How to reuse super soil?

Kami Samurai

Well-Known Member
Hello everybody.
I have a question on super soil. How can I reuse it? I read the post where Subcool said he doesn’t reuse. Not gonna work on my budget or even with the permaculture environment I’m trying to create. Does anybody have a reliable system they can break down? Should I recompost? Do I add a compost accelerator to that (molasses & yeast)? What amendments do you add in? Should I separate soil layers after removing my plant waste (the super soil layer & potting soil layers)? If I do separate and re amend or not what is the new ratio (Still 1/3-1/2?) hopefully my question is easy to understand. It cost about 330$ to make 100 gallon batch = ^300g total soil after mixing at 1/3 containers. Can I just use a soil conditioner?
Another question. Not 100% clear on the difference between Super Soil, Living Soil, and No Till. Any help is welcome and appreciated.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Composting is the key to reusing soils whether it’s peat you poured nutes on or used super soil. You can slurry test it but without actual analysis you won’t know what is contributing to the EC.
 

weedstoner420

Well-Known Member
In my mind, super soil = soil with enough amendments that it doesn't require anything but water throughout a crop cycle. Living soil = soil that is not fed salts or nutrients that are immediately plant-available, instead it relies on the microbes in the soil food web to break down nutrients so that plants can absorb them. No-till = the soil isn't physically disturbed between crop cycles other than adding stuff to the top layer, like you don't dump it out of the pots or till the ground. One or more of those labels might apply to your soil.

You can definitely reuse your soil, some folks say it only gets better with each cycle. Everybody's re-amending strategy is different, but here is mine:

I use about 3 cu ft of soil in my grows, divided into two large planter boxes, and try to get close to a "super soil" mix at first. I usually do one cycle with only a couple small top-dressings, just as a little added insurance. Then the next cycle(s) I will top dress dry amendments and worm castings every 2-4 weeks, depending on how things are going. Then I take a break for the summer, and before starting again in the fall I dump out the planters and add:
1 gallon worm castings
1 gallon perlite
6 cups dry fertilizer blend (mix of KiS Nutrient Pack and Espoma tomato tone)
So roughly 1/3 gallon each of worm castings and aeration, and 2 cups of amendments, per cubic foot (7.5 gallons) of soil. So far it's working for me, your mileage may vary depending on your growing habits.
 

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
i just dump it out add more homemade ewc bat guano manure and wheat bran when i have it. my soil is coco based and it has carbon, various rocks and these amendments i mentioned above.

ofc proper way would be to just test the mix and add required elements but i dont have the means to do that so i add high quality ewc to replenish all micros and secondary nutrients and manure and bat guano i use are very balanced on the npk side of things so it works for me.

just an intuitive approach because of limited testing ability haha
 
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