Reusing Perlite

famine

famine

Well-Known Member
Thought this might be the best place to ask.

I grow SOG style flood and drain.
Plants are in 1 Gal pots. I put a small layer of Rockwool mini cubes in the bottom of the pots and then fill with 100% Perlite.

I brew a batch of Heisenburgs Tea once a week for my tanks.

Can I safely reuse the perlite? I can't imagine that I can get rid of all the dead root matter.
What about salt residue?

Will the tea provide the protection I need to reuse?


Thanks
Famine
 
6 Leaf General

6 Leaf General

Well-Known Member
Errr..Not an expert or anything but from what Iv'e read around here...you surely can reuse your perlite..If not mistake they rinse it thoroughly before reusing and that it might even be beneficial for the next grow! hope that helps a little(wait for a better answer i suggest lol)..hopefully a guru answers for you
 
GreatwhiteNorth

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
Contractor bags in a little hole in the wall restaurant dumpster.
Someplace with no cameras.

And scotch tape a 5'er to the front door - that way no theft of services. ;-)
 
m4s73r

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
Wow this was fail. Lets not dump on private property. Especially if what your doing is illegal where you are.

OP, you can reuse your perlite. Check out the Hempy bucket guys in the DTW forum. A lot of them run 100% perlite as well. I reuse and rinse mine in a 30 gallon trash can. I have a drain valve on the bottom. use a garden hose and spray nozzle and break up the root balls. most of your little roots will float to the top and you can skim the roots off. its a 30 min pain in the ass. but 30 min is cheaper then $20 or ducking around in dark alleys.....
 
smokegreenshlt

smokegreenshlt

Well-Known Member
So rinsing perlite in ur driveway in a huge trash can is low key?? Yeah...I'll stick with black trash bags and my 20 $ bails of perlite
 
Jimdamick

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Reuse is not a problem. That is one of the great things about perlite, in that it cannot retain any nutrients Rinse and reuse, just get as much root material out. I would not do it a 3rd time though, as the amount of left over root material will be too much.
 
J

Jbone77

Well-Known Member
I grow in 3.5 gallon, 100% perlite hempys and reuse mine 3-4 times. After chop I let it dry out for a week n pull the rootball out n shake it off as good as I can, throw all the extra perlite in a big plastic bin with drainage holes n rinse it a few times pulling out anything I see, I then water it with sensizyme twice and let it dry out n then fill my buckets n rinse once more with a 300 ppm nute mix and put my rockwool cube in. Works great and if u do it in your back yard with a hose nobody that might see thinks twice about it.
 
m4s73r

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
I wanted to update this thread. I have since started to use perlite only as my growing medium. Here is how i reuse my perlite.

After i chop i pull the rootball and move it to the storage bin (30gal) and let the root ball dry out completely. Letting the root ball dry allows the roots to harden up a bit. Then i take the rootball and put it in a plastic garbage bag. I put a lot of air in it and then close it around the stem. Then shake it. Shake it some more. and shake it some more. This will shake out almost all of the perlite. I only lose about 5% per plant. once all the perlite is out, i dump the bag, and sift through it pulling any large chunks of root mass. I then cover the perlite in water with 1/4 cup of bleach. stir. Let sit overnight covered. drain, then rinse till you cant smell bleach. (my 30gal has a screened drain valve and i use a wand to rinse the perlite.) I havent really seen any root matter to deal with.

This system has worked now for 3 bags of perlite. Same 3 bags for last 3 grows.
 
B

bondoman

Well-Known Member
m4s73r said:
I wanted to update this thread. I have since started to use perlite only as my growing medium. Here is how i reuse my perlite.

After i chop i pull the rootball and move it to the storage bin (30gal) and let the root ball dry out completely. Letting the root ball dry allows the roots to harden up a bit. Then i take the rootball and put it in a plastic garbage bag. I put a lot of air in it and then close it around the stem. Then shake it. Shake it some more. and shake it some more. This will shake out almost all of the perlite. I only lose about 5% per plant. once all the perlite is out, i dump the bag, and sift through it pulling any large chunks of root mass. I then cover the perlite in water with 1/4 cup of bleach. stir. Let sit overnight covered. drain, then rinse till you cant smell bleach. (my 30gal has a screened drain valve and i use a wand to rinse the perlite.) I havent really seen any root matter to deal with.

This system has worked now for 3 bags of perlite. Same 3 bags for last 3 grows.
Click to expand...
I plan to do this, but I plan to seal up the hole and let it soak in the bleach solution before I do anything else. I think that would make it easiest to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top