the difference but I never write it down and forget which pot and its like oh well laff

[qualia]

kelp? do you get that straight from the sea? any special kind o just whatevs?

whats the benefit over say leaf matter? just pure abundance? also is the salt an issue?

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Personally I just collect the stuff I find washed up on beaches. It's in abundance round here. Two techs I use, both require me washing the kelp with a hose for 5 mins first. I do kelp tea (soak the kelp in water for a week or so an stir daily), the other I put it on the ground and cover with lawn clippings for 3mths. I then spread this around my plants as a mulch and water it in well.

[qualia]

cool, so do you find it has any advantages over plain leaf matter or is it much of a muchness?

[endorfinder]

My question - what do you do if you DON'T recycle the mix? I have visions of people filling their green bin with dirt every fortnight or throwing it over their neighbors fence under the cloak of night...

I tend to throw mine into established garden beds that could do with fresh topsoil, or make make new beds / expand existing ones. I generally like to avoid immediate reuse except when shifting a pot into the ground obviously, leaving soil in areas that I know won't be used for a few weeks so it has time to "stabilize" for lack of a better word, or putting pots aside for COMPLETE reuse at a later date. I avoid pooling potting mix for repotting but that's not based on anything more than voodoo, and I'll quickly break the rule when I run out of soil/perlite/whatever.

However... I don't see how this is really any better or worse than reusing it in pots, except for cuttings, as ph says, and seeds/lings perhaps. Then pasteurization or even sterilization with peroxide etc might be worth it.

But generally if there are soil bound nasties in one pot, they're probably elsewhere as well. So in the end I don't see much advantage in being overly precious about your soil, at the very least it would seem it can't really hurt, at best as ph attests if may be BETTER to use soil that's been personally maintained by yourself, rather than produced en masse.

We can easily identify fungal infections and pests etc, and kill them quickly, but it's much harder to appreciate the value of the helpful life in the soil we destroy in the process. I'd rather deal with some bugs here and there and know I'm keeping a better established ecosystem alive. It's gardening ffs, sterility is never going to happen, viruses and bacteria are just as likely to transmit through hands/gloves/whatever as they are by unprotected exchange of soil and other botanical fluids

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Qualia, the reason I started doing it was simply as an excuse to go to the beach and stop spending $20 odd a mth on seaweed ferts <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png I suppose you get the same benefits, only I'd imagine on a more personal level for your plants. Compared to normal leaf matter, yeh I giggle at neighbours who compost only their green waste since I caught onto using kelp. It's fabulous

Ef, yeh I do that with some mix, depending on the plants condition prior to repotting. If it simply used the goodness up and became root bound then ill scatter the soil. If its from a cactus, then yeh I green waste it as mentioned above re root mealies. In saying that, I've only binned three woolworths bags full in the last 6 mths.

[Optimystic]

I use ascophyllum nodosum which is the most common type and its said to have a complete profile of pretty much all of the trace minerals a plant could need.. there maybe other things comparable but not much... it is not however, the greatest source for NPK and I think its higher in the P just based on what i've seen the containers labeled as... what it would do basically is give the plant all the "extras" as well as keep the soil alive and active, which is most important for developing a good root system but also making the plant more tolerant of extremes and resistant to diseases... it is even recommended to spray fruits down with it a few days before harvest to improve their shelf life

This type is a freshwater type that is best preserved in cold waters... I have been using a dry type which is fully water soluble and i got it from a website called kelp4less which has alot of other stuffs too... Not sure if they ship international but its a good reference site anyway for other stuff... another thing about kelp is that it floats around the waters looking for a place to rest and "root" so to speak.. so its rich with root activators... I just tested this recently on some fresh cuttings and they are growing alot of airborn roots! Its a plant that does this anyway but it definitely responded to the kelp..

Its also a helluva a foliar feeding agent and is actually more efficient for most plants through foliar feeding, at the right times of day of course... its one of the ingredients in the popular formulation called "Garrett Juice" I just tried foliar feeding this past year and I got results better than I would have imagined so I've begun foliar feeding all my green leafys

I haven't reused any cactus soil except that which is barely used.. but one exception is for pereskiopsis which will grow in almost anything...

here is a good writeup about it:
http://www.simplyhydro.com/benefits_of_kelp.htm

Edited February 3, 2013 by Spine Collector

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Sorry about the kelp diversion PH, but I think it's a great additive to your idea and would have amazing results...

Back to reusing potting mix lol!!

D00d

[planthelper]

the nursery i used to work at we'd recycle the soil, but only use it after pasteurizing it first in a big steam thingy.

sterilizing your potting mix, with heat, is desirable, and a must, if you use it for seeds and cuttings, but as you stated aswell, many "good guys" in the soil get killed that way aswell, and as such the (sterile) potting mix would, probably be a worse performer.

the worst things, to look out for, would be, fungus gnat larvae, and nematode damage, if you recyle potting mix.

I recycle my potting mix. I sift to get rid of roots/big chunks, then mix the siftings in a bucket with approx 20% horse poo. Fill bucket with water and let it sit for a couple of weeks until it dries out. I use it in the bottom of my pots and fill the top around the plant with new potting mix. The large chunks/roots are used as mulch on my established garden.

good methode, i might add that, letting the soil, dry out (spread over a large surface area, thinnly) by the sun, is said to kill pretty much everything (including some good guys), this process is called solarization, and is used to get rid of phytophora in the soil.

I think alot has to do with what you grow in the soil... like for example if you grow tomatoes its best not to grow tomatoes in there until the soil is restructured by say legumes or something different for a couple seasons... maybe leaving it out all season long is enough to take care of any issues or whatever.. I know here it woudl get baked and then a few chill months

but really I pretty much reuse all my soils since I use so much kelp .. never seems to be a problem and make a good filler for really huge pots/containers... I don't go by any strict method I just mix it into compost or whatever... I'll occasionally stick a plant in a fresher mix just to see the difference but I never write it down and forget which pot and its like oh well laff

probably best to use the tomatoe, soil again only for some, non solani.

kelp and even freshwater weeds (duck weed, water hyazinth) are incredible soil, re freshers, and pose zero risk of, introducing weeds!

Sorry about the kelp diversion PH, but I think it's a great additive to your idea and would have amazing results...

Back to reusing potting mix lol!!

D00d

personally, i favor, some good side tracking, over no side tracking.

the topic, covers aswell, all means of, re freshing the soil, and how to avoid issues of, carrying on disease.

i might add, what a world record plant grower once published, " my secret, is the age of my compost", the older the compost, the more of it's "goodness", is avaiable to the plant roots.

[qualia]

so, if i have a plant which starts to rot noticeably because the soil has broken down to compost underneath and apparently not due to any pests, what's the best way to recycle it? i ask because it appears to be beautiful rich compost and has worms spread throughout and i don't want to waste it.

[whitewind]

Great topic! I don't have much porting mix waste so I tend to dig it into garden beds. If it appears to be contaminated with root mealy then I will discard it, but I haven't had that for a while.

I know someone who is growing ferns from spore and they microwave the peat moss they use to ensure sterile conditions, but I think potting mix works much better when it has good bacteria and fungi to help beak down the organic matter and release nutrients.

I use gogo juice to enrich my soil and it seems very effective

[whitewind]

In fact, I thought about adding gogo juice to a worm farm to see if I could reproduce the results naturally without it getting old or having to buy the product continually as it runs out

[qualia]

gogo juice

mountain dew and red bull?

[whitewind]

so, if i have a plant which starts to rot noticeably because the soil has broken down to compost underneath and apparently not due to any pests, what's the best way to recycle it? i ask because it appears to be beautiful rich compost and has worms spread throughout and i don't want to waste it.

Mix it in with new potting mix, and use it for larger, quick rooting plants maybe? Or use it as a top dressing, mix it in to the loose surface soil so it doesn't dry out

[qualia]

thanks, i should have qualified it by asking do i need to make special considerations for bacteria which might be present, and transfer to new plants? i might just put it away until spring time, should be nice by then.

[kadakuda]

i believe the potting mix get's better, the same way as old compost, has it's nutrients more available to plants than fresh compost.

me too and i believe it has 100% to do with biological activity.

I always recycle soil/additives. its not cheap adn often has caused a lto of polution to get to me, so i lik eto let it go as far as i can. in the end it ends up in large pots outside.

I think the absolute *BIGGEST* variable in any soil/plant health coversation is whether its inside or out. Indoors generally has really shitty air quality, jsut packed with pathogens. inside is realyl disgusting and ahs near zero sterilization. it also lacks heavily in bio diversity. on the flip side outside has fresh air all the time, UV sterilizatio and untold biodiversity avaialble, both good and bad.

I will rarely, if ever, recycle dirt inside. Because what i feel is the second biggest factor, climate. hot humid places grow stuff fast, including pathogens. so inside plants here can really suffer badly and need a lot of extra care. i would say it takes me about triple the work to grow a plant inside here in Taiwan than back in the PNW. When outside its the other way around.

Also with a lot of potting soils, being ehavy in peat/coco, they break down as mentioned many times before. but it gets soggy adn can become farily aerobic. so everytime i recycle i always add more things. sometimes jsut simple stuff like rock adn nutrition, other times, especially with coco heavy soils, i like to cut it 50/50 with a clay silt soil adn then loosen it with pumice.

for years i havent sterilized soil for seedlings and never for cuttigns that i can think of (in this climate). Simply because i do it all outside. outside with a shade cloth is infinately better than any indoor setup i have yet to see unless its a commercial type operation and they control everything. indoors, i probably would sterilize, but outdoors i have very little damping off. even supposedly harder spceis liek iboga i haev had godo success with SAB seeds in very dirty dirt. one thing i have noticed over teh years is diversity is always key. on large scale and small. liek a polyculture farm out performs a monoculture farm any day of the weak, so does soil. i used to love using straight coco for things, but found overal it caused massive problems. when cut with real clay type soil adn some added pumice for drainage, i have almost nothing die.

EDIT to say, for pests adn the like, i also try to practice a crop type rotation. left over vegetable dirt will be reused in cactus pots etc. mix up the familes and make the pests have to find a ride back over to their favorite meals. but healthy soils tend not to have many problems. macroscopic bugs are the only real issues i encounter. Though soil known to carry true disease liek TMV is best thrown out.

Edited May 10, 2013 by kadakuda

[whitewind]

mountain dew and red bull?

LOL no gogo juice is an actual product, it's designed with beneficial soil-born organisms in mind, and basically is a liquid medium that you use like seasol but is more than just a nutrient fertiliser!

thanks, i should have qualified it by asking do i need to make special considerations for bacteria which might be present, and transfer to new plants? i might just put it away until spring time, should be nice by then.

Might be fungi that are the problem, such as Pythium. I think the solarising trick sounds good for water-borne things like this. Most of the beneficials will be killed when attacking pests, so what will be left is mostly organic matter, and you can re-introduce your beneficial organisms after the pest has been removed. It might just be the problems are prevalent throughout a lot of your collection, it's just the conditions in that pot or that plant was particularly susceptible to the problem.

I bought some fantastic, expensive mix once that I used in several pots, and they all got overwatered (left at my uncles for a year on automatic irrigation) and they all exhibited the problems you suggest, so I blame overwatering in a highly organic soil medium, basically creating a kind of peat bog where there was no drainage. The actual medium itself is probably okay, mixed into other soils, which would also reduce the ability of the particular pathogens to exist (anaerobic), so spreading it around without treatment should be fine - so long as you aren't spreading it into pots that have the same problem as the original.

[whitewind]

Might have made the pH all wrong too, over-acid for your plant, would be my guess

[bullit]

I'd be a bit nervous about passing on pest and disease.

yeah i dont use any old potting mix when growing my niteshades