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Reusing soil, what to add?

krso

New member
Hi organic growers . Last season i tried organic growing as well. I used compost from our household, which was about 5 years old. I used 50% (it was old compost so i figured to put more of it into the mix) of compost and 50% of peat moss than I added one table spoon of dolomit lime per 2 liters of mix and also i have added 20% of vermiculite(i must say this is awesome, a had to water my plants a lot less than others without the vermiculite). THe mix worked great, maybe even better than bought soil, which i used next to this hole for comparison. So my question is: as a natural grower i would like to reuse this soil again and again, and i just have to replace nutritions which my plants has used. My plane is to sieve soil to lose all the rots and than add stuf into mix, but i dont know what should i add?? i was thinking that i would add about 30% of the same compost and probably some more of dolomite lime(probably it is used through grow? or am i wrong??) and maybe some bat guano as well? another possibility i was thinking was to just add old horse manure? please give me some advice or your experiance what is the best solution thx
 

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
KISS...
Keep It Simple Stoner

How did your plants look when you harvested the last ones from that soil?

Did you notice any nutrient deficiencies?

If not, run the soil as is.

If you really want to know,
Get a sample tested & a recomendation based upon test results.
 

krso

New member
Last year plants grew really big so the soil was great, but im pretty sure they used majority of nutritions, and i have to add something back into the soil for sure.
I canot test soil in my country i dont know where i would test it and i have 5 diferent places so i would have to test each hole.
I have to say that i dont use any liquide fertilizers during grow only bat guano, so i would like to add nutritions into the soil before plants and wait 2 months that soil becomes stabile.
What I have learned from reading this forum i will definetly add some dolomit lime for PH stabilization and probably in each hole horse fertilizers in the pellets which decomposes slowly (around 3-4 months says label) and if i will see any problems with nutritions i will add bath guano in middle of the grow when i will water plants.
Any other sudgestion?
 

truck

Member
Oyster Shell, fish meal, fish bone meal, feather meal, Sea-Bird Guano 12-11-2 (or similar), rock phosphate, Worm Castings, Crab Shell alfalfa meal, green sand, humate, Epsom Salt or Gypsum langbeinite, Steer or Chicken Manure, Bark Mulch. keep things in relatively even ratios when adding. Don't be shy with the Oyster shell as you need to highly buffer you soil to make all the goodies useful to the micro life. 2 months is great, means you should experience zero issues with nutrient burn or deficiencies. Rock phosphate helps keep the N in the soil stopping excesses off gassing into ammonia. The fish and bird products ramp up the micro life and will aid in the needed breakdown of the bark mulch. The bark mulch is organic matter that houses and feeds the micro heard. Steer manure has good growth hormones in it, Chicken manure is just the shit, not sure why it works so great, just always does. Worm casting and Crab shell work synergisticly to help ramp up your plant immune system by making chitin highly available, which i've never seen an aphid in the 3 years i've included this into my recycle mix. Humate helps unlock nutrients in the soil. Green sand is great micros and good soil structure. Epsom/Langbenite/Gypsome gives you Sulfur Potassium and Magnesium in the form you want it, keep it at the bottom of your hole, this helps also prevent anaerobic activity and unwanted bug infestations, less is always more, salt kills life if to much is used. if you want to get super cheap just save your coffee grounds, egg shells, citrus rinds, banana peals, cardboard, ect and anything that is organic material other than meat. Let it all dry out then mix it into your holes.
 

krso

New member
Truck, thanks for all your sudgestions :) i will add some of the material wich you have listed above, but i will add small amount, because i dont want to burn my plants :)
 
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