Questions about recycling organic soil

[JustBlazin]

Hi all
I have been using promix mixed with gaia green dry amendments with great results but i toss my soil after each run. was curious about how i would go about recycling my potted soil, what do you do with all the roots? do you toss out the part that has a big root ball in it? or is there something special you need to do with it?
im really just looking to save my soil to reuse and save some money in the process not to mention i hear the soil gets better with age
so what are peoples methods for recycling soil from pots? and how well does it work?
I personally am looking for the least amount of work with the best results.....lol
Thanks for any help

 

[myke]

Google living soil recipes or super soil.Chances are the soil you threw away was better then the new stuff.The dry amendments you added take time to break down and feed the soil.

 

[WintersBones]

I don't do anything too special, just sift out any big roots as much as you can and break up the rest. Then add some EWC, a few organic dry amendments, some peat maybe guano, ocean compost, homemade compost, etc and let it sit for awhile to "cook". I also hear people sometimes grow cover crops like clover that enriches the soil.with N, but i haven't done that before. Then to maximize your soil game you can get into vermiculture.
I basically just mix up my soil with amendments and let it sit over winter in my garden bed, then by the spring it's all recharged and ready to go again. But I am by no means an expert on this, im very DYI and just use what i have or is cheaply available.

 

[JustBlazin]

Google living soil recipes or super soil.Chances are the soil you threw away was better then the new stuff.The dry amendments you added take time to break down and feed the soil.

thanks for the reply
that's why i want to reuse the soil,im sure i tossed out alot of really good soil unfortunately, I'm just un sure of what you do with the roots?do they need anything to break down? Time to break down?
or can you just re amend straight away with roots in the mix?

 

[myke]

thanks for the reply
that's why i want to reuse the soil,im sure i tossed out alot of really good soil unfortunately, I'm just un sure of what you do with the roots?do they need anything to break down? Time to break down?
or can you just re amend straight away with roots in the mix?

look up no till,theres a thread here, pink lemonade something.

 

[WintersBones]

Think there's products you can get that supposedly break down the roots quickly, but ya basically nature is just going to do its thing and break down all the little root filaments over time. I've repurposed soil and even coco that still had little bits of root left in it and never had any issues. The idea is if the soil is healthy then it sorta of takes care of itself.

 

[rkmcdon]

You dont need to worry about or do anything with the roots. The microbes in your soil will break them down and they will add back to the soil. You can recycle one of two ways. You can go no-till where you disturb the soil as little as possible, top dress your amendments and then plant right back into the same pot. Alternatively, you can dump the soil from your pots into a bin, add your amendments, mix it all up and repot it.
No-till is less work and leaves you rhizosphere relatively undisturbed which is advantageous for the new plant. With both methods you do have to make sure you are adequately amending your soil both with the initial mix and when reamending between grows.

 

[JustBlazin]

look up no till,theres a thread here, pink lemonade something.

thanks that's an awesome thread,lots of great info

 

[JustBlazin]

You dont need to worry about or do anything with the roots. The microbes in your soil will break them down and they will add back to the soil. You can recycle one of two ways. You can go no-till where you disturb the soil as little as possible, top dress your amendments and then plant right back into the same pot. Alternatively, you can dump the soil from your pots into a bin, add your amendments, mix it all up and repot it.
No-till is less work and leaves you rhizosphere relatively undisturbed which is advantageous for the new plant. With both methods you do have to make sure you are adequately amending your soil both with the initial mix and when reamending between grows.

thanks for the great response....thats exactly what i was looking for

 

[SupraSPL]

Yeap no worries with roots they will disappear. I cut up the thick stems and put them right back in too. I would recommend to leach the soil every once in awhile because most of the sodium ions tend to leach first and it may restore some nutrient balance (consider that rain constantly leaches in nature) and re amend with lots of greens which should also help to restore nutrient balance and excite microbes. Yes the soil will definitely improve!

 

[jensen71]

ive used enzymes in hydroponics to eat up extranneous root tips that came off the plant and it created new nutrients. I dont know about soil but am curious and posted a thread on that.