Re-amending soil for re-use

Just finished a grow and have 30 gallons or so of used soil. I would like to re-amend/re-use this as base soil. I have already re-amended an earlier batch as full strength supersoil, and it is well "cooked", but this batch I'd like to just bring it back to a general base soil level of nutrients.

How would you all re-amend to accomplish this?

This stuff was partly roots organic, and some EKO organic enriched with some EKO compost as base, then the final two transplants Subcool's supersoil recipe was added for flowering/finishing, so roughly 1/3 supersoil to 2/3 base mix.

I have all the supersoil ingredients to use as amendment:

-Worm castings
-Blood meal
-Bat guano
-Bone meal
-Epsom salt
-Dolomite lime
-Azomite
-Humic acid

Also have some mycos, and considering spinosad since gnats have kind of moved into the entire house. Seems my worm bin is the main source of these little fuckers but they are also getting into everything. I think I am going to spinosad drench all, but I hesitate to fully drench the worm bin itself for fear of killing the wigglers!.

just to bring the life back to it, just add castings, a lil sugar and cook. i would use the humic acid too an maybe a tiny bit of lime but not much. that will just give you your life back an the nutrients will be where they left off....kinda. oh , dont forget the myco's just cause you have them. (if im not lazy, i use on roots only , but when i start slackin i just add it to the soil)

now put some babies in and go from there...... if its a lil weak , you know what to do next time...... if its too strong , cut it with peat or coco...... either way you'll know what to do next time.

i dont wanna sit here an tell you to add this an that when i/we dont know whats left in there to begin with...... lets just put the life back in it!






soil

I don't think I'd drench my worm bin with spinosad but if you are getting gnats, you might try adding some more bedding. It does help if their food - like banana peels, coffee grounds, whatever you feed - is buried in the bedding. I typically use coir, a little newspaper, leaves (which are also a source of carbon), and perlite (and now just started using rice hulls) and a little corrugated cardboard (once in a while). They seem to like the cardboard for breeding.

Another thought which might help - try getting some neem and/or karanja meal. I've added it directly to my soil as a slow nitrogen source and it also seems to keep things like soil gnats away. I've started feeding it directly to the worms for processing too. If I remember right the ahimsa collective is a good source for neem/karanja products.

As far as your soil mix, it looks pretty good but I would add some more trace minerals - kelp is a good source - and a source of potassium like greensand....but there are choices....greensand gives very slow release of potassium so it works great in conjunction with reamending. You can also add greensand to the worm bin as they enjoy grit and can process the materal fairly "quickly"

...oh and I forgot but crab or shrimp meal/shell can provide great benefits for keeping pests at bay too. I have added shell to my soil mixes in the past but now tend to put it in the worm bin for "processing". You not only get the benefit of an "insecticide" but you also get plenty of calcium in the soil too. I've got great life in the worm bins with many types of insects, etc obviously thriving but haven't had too many gnat issues...really only once when I didn't have enough bedding to cover the food well....and I don't do that anymore.

If you added liming agents the first go-around, no need to amend the soil with them again (unless you felt that your ph was out of whack the first time you used the soil).

As far as gnats go, buy some BTI granules and sprinkle on your plants, and in the worm bin. The gnat larvae eat these microorganisms and then die. Place some sticky traps out for the adults hopping around the soil and the worm bin. Problem solved.

You can buy BTI granules at Lowes/Home Depot. They are sold as mosquito dunks.

st0wandgrow said:

If you added liming agents the first go-around, no need to amend the soil with them again (unless you felt that your ph was out of whack the first time you used the soil).

As far as gnats go, buy some BTI granules and sprinkle on your plants, and in the worm bin. The gnat larvae eat these microorganisms and then die. Place some sticky traps out for the adults hopping around the soil and the worm bin. Problem solved.

You can buy BTI granules at Lowes/Home Depot. They are sold as mosquito dunks.

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Thanks,

re: the gnats, I have been using BT, but it's not doing the trick, hence the desire to resort to spinosad.

like jcm said , cover your bedding with plenty of something dry..... like coco or cardboard. put a cover on your bin too. i have gnats everywhere but never in my worm bin.


great post jcm!







soil

turnip brain said:

Thanks,

re: the gnats, I have been using BT, but it's not doing the trick, hence the desire to resort to spinosad.

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Huh. Must be quite the infestation. I have crabshell meal (chitin), neam seed meal, and BTI granules in my soil and the gnats are gone. They used to party in my soil like no other until I built some IPM's in to my soil mix. I really felt that it was the BTI granules that had the greatest effect, but maybe it's a combination of all of the above??

Never used spinosad, but it seems to work well for others.

Good luck

st0wandgrow said:

Never used spinosad, but it seems to work well for others.

Good luck

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Yeah. I already have it, so figured it is the easiest due to availability!

I agree on adding more bedding to the worm bin. You really can't have too much. I top my bin with a 6" thick layer of dry shredded brown paper (grocery bags), shredded newspaper, and dry crumbled canna leaves from last harvest. I have also added neem meal and crab meal. Before I made these changes, fungus gnats were a constant annoyance in my worm bin (even though they actually help with composting).

For reammending your soil as a "base mix", I would add back some worm castings (maybe 5-10% by volume), plus a little kelp meal, neem meal, and crab meal (maybe 0.5 to 1 TBSP/gal of each). Moisten that down and let it marinate for a month or so and you're good to go.

Err, I intended this thread to be more about re-amending soil, and the worm issue to be part of the vermi thread. No worries though these things take on lives of their own. All good input appreciated!

I would pass those old roots are in it. they will rot. the soil is used up needs time to sit and heat. google it if your on a budget. pile the oil soil up and after it sits for a few months after use you can add all the shit into it .

Those old roots will be well gone by the time I use the soil again. I don't need to start again until next spring.

And, refer to ROLS info. All that is different here is not starting from a home concocted base soil.

kinddiesel said:

I would pass those old roots are in it. they will rot. the soil is used up needs time to sit and heat. google it if your on a budget. pile the oil soil up and after it sits for a few months after use you can add all the shit into it .

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These recommendations are not correct... Have you ever successfully reammended and reused soil?

*Roots will not rot. You absolutely CAN plant right back into that soil, roots and all. You don't even have to dump it out of the pot if you don't want (this is called "no-till", and it absolutely works).

*If you want to remix your soil, you want to add the ammendments BEFORE you moisten it and let it sit. The whole idea is to give those added ammendments time to break down (get consumed and excreted by soil microbiology).

*The "heat" you describe is produced when microbes are actively processing raw ammendments. Things containing decent levels of nitrogen (like blood meal, alalfa meal, etc) will actually cause the soil to heat up as they are degraded. If you don't add any fresh ammendments to your soil before letting it sit, it will not heat up.

Are you going to use an enzyme concentrate to break down old root material?

You don't need to add any enzyme products to break down the roots. Soil microbiology will take care of that part for you (they produce their own enzymes).

Not saying it would be bad to add enzymes, just that it's not necessary if you don't feel like paying the absurd price for another bottle from the hydro shop...

A brief discussion at the hydro shop a while ago:

Sales person: "What nutes do you use?"

Me: "I don't"

Sales person: "Huh?

Me: "I grow in organic soil with amendments"

Sales person: "what kind of soil do you use?"

Me "I started with roots organic, but switched to EKO from Home depot, plus compost I make, and amendments. I'll be switching to making my own base soil sometime soon"

Sales person: "Oh so you must bake all of it or something to sterilize the soil."

Me scratching my head: " Uh, Yeah... Right. See ya later"

Yeah... That's how it usually goes.

*"Aren't you worried about fungus and bacteria growing in your dirt?" Nope... Sure am not...

*"You're crazy reusing your soil. It's contaminated! You'll get all kinds of diseases!"... Contaminated with what? What diseases? It wasn't contaminated or diseased a minute ago when I harvested a fat healthy plant from it?!? Did the magical Disease Monster contaminate it when I wasn't looking?

*"What about all the dead roots rotting in your pot?"... When you pull weeds from your veggie beds, do your veggies die of Rotting Roots In Soil Syndrome? No... The roots decay and end up providing nutrients your veggies...

The guys at the shop by me are actually pretty knowledgable about organics. They sell a good selection of dry ammendments, tea ingredients, BioAg products, etc, etc...