when your done

[420stoner]

im wondering what do you guys do with your soil when your done growing?
im asking cuz im going to grow in soil & i dont know what to do with the soil after im done. do i just throw it in the trash?
& if i do what if some pigs go trew my trash & they see soil in it & they suspect im growing indoors?
what do you guys do with it?

 

[MileHighGuy]

First and Foremost - how much soil are we talking?

Pay to take it to the local dump.... or just drive and dump it somewhere...

I'm guessing you're in a city, or you wouldn't be asking.

 

[mad librettist]

well hopefully I'll never be done growing...

I've added some soil to raised beds when I wanted to thin out my stock.

If you treat it right, soil keeps on living, and keeps on taking care of you.

 

[compost]

If you can safely, try to find somewhere to dump it where it won't be wasted. I used to supplement my flower beds and parks before I got a house with a garden spot. Throwing it away it only goes down below ground to never be used. If safety dictates you cannot do this, then don't just put it in your regular trash. I am tilling 400 gallons of used soil into my garden this year.

 

[pearlemae]

If you can take the old soil and add to it. I dump mine out in the wheel barrow, and add new goodies kelp blood ewc guano. And back in it goes for the next round. If you have to dispose take it out and dump it in a dumpster or forest. seems like a waste to throw aay living soil.

 

[guest2012y]

If you are running another cycle freakin' recycle it man! I've been using the same soil for over a year. Just keep building the soil and it gets better and better. Or give it to granny if you aren't doing another cycle....for her tomatoes or something.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

This is the perfect time to till up a garden....

 

[Captain Ginyu]

Yes there's some smart stoners in here. Treat the soil right, & you'll be treated right, and never have to throw it away.

 

[nukklehead]

unfortunately some of us are in predicaments where we dont have the space to recycle.. it breaks my heart throwing away soil but space has its disadvantages. I use contractor grade plastic bags , throw em in to the truck ( after 2 grows=70-80 gallons) and we go for a drive in the country. I get in the back for a country road drive and there she goes! Most of mine is FFOF with perlite etc. i would love to garden/recycle but.... it is what it is. .. Im sure in the winter the cars dont mind the extra traction

 

[mad librettist]

when your done

unfortunately some of us are in predicaments where we dont have the space to recycle.. it breaks my heart throwing away soil but space has its disadvantages. I use contractor grade plastic bags , throw em in to the truck ( after 2 grows=70-80 gallons) and we go for a drive in the country. I get in the back for a country road drive and there she goes! Most of mine is FFOF with perlite etc. i would love to garden/recycle but.... it is what it is. .. Im sure in the winter the cars dont mind the extra traction

I hear this "not enough" space excuse all the time, from people with more space than me.


you can do it!

 

[dragging hooks]

I had 250 gallons of soil to get rid of before we moved, thought I had it all figured out
Dump it in the flower beds and vegetable garden. By the time I did my final harvest two feet of snow had fallen - hahahaha. I ended up waiting for another big snow storm and dumped it right before the snow fell so it would be covered up right away

 

[guest2012y]

If you have space to mix soil you have space to recycle it. Think outside the box....pretty simple to spread out a 10 dollar piece of plastic or a tarp and dump pots on it,re-amend,mix,and back in the pots it goes. Now all you have to do is fold up the plastic/tarp for next time.

 

[jaykush]

you dump plastic bags full of soil on country roads? shame on you....

if you have no place to mix the soil, simply don't take it out of the pots. utilize top dressings and liquid feeds while building soil.

 

[guest2012y]

If you have a truck drive somewhere and re-mix it in the truck,I have a hard time believing you can't at least mix half a batch at a time. What's a 30 -40 gallon pile of soil...the same space as a 30- 40 gallon fish tank.

 

[nukklehead]

I agree. would love too. but living in a 700 sq ft house in the city.. wife and i bedroom in the basement ( where the room is) with daughter living upstairs in only bedroom of house, surrounded by parking lot and rental 4 plexes.. probably shouldnt be doing it at all but have utmost of security measures. have very small yard in front, no yard in back... small pepper and tomato garden in front ( 10 gallon gets tilled into that yearly) . I hate living here, its just the circumstance... please dont tell me it can be done... I would love to but for security and space reasons it cant.. there are most out there that can compost and recycle, even when they say they cant.. there there are a few of us that absolutely cant no matter how you cut it.

Someday I will be in the country but till then... you gotta do what you gotta do

 

[mad librettist]

man, I am single now and that makes things easy in one sense

BUT

I have less space than you, and I recycle soil. I have a worm bin that is unobtrusive and I make bokashi. Sure everyone has to pitch in, but it's about attitude and values, not space or location.


all you need is some containers of used soil and a bokashi bucket.

 

[nukklehead]

alright liberal .. you dont get it.. i agree with the concept.. what should i tell the neighbors and my daughter those drums/containers are??? or how bout local leo who are bustin the crackhouse 3 doors down regularly. no garage only carport.. i dont want a pissin match.. just want you to acknowledge that legitametely some cant do this.. probably most that say that cant.. can... but some cant.. will sign off this post as it is becoming... well forget it.. as i say to the wife.. your right dear....

 

[sunnydog]

Well... You did ask. Folks here were just trying to help you "think outta the box"
Specially as it always seems easier to re-amend existing materials, than to be seen bringing in new stuff
Good luck!

SD

 

[2cents]

of course if you can reuse soil thats the best choice, otherwise like another poster stated earlier thick contractor bags are the way to go put no more than 2 5-7 gal pots per bag, if the bags break open when you are dumping them in plain view or if they break on the way to the dumpster it sucks balls.. if you live in an area where dumpsters are available look for vacant property where the dumpster isnt really being used very much and there isn't much attention being payed to the place, also its better to dump maybe a few contractors bags worth at a time per dumpster..


I highly suggest unless you have a nice garden outside where it makes sense.. to avoid any signs of perlite anywhere... including in your vehicle

Personally what I do is when im done and they have been choppped is take the root balls out, re mix the soil and then use it for other things like house plants and garden etc..


$.02

 

[mad librettist]

yes I am trying to help you think outside the box! Seems your mind is made up, but if it really was made up you wouldn't be asking... FWIW, the technique I proposed is widely practiced in Japan, where people live in radioactive bento boxes.

Right now I have a cut the just went into a 15 gal smart pot. Also growing in the pot are some volunteer cucurbits of some kind, and clover. Minus the MJ cut, I can set this out anywhere. If I had a yard, I would keep 8 of these - 4 flowering, 2 vegging, and 2 resting.

I said a bokashi bin and some containers. You don't need huge drums. Just the containers you already will be using. Use some high quality amendments like calcined DE instead of perlite.