Amended soil questions

smokeybeard

smokeybeard

Well-Known Member
So I amended some old soil from a couple of my moms planters almost a year ago and it has been sitting by, I’ve throw some food scraps in it (no worms) and everything t has decomposed pretty well. It has been covered and not had excessive run off from trying to keep it moist and alive. I did go pretty heavy handed with the amendments but I was curious if it would be ok to plant straight into or if I should cut it a bit?
 
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Kingkongbud

Active Member
If you use a light medium like root farm, Ive done this before with ok results, but in my experience, there's nothing better than starting in fresh soil because usually when feeding the previous soil, it usually is a flowering solution, aka, high in calcium. If you had not previously grown a plant in it for more than a few months, the nitrogen level should be fine for a plant up to 2 weeks. Afterwards, I would add nitrogen nutes, but I will never again reuse soil, I've seen better results. These ones started in reused soil and once I out them in fresh miracle grow, after 2 weeks growth aka transplant, they soon started looking better.
 

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Kingkongbud

Active Member
smokeybeard said:
So I amended some old soil from a couple of my moms planters almost a year ago and it has been sitting by, I’ve throw some food scraps in it (no worms) and everything t has decomposed pretty well. It has been covered and not had excessive run off from trying to keep it moist and alive. I did go pretty heavy handed with the amendments but I was curious if it would be ok to plant straight into or if I should cut it a bit?
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If you never used the medium for more than 3 months, you should be fine for the initial 2 weeks growth but again I'll never reuse soil. Just wont take the chance. Miracle grow in my experience has always been balanced in nutes except no later than midway into flowering and no less than 2 weeks, I would feed with bone meal. With miracle grow, the biggest thing to address is knats and the biggest thing to prevent is soil compaction and overwatering which is often the result of soil compaction. Many people think ph is also a problem, but this is almost always soil compaction, lack of light, watering too frequently or infrequently and watering with cold water when it should always be lukewarm
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
You can re-use soil indefinitely. Been doing it for years. I would add in compost like ewc to get your mix super active and possibly some perlite if needed for aeration/drainage. It is doubtful that just kitchen scraps will be enough to sustain a full run of plants seed to harvest. Might be a good idea to get some base soil to add into your amended mix.
 
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Kingkongbud

Active Member
Reconditioning soil is not for everyone. Like you said, you doubt kitchen scraps would do it. Furthermore, reusing a medium that was previously conditioned means the medium used to germinate has the previous nutes meant for flowering. I too have had success reusing soil, but Ive had nicer starts using fresh soil because I dont have the skills to recondition it properly
 
smokeybeard

smokeybeard

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
You can re-use soil indefinitely. Been doing it for years. I would add in compost like ewc to get your mix super active and possibly some perlite if needed for aeration/drainage. It is doubtful that just kitchen scraps will be enough to sustain a full run of plants seed to harvest. Might be a good idea to get some base soil to add into your amended mix.
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I added kelp meal, alfalfa meal, crab meal, oyster shell meal, glacial rock dust, basalt, azomite and a couple other amendments (I can't remember them right of the top of my head) then added a layer of leaves/sticks/EWC and a little more alfalfa meal to help break it down over the winter to build a nice mulch layer on top covered with straw. I just haven't planted anything in it yet and was curious roughly how long the dry amendments would be present in the soil I guess is my real question. I made about 60 gallons in total split between a 45 gallon tote and a 15 gallon tote and added roughly 1-1.5 cups per cubic foot of amendments. Everything is very well broken down except for the top layer of leaves/small sticks/EWC but the weather is finally warm enough to really start doing work.
 
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loco41

Well-Known Member
smokeybeard said:
I added kelp meal, alfalfa meal, crab meal, oyster shell meal, glacial rock dust, basalt, azomite and a couple other amendments (I can't remember them right of the top of my head) then added a layer of leaves/sticks/EWC and a little more alfalfa meal to help break it down over the winter to build a nice mulch layer on top covered with straw. I just haven't planted anything in it yet and was curious roughly how long the dry amendments would be present in the soil I guess is my real question. I made about 60 gallons in total split between a 45 gallon tote and a 15 gallon tote and added roughly 1-1.5 cups per cubic foot of amendments. Everything is very well broken down except for the top layer of leaves/small sticks/EWC but the weather is finally warm enough to really start doing work.
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That sounds like a solid mix to me. I would love to see the results of this soil when you get some plants going in it.

I would maybe just mix in some small amounts of ewc/compost/aeration right before you fill some pots to give it a fresh kick of microbes. I know our soils differ in amendments/compost/ammounts used, but I haven't seen a problem with starting my plants in solo cups with the same soil i up-plant to after a couple weeks.

edit: as far as the nutrients staying in the soil, I think they will be present until they are leached out or used up as far as I know. Take everything I say with a grain of salt as I am still very new to all this and still learning. Just my small amount of experience to comment on.
 
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Kingkongbud

Active Member
smokeybeard said:
I added kelp meal, alfalfa meal, crab meal, oyster shell meal, glacial rock dust, basalt, azomite and a couple other amendments (I can't remember them right of the top of my head) then added a layer of leaves/sticks/EWC and a little more alfalfa meal to help break it down over the winter to build a nice mulch layer on top covered with straw. I just haven't planted anything in it yet and was curious roughly how long the dry amendments would be present in the soil I guess is my real question. I made about 60 gallons in total split between a 45 gallon tote and a 15 gallon tote and added roughly 1-1.5 cups per cubic foot of amendments. Everything is very well broken down except for the top layer of leaves/small sticks/EWC but the weather is finally warm enough to really start doing work.
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Right on, sounds like a mad scientist mixture
 
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