Reamend Old Soil?

Hey guys, haven't posted in awhile because I stopped growing the last 2 years, but want to get something small going next year.
I have maybe 5 yds of soil LC's mix Recipe 2 that I used for only one grow.
I don't plan on doing anything big, but would like to reuse about 200 gallons of this.
How would I go about reconditioning this soil?
I plan on running some autos and photos.
TIA!

If the original was good stuff then some compost and aeration along with microbes will get it going again. Rock dust, lime, oyster shell, alfalfa, neem, and any other amendments can be added in measured amounts.

Let it cook and you will do great.

Send it in for a soil test so you have some clue about where you are starting from.

How will you be storing the soil until youre prepared to start up?

ComfortCreator said:

If the original was good stuff then some compost and aeration along with microbes will get it going again. Rock dust, lime, oyster shell, alfalfa, neem, and any other amendments can be added in measured amounts.

Let it cook and you will do great.

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I had some problems with pH because I think I used way too much peat in my base mix.
I was also thinking of adding maybe 10% of EWC and 10% of perlite to it on top of the amendments.
At what ratios for the amendments? I know I have neem, kelp, fish bone, and lime on hand.

radiant Rudy said:

Send it in for a soil test so you have some clue about where you are starting from.

How will you be storing the soil until youre prepared to start up?

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I was thinking of this since I did have a problem with my pH when I used it.
The soil is just sitting in 100 gallon smart pots, as it has the last 2 years.
Was planning on just leaving it there til I reammend it next Spring, was thinking I should maybe go and rinse what I plan to use with a bunch of water for the time being also.

Outside? Id put a winter cover crop on if possible. Also you have no f'en idea what amendements make sense unless you get analysis.

lime will stabilize and raise the ph as needed.

radiant Rudy said:

Outside? Id put a winter cover crop on if possible. Also you have no f'en idea what amendements make sense unless you get analysis.

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I'll look into doing a cover crop.
True haha, I found a place online I can send it to for a test for $30. I'll do that and report back here and see what you guys have to say.

DblBrryInvestments said:

I'll look into doing a cover crop.
True haha, I found a place online I can send it to for a test for $30. I'll do that and report back here and see what you guys have to say.

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Bud you can do no wrong by putting a biological innoculant on it right now. Getting your biology active now will pay off in spring. How north are you? Im 39n here there is still time to innoculate and get a cover crop going.

Also start reading up on learning how to make sense of a soil test.

radiant Rudy said:

Bud you can do no wrong by putting a biological innoculant on it right now. Getting your biology active now will pay off in spring. How north are you? Im 39n here there is still time to innoculate and get a cover crop going.

Also start reading up on learning how to make sense of a soil test.

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I'm in the High Desert of LA.
I ordered some cover crop seeds on Amazon last night, I'll look into biological inoculants, any recommendations?

DblBrryInvestments said:

I'm in the High Desert of LA.
I ordered some cover crop seeds on Amazon last night, I'll look into biological inoculants, any recommendations?

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With the inoculant's folks have their favorites. I think that they all work and it's a good idea to use a few or alternate etc. Right now i use Tainio bacteria/myco and apply it with Regenerate from AEA. Ive used Recharge, Suma Grow, Roots bio war, Photosynthesis plus, Soil balance pro, sea green, Tainio PSB, Mammoth and others. If your soil biology is lame any of these products will give a strong reaction, provided your substrate is suitable. But, if your biology is kicking, you might not see much response. I tested my biology and it was rocking so latest grows I'm hitting soil with light doses of Tainio and regenerate about every month. I am totally soaking the root ball in a concentrated solution when i pot up.

Check out some of John Kempf's webinars to learn more about the importance of soil biology. The cover crop is an excellent way to get things going. Plants themselves make soil healthy. If it only gets down to 30F there you'll be able to keep something going the whole time. Very exciting. It drops to 0 here so my cover crops freeze off in early winter. Still the effect on my resting soil for next spring is a plus. When you've just grown a healthy cover crop using substrate that you are going to use for cannabis you have the benefit/peace of mind of knowing that you are planting into a living healthy environment.

radiant Rudy said:

With the inoculant's folks have their favorites. I think that they all work and it's a good idea to use a few or alternate etc. Right now i use Tainio bacteria/myco and apply it with Regenerate from AEA. Ive used Recharge, Suma Grow, Roots bio war, Photosynthesis plus, Soil balance pro, sea green, Tainio PSB, Mammoth and others. If your soil biology is lame any of these products will give a strong reaction, provided your substrate is suitable. But, if your biology is kicking, you might not see much response. I tested my biology and it was rocking so latest grows I'm hitting soil with light doses of Tainio and regenerate about every month. I am totally soaking the root ball in a concentrated solution when i pot up.

Check out some of John Kempf's webinars to learn more about the importance of soil biology. The cover crop is an excellent way to get things going. Plants themselves make soil healthy. If it only gets down to 30F there you'll be able to keep something going the whole time. Very exciting. It drops to 0 here so my cover crops freeze off in early winter. Still the effect on my resting soil for next spring is a plus. When you've just grown a healthy cover crop using substrate that you are going to use for cannabis you have the benefit/peace of mind of knowing that you are planting into a living healthy environment.View attachment 4726739

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Awesome, appreciate the response, I always remembered I covered my roots in myco before I transplanted.
It doesn't drop much below 30 if it does.
I assume I should inoculate the soil when the cover crop is planted?

DblBrryInvestments said:

Awesome, appreciate the response, I always remembered I covered my roots in myco before I transplanted.
It doesn't drop much below 30 if it does.
I assume I should inoculate the soil when the cover crop is planted?

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Sounds like a plan.

Send or put up a pic when you get things rolling, plz.

radiant Rudy said:

Sounds like a plan.

Send or put up a pic when you get things rolling, plz.

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Will do!

DblBrryInvestments said:

I'll look into doing a cover crop.
True haha, I found a place online I can send it to for a test for $30. I'll do that and report back here and see what you guys have to say.

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You should try a Soil Savvy test for $30. It's from Washington state, so you might get it quickly. https://www.amazon.com/Soil-Savvy-Understand-Fertilizer-Recommendation/dp/B01GIMOG8A/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-p13n1_0?cv_ct_cx=soil+savvy&dchild=1&keywords=soil+savvy&pd_rd_i=B01GIMOG8A&pd_rd_r=e6348e4a-4cd9-45ab-b308-fa53de9d59b8&pd_rd_w=juqBZ&pd_rd_wg=T9qrW&pf_rd_p=5be4970c-0256-4afe-9550-68021bd84e5b&pf_rd_r=MBC462879HCEC41DGSFF&psc=1&qid=1604007617&s=videogames&sr=1-1-791c2399-d602-4248-afbb-8a79de2d236f

MustangStudFarm said:

You should try a Soil Savvy test for $30. It's from Washington state, so you might get it quickly. https://www.amazon.com/Soil-Savvy-Understand-Fertilizer-Recommendation/dp/B01GIMOG8A/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-p13n1_0?cv_ct_cx=soil+savvy&dchild=1&keywords=soil+savvy&pd_rd_i=B01GIMOG8A&pd_rd_r=e6348e4a-4cd9-45ab-b308-fa53de9d59b8&pd_rd_w=juqBZ&pd_rd_wg=T9qrW&pf_rd_p=5be4970c-0256-4afe-9550-68021bd84e5b&pf_rd_r=MBC462879HCEC41DGSFF&psc=1&qid=1604007617&s=videogames&sr=1-1-791c2399-d602-4248-afbb-8a79de2d236f

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That is the exact test that I found online, thank you!
I watered it down and turned it over yesterday (it's been sitting for the last two years, dry) and was planning on running a test in a week or 2.

DblBrryInvestments said:

That is the exact test that I found online, thank you!

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As long as it is an accredited soil analytical lab authorized to provide testing in your country with certification. If not, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere other than Amazon.

Northwood said:

As long as it is an accredited soil analytical lab authorized to provide testing in your country with certification. If not, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere other than Amazon.

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It looks like you are the only fool that hasn't heard of this company. That's probably because you are new here and you want to feel important, that's normal in this forum. However, we ask that you leave your ego at the door.

MustangStudFarm said:

It looks like you are the only fool that hasn't heard of this company. That's probably because you are new here and you want to feel important, that's normal in this forum. However, we ask that you leave your ego at the door.

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Yes I'm new here so I've never heard of UNIBEST International, LLC. Plus apparently it's a company based in a country in which I don't currently reside in:

UNIBEST International, LLC
3301 E Isaacs Ave
Walla Walla
Washington
99362
US

Not only is it not accredited, but the Better Business Bureau in the United States gives this company a "D+" rating: https://www.bbb.org/us/wa/walla-walla/profile/environmental-testing/unibest-international-llc-1296-1000012702

The Amazon rating is only 63% positive in the last 12 months:

Yes, perhaps I am a fool. But this fool would rather send soil samples to an accredited licensed test laboratory than from some LLC listed on Amazon. You feel differently, and I can live with that. Thanks for your input.

Northwood said:

Plus apparently it's a company based in a country in which I don't currently reside in:

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So you are just talking out of your ass then? Let's have a look at the BBB site and read a review. BTW, they did close down as the Covid scare happened. All of these bad reviews because Karen didn't get her test results during Covid, poor little bitch Karen can't think of anyone but herself. You want to take bitch Karen's reviews and rub them in my face, does that make you bitch Karen too. Or do you not know how reviews work?

04/14/2020

I mailed a soil sample to Unibest International on 3/27/2020 . website says "Please allow 7-10 business days for shipping and processing". I waited and never received my report. I attempted to get my report via their website. There website works, but not the page you submit the barcode for look up. I have emailed them via their Contact page on their website and have not heard back. I called and left a message and have not received a return call. I had used them once in the past ( March -2019) and had no issues. Like the other complaint for this company on BBB, when you call phone number (877-535-2479) it goes to voice mail. Not sure what the issue is since they have not reached out to me. I will have to look into getting a test elsewhere.

The follow up:
05/18/2020
To better Business Bureau - Northwest

This is to notify that the above complaint ( ******** ) has been resolved by the company by finally sending the product/service.

Thank you for your service.


Next:

04/01/2020

I mailed a soil sample to Unibest International on 3/8/2020 . I waited and never received my report. I attempted to get my report via their website. There website works, but not the page you submit the barcode for look up. I have emailed them via their Contact page on their website and have not heard back. I called and left a message. I used them last summer had no issues. When you call phone number (877-535-2479) it goes to voice mail.

04/21/2020
To Whom It May Concern:

Our laboratory received ****** *******'s soil sample on 3/20/20. Our laboratory is based on a college campus that is on lock down due to the COVID 19 but we have been granted limited access to our laboratory to process soil samples M-F no weekends. That being said we are processing as many samples that we can in the allotted time that has been given to us on a daily basis. We emailed Mr. ******* his reports on 4/4/20 and have attached them for you to review. We were not able to attach all of the reports as there must be a limit. We do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused Mr. *******. As for the email we did research that and it was found in our junk mail so that is why he never received a response. As for the phone call that was missed we are looking into that as we have been trying hard to keep up with returning messages as he is not the only customer not happy with the turn around time. Until we are allowed to resume our normal business hours we are only able to process so many samples daily. As Mr. ******* mentioned he had used us the previous year without any issues. We hope that you will take all of this information into consideration due to the circumstances and let us know what you would like us to do going forward with Mr. *******'s case.

MustangStudFarm said:

Let's have a look at the BBB site and read a review. BTW, they did close down as the Covid scare happened.

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Perhaps your standards are different there. But if a company shuts down for months, in my opinion they shouldn't continue to collect money from customers without telling them they can't deliver the service, and they shouldn't refuse to answer emails or phone calls during that time. Soil analysis in real life can make the difference between feeding many people and making an income in the agricultural sector, or a failed crop. It's time sensitive and is a service that should be taken seriously. (Not suggesting that farmers would ever use this Amazon third party service of course for obvious reasons. lol)

This is why most countries have government certification and accreditation programs for private and public soil analysis labs. This is both for maintaining reasonable service levels and accuracy in results and recommendations. These labs provide a critical function after all. The first question in my mind is why does a specific test service company decide to be uncertified or not accredited to current standards? And I checked their site, and no details on the methods and specific tests are really provided, so little transparency. Heck, they don't even tell you what this mysterious "extractant" is.

I can pay a properly accredited local lab $17 Canadian dollars for a single sample here. And that includes things like base saturation levels and CEC that your company doesn't provide - critical for organic growers. Why would I give way more money to an Amazon LLC company without any accreditation that costs much more to provide fewer tests? I think I'll go for the test labs that are certified with third party oversight and A+ BBB ratings. At least I don't spend so much, have way more trust in their accuracy, and get the results within the time window promised.