recyclling used soil.

Morning all. Has anybody tried recycling used pots/ soil. ie flushing used pot through to rinse salts, pulling out the main root ball and shredding the soil and root mass left over. Mix with new soil and add something like cannazym to utilise the left over dead root matter. Just a thought as becoming a pain in the arse getting rid of used soil.

i bang the soil off, and throw root ball into compost. i recycle the soil into my outside garden.

scroglodyte said:

i bang the soil off, and throw root ball into compost. i recycle the soil into my outside garden.

Click to expand...

12 x 5 gallon pots every 4 weeks, I would build a small mountain in 12 months lol. Would seem a viable idea to recycle everything back into next grow.

lol......that's alotta soil! 60 gallons a month..........hmmmmm
i would find a way to platoon 3 batches of soil, and keep re-testing and re-amending. always using a batch that has sat 2 cycles. the root balls could be composted or trashed. i wish i had your trouble

I know, it's alot and a pain in the arse. In theory, rinse any salt build up and convert old roots to usable matter with cannazym + new soil.......... why shouldn't this work?

[h=4]How does CANNAZYM work?[/h] Enzymes are substances that speed up the reactions in living organisms. (Example: enzymes play a vital role in our digestion).
The enzymes in CANNAZYM facilitate fast conversion of dead roots into minerals and sugars. This is important, as they make up a valuable source of nutrients for the plant as well as for the soil environment. A fast breakdown of root remains creates a balanced air and soil hydrology in the root environment. Furthermore, putrefaction and consequently the formation of toxic substances are prevented and the risk of an infection by pathogenic moulds is considerably reduced. This is ideal for your plant. The soil environment is improved, as the minerals and sugars that are formed as a result of using CANNAZYM, are important for the bacteria located close to the roots. These bacteria provide the plant with extra protection against diseases that are caused by moulds and facilitate the exchange nutrients and vitamins with the roots. This results in improved balance and an increased absorption capacity.

sounds good. i bet its not cheap

compost it for 6 months thats about six 50 gallon drums. rotat them. sell one or two of them off once in awhile. you gotta know someone that can us it. id take it. put a add on craiglist delivery only no cash. no one well know who you are. no security prob.

Absolute waste of time soil is not that expensive to buy

the OP isn't complaining of soil costs, he's looking for way to get rid of large amounts of soil.

shizz said:

compost it for 6 months thats about six 50 gallon drums. rotat them. sell one or two of them off once in awhile. you gotta know someone that can us it. id take it. put a add on craiglist delivery only no cash. no one well know who you are. no security prob.

Click to expand...

Thanks but I can't just plonk 6 x 50g drums in my garden. I would like an easier system with less work....

Farmers do it all the time, just turn the roots back into the soil as they plough.

I have recycled my soil since 2007, when I moved to Costa Rica. I use three piles, although I don't go through the amount of soil you do I still use 30 to 40 gallons a month. I remove the rootball which goes to the compost pile and place the soil into the first pile of soil. The first pile gets all the new compost mixed into it to go along with the old soil. The second pile which usually has a few months of rest gets veggie scraps mixed in to feed the worms and keep the micro beasties happy. The 3rd pile is the one ready for use.
Any new soil or amendments go into this pile, black tierra, bio char, woodash, etc. The soil has gotten better, meaning richer, more moisture retentive and many many more micro beasties. This system is just basically substainable ag practices used on many organic farms, which I used when farming and brought down to a small scale. Is it a lot of work, yes, but there is much less work involved during the grow over constantly mixing nutes and other additives many must add to their grows.

Bit off the subject here but I grow herbs and vegetables (no, really, the type you eat) on my garage roof. I always save some soil from the previous year for seedlings and cuttings as it's not too 'hot' I strain it through a colander then freeze it, then microwave it to get rid of any bugs/bacteria.
I suspect the way you are heading, you maybe better off going over to coco or rockwool.

I reuse my soil. I just mix it with ewc, molasses, new composted soil and some ff. mix it all together. Let it sit a bit and you good to go...rw

roofwayne said:

I reuse my soil. I just mix it with ewc, molasses, new composted soil and some ff. mix it all together. Let it sit a bit and you good to go...rw

Click to expand...

Do you have any dip or improvment in results?

It makes total sense to me, surely the dead roots are going to full of everything the plant wants.

Actually, I don't over nute my weeds and the only trouble I have had was when I got cocky and didn't mix it the same way. Those plants were trouble the whole time. This time I am having a good grow with out problems. See after you grow a plant in a pot, you create a mini ecosystem with the microbes and everything. There a product call great white that brakes down roots and help promotes microbes growth. It has Mycorrhizae in it. so to throw it away is wasteful...rw

I agree with microwaving soil to kill bugs, I use soil 2-3 harvests and after that compost it for garden use. After having had an Thrips-infestation using new soil I even microwave that.