What do you guys keep your soil in?

Hi folks!

I have a rather mundane question coming to my mind:
Where will I keep my soil in to cook and how long do I keep it in there?

So I will run about 20 5 gallon smart pots. They are listed at 16 liters which comes out to about 320 liters for the smart pots alone.
Not counting the pots in veg.

Now mixing the soil is easy, I have a little courtyard where I can lay down a tarp and do my mixing.

But where do I put it after to cook?


I need something with wheels because I need to get the soil from the courtyard down to the basement and don't really want to run up and down to fill each smart pot ...
Outside the temperatures are also changing too much so I want to keep the soil bin in the basement but there isn't enough space in the grow room itself so I will probably put it in one of the other rooms. As thus, it has to be kind of inconspicuous to passers by as well ...

Now the best solution I could come up with are the garbage bins that are provided by European municipalities to their citizens for garbage collection.
They are stable, have wheels, protect from light etc.

But ...
To get one with 240l capacity I would have to cough up 60 bucks.
If i wanted to get one with 360l capacity that would be 150 bucks ...
(A combo of a 240l bin and 120l bin would come out at about 100 bucks total)

Bit expensive for my taste...

Basically I would need a 360l sturdy plastic bin with wheels that I could cart up and down from the courtyard to the basement whenever I need to mix soil and that I could put in the basement without raising too many eyebrows (although I can just put stuff on top of it to hide it a bit).

Any ideas, suggestions?
Any pics/experience to share?

Just get a couple of 60 liter plastic totes and stack them on top of each other?

If I mix my soil and let it cook, then fill my smart pots and have soil left over, any issue with keeping it in the soil bin until it is needed? Or should I use it all up and mix fresh every time I want to refill?

The way I see it, I will also need a separate smaller soil bin for my vegging area at least for clones and seedlings (with less blood/bone meal, kelp, etc.)?

Cheers folks!

DIY stores have 90 liter containers without a lid or wheels for about 8 bucks. Used to mix mortar/cement.

Might just get 4 of those and construct 4 lids somehow, then set them in the basement in a corner, covered up by other things/blankets and mix the soil on a tarp in my basement to store in those containers for cooking and later ease of use (the smart pots/grow room are just across).
Maybe I just use tarp for the lids... Then stacking will be difficult though, unless it doesn't matter that the top containers press down on the soil. Seems it would get too compacted this way so solid lids will probably be necessary?

Maybe add another 20 liter container for my seedling/clone soil mix.

Nursery pots, black 5-15 gallon....reusable.

bigbadbiddy said:

Basically I would need a 360l sturdy plastic bin with wheels that I could cart up and down from the courtyard to the basement whenever I need to mix soil and that I could put in the basement without raising too many eyebrows (although I can just put stuff on top of it to hide it a bit).

Click to expand...

Water is roughly 8 pounds a gallon, 2 pounds a liter.

Soil ranges from lighter than water to heavier.

If possible, I would put the heavy stuff on the same level as the end destination (garden).

a pile and big Rubbermaid type tubs....yeehaw

^that

yea i do rubbermade tubs too. if you want wheels i'd look into those heavy duty municipal style trash cans. they are like $100 a pop tho, but as st phatty pointed out moving 50 gallons of soil in one go is gonna be heavy as shit. weaker cans will twist and split at the effort IME.

they are free if you take the trash too...^^^^^^,,you can get wheels for Rubbermaid brute trash cans

I mix in the kiddie pool. Then store in a tote. Actually I have 4 kiddie pools in the backyard. They are all full. Before using the soil in the pools it has to sit in a tote(70gallon) for at least a month. I used to use the dirt straight from the kiddie pool outside. But, I have contributed a couple bug problems to that practice. Part of the reason I store in a tote prior to use.

I mix and cook in 50 gallon rubbermaids, no wheels sorry

I use a "compost bin mixer" which was available for purchase from my local municipality at the price of $80 US. It is a V shape tumbler and is on a rotisserie to allow mixing without having to touch it. Very convenient to fill buckets as the base of the V is where you load and unload. Found it recently for sale at Home Depot.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/7c/7ca80109-0dc3-4479-b983-68b19cca70b7_300.jpg

Just to store it, use garbage bags.

Double or triple them if needed, best to do if moving them.

Ima go either with the big 90l totes keeping a few of those or get one of these 240l municipal trashcans, haven't decided yet.

The totes be costing about 20% of the trashcan so economically speaking I probably go with those and use some tarp to cover and stack em (I hope having one 90l tote pressing down on the soil in the bottom 90l tote wont be a problem).
Gotta save some of the budget for those 315W cmhs of which I will need 3... why they so expensive

Thanks for all the feedback folks!

I use big roller trash can and and totes. What ever you can organize to fit your space better. Got a 315 for veg couple months ago. Love it. Want a few more to flower under.

Wheels? Use a dolly or skateboards or something. Throw all the bins on a cart.

they make planter casters already on a base

http://www.walmart.com/ip/15604297?...71457312&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=60819443606&veh=sem

I use one O' these:

http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-6005...1897&sr=8-1&keywords=lifetime+compost+tumbler

I went with a 300 L garden box on wheels that I got on sale for 30 bucks.
It has a lid too but I doubt it can be moved when filled with soil.

Anyway, I will just line the inside with pool liner and mix my soil straight in there as well as letting it cook in there.
The box is very inconspicuous so I can position it anywhere. Might even put it in the grow-room itself to avoid having to carry earth across the basement. The box is small enough that I can fit it below my desk or something.

Cheers for all the suggestions and feedback!

Sterilte 40 gallon (151 liter) wheeled tote, set of two is $58 shipped from WalWorld. There are any number of other such tubs, with and without wheels, at the various home stores and their websites. (Not sure where you are located, so hard to be too specific)

Aaaand I just noticed I necro'ed a 7 month old thread (and still can't delete or edit). Ah well, might come in handy for someone else. They are great containers for anything (including growing weed in or storing socks) and I like them a lot better than all the 31 gallon Rubbermaids I bought a few years ago.

/sales pitch