Recycling Soil?

[Volker]

After I harvest can I recycle the soil?

I do. It depends if you used organic or chemical feeds. If you went organic, reusing soil is fine. You will have to supplement it, tho.

Chemical foods can cause salt buildups on sticks, pieces of loam, perlite, etc. when they dry out. These salt buildups can & will cause nute burn if your roots hit them.

As far as supplementing the soil goes, I dunno how others do it. I use worms. I have a worm bucket that I use to take care of my organic kitchen scraps. Sorta like a mini compost heap. In the middle of the bucket is always a warm wet heap of organic slop that usually has a few dozen worms in it.

I use the drippings from the worm bucket to water, as well. So I'm always adding organic material to my soil.

When I'm done with the soil from a grow, it goes into a big rubbermaid tote tub, worms and all. There's usually 10 gallons or so of compacted dirt. I break up the big chunks, stir it around with a big wooden spoon, and throw in a handfull of the glop from the worm bucket. I stir it around a couple times a day, breaking up the chunks of dirt and glop, and letting the soil air & dry.

As my grows have expanded I've added more, but I'm still using the same soil that I started with way back when.

Volker Reviewed by Volker on 01-14-2007. Recycling Soil? So I'm filling up my 7 new 3 gl pots to transplant tommorrow and notice how fast my bail of sunshine mix 4 is dissappering. After I harvest can I recycle the soil? What's the proper way so it's prepared for next time? And what stages of growth is it safest to use? Any information or method would be great help. Thanks. Rating: 5