3LB's Endless Soil Remixing

Sorry for the nube question, but if you are recycling INDOOR soil, you keep it indoors? How do you compost indoors away from the sun? Who has room for that? lol seems like youd be able to keep it outside if its healthy. You just bring in the good stuff like worms and such, right? Thanks for the great info and inspiration!
PEACE
420
 
It's not about composting, it's about cooking the soil, letting it sit for a while so it rest and build up life for another cycle. Like winter outdoors. You just mix in fresh compost, castings, amendments before that. If needed of course!
 
I use 5 gallon drywall mud buckets that I have thoroughly cleaned. I chop up the dirt after use and wet it just enough to keep it nicely damp top to bottom, then I replace the lid. Sometimes I add some nutes, but usually I just let it sit for a couple of months before reuse. Periodicaly I will chop up the dirt some more. I add the nutes as needed by watching the plants as they grow.

I keep the buckets in a corner of the basement. No organic materials from outside are allowed into the grow area. If I have walked across the lawn, I will switch out my shoes before I walk into the grow room. No worms or compost from outside go in there either, strictly clean amendments off the shelf as needed, mostly organic ferts with some chem backup as needed.
 
Hello everyone.... I've been recycling my indoor soil for years - mostly because I'm frugal. In my garage, I keep a 30 gallon trash barrel, where all my left over (indoor/used) soil goes. I throw in a few handfuls of greensand, bone meal, two cups (each) of High N & High P Bat Guanos and let it cook. I also add a gallon of mixed up - Super Plant Tonic solution, which is full of beneficial bacteria & myco fungi. Once every two weeks, I stir it about, but otherwise leave it alone. Two months later...... I mix it with compost from my backyard compost barrel, some coco fiber (well rinsed) and worm castings from my worm bin. Compost 50 percent, Recycled Soil 30 percent, Coco Fiber 10 percent, Worm Castings 10 percent. Mary loves recycled soil, I do too - it saves money and it just keeps getting better over time. Since, greensand and other slow release amendments take time to release all their goodness. Reusing it, works well...
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The key to making it really work - time. If you let it cure for two months (min) - Mary loves it and it does not burn......
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Been recycling my soil for year an a half, using very similar methods of those described above. SO FAR, SO GOOD:cigar3:
 
Bump

I just read through this whole thread and have to say it has inspired me to start reusing my soil. The savings I'll see in the next year will be tremendous. I may have to buy one more bale to have enough...

Great thread with great info, thanks 3LB, thanks Flintstoners. :thumbsup: :cheerleader:
 
The 3Lb...Flintsoners got me started using tubs without holes.
I have taken a step more.

I have worms living in the tubs with my autos. The light keeps the worms in the tubs and I have to holes for them to escape.

Then, when it's harvest time, I cut the plant and leave the roots. I plant more auto seeds into the tubs and when there are done, I chop, not pull plants.

Topdress with greensand, blood, poops of all kinds..etc...like Osogreen mentioned.

This style has been working just fine for me and with us older people, I don't have to lift and move soil around.

Peace
 
Yep, I have used this thread as a guideline since I joined. I like re using my soil as it has been very cost effective for me. I bought a couple of 40 gal. bins from wally world to store the soil after use. I rotate them by using the soil out of one bin for a grow while the other 40 gal. that has been amended with rainbow mix sits in the dark and does its thing.

Once a grow is done, I collect the soil out of all the containers where it is re-amended with rainbow mix and then switched out with the other bin that has been sitting in the corner for months which I use to start up another grow. I just add a little extra dose of mycco's along with some lime when potting up the plants.

I also water the bin that sits covered and does nothing just to keep the soil life going sometimes with a little molasses doesn't seem to hurt. Seems to be working just fine so far and I love the flavor of organic grown herb.
 
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I reuse my soil but after using it 3 times i trash it I'm not a commercial grower just one that doesn't like problems.
A few of them amendments you guys have listed there are really not needed and Dolomite lime totally sucks Calpril is a much better product. Azomite as well Epsoms salts are a gardening myth from what literature I've read. But what works for one doesn't always work for another. Thanx for sharing and letting people know you can reuse your soil ding dong.
As for reusing it after pests no way jose you couldn't pay me.
I amend my soil in much larger amounts three 45 gallon totes full at a time so your method of doing it in the totes wouldn't work to well for me. We amend with some of the same things I've just found Calpril to be a better product than dolomite unlike dolomite Calpril dissolves immediately. Same with stuff like green sand that stuff takes years to really play a role in your soils health not 2 weeks not even a couple months one 16 ounce cup I believe it said it'll last like 7 years in your soil. ???
 
amendments like greensand have benefits above and beyond just being a slow release source of nutrients . . .

for instance greensand has a high cation exchange capacity . . . so it's effective at holding nutrients in a easily available form for plant use . . . in this way it can be considered similar to vermiculite . . . so it's going to act like a clay in the never ending quest to develop the perfect artificial / imitation clay-loam soil . . .

greensand has a consistency similar to common sand . . . but can hold 10x as much water as sand . . . this is a great characteristic for an indoor soil component . . .

Greensand is underrated as a source of iron (not to mention the slow release potassium that most everybody knows it can provide)

some folks use greensand in their compost . . . where it's said to help balance nutrients as well as promote the number and diversity of beneficial microorganisms . . .

if it took a number of years for greensand to really play any effective role in the soil . . . it would be useless in compost . . . but wouldn't appear to be true . . .
 
Here's a good link of a place online to buy things like greensand or other organic amendments you don't usually see at the local hydro store (thanks Nada):

http://www.blacklakeorganic.com/ (go to the "products" link on the right side of the page)


Since being inspired by this thread and a few other people who recycle their soil, I've saved at LEAST a few hundred bucks in the past few grows by using recycled soil. I keep em' in 2 40 gallon trash bins and turn it about every 3 weeks. :thumright:
 
Oh this is a good thread and 3 lbs got it going on! Been doing the same soil recycle thing for years! Keep your soil alive and well and it will keep your plants healthy and yummy!
 
I have since moved up to 18 gal tubs from the 5 gal buckets and pretty much completely organic everything. I didn't note earlier that I break down all of my schwag and trim, screen it and then run it through an O'Keif scruff tumbler to extract the good stuff. I then cut the remaining plant material powder into my reused soil.

Like Marks said - keep your soil alive and it will keep you plants healthy. :)
 
alimphi said:
It's not about composting, it's about cooking the soil, letting it sit for a while so it rest and build up life for another cycle. Like winter outdoors. You just mix in fresh compost, castings, amendments before that. If needed of course!
Click to expand...
I think you are on the right path here, although it is possible to continue growth all the way. A problem that might arise with this is pests as decomposing organic matter is great for insects breeding.

I've been doing this with my salvia plants for a while now, shredding leaf from either the salvia itself or my cannabis plants over the soil. After a few days you can see the fungus "claiming" the leaf and two weeks later it is basically gone.

I want to put this practice to use for my cannabis plants too as it seems to work fine for salvia (indoors also).

Also, the main thing to keep myco's up and running is to not overdose on P (phosphorus), if you have over 50mg/kg of Phosphorus (50ppm) then myco's tend to stop functioning.
 
alimphi said:
It's not about composting, it's about cooking the soil, letting it sit for a while so it rest and build up life for another cycle. Like winter outdoors. You just mix in fresh compost, castings, amendments before that. If needed of course!
Click to expand...


I mix my soil 3 months before I even use it but in a bind I have used it straight from mix and really didn't notice much difference in growth I still think it's important to let your soil condition or "cook"
 
been reusing my soil for at least twenty years, ijust yanked my last krush, real earthy taste, i have a old wasing machne full of soil and red worms , it help recyle my soil.
 
the_Flintstoners said:
it's good to see folks carrying on with soil remixing . . . :applause:

all the best from the nest :kiss:
Click to expand...

I recently sent your classic essay to a group of new-ish growers. They were excited and impressed and it struck them deeply. It continues to have the same effect on me.


It's good to see you folks carrying on as well :applause:

All the best from the rest! :kiss: :)

Z
 
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