Can i reuse potting soil

I love gardening and I love this helpful post. I'll be using your tips this spring. Thank you. No, Dolores, you can pasteurize the soil in the oven at degrees for half an hour to kill harmful pathogens and insect eggs without losing the richness of the soil.

I need to replant some of my container plants this Spring and was wondering about just this topic. I hate the idea of buying dirt, it just seems silly. When I was younger I used to make a mix that included outside dirt that I'd put in the oven on a low temperature for 20 minutes or so. Then I wondered if I'd cook out nutrients. Would it? Hi Rose. The compostable material needs air in order to decompose, so.

Can i make a compost bin out of a 5gal bucket with out putting holes in it i have no way of putting holes in the bucket. Thanks, Peg. I like to pass on whatever I learn, and most of it is for newbies. There's so much to know! Every time I look into any subject, it quickly becomes complicated, and gardening is no exception.

I just discovered, for instance, that the ugly hummingbird I've been seeing at our feeders is actually a moth! This is an excellent article for people to read who are new to gardening. I never discard potting soil and always reuse it in manners you mentioned. Very helpful info. I'm a thrifty gardener and reuse my container soil over and over.

Now I'll do some treatment of it in a black plastic bag as you suggest. Good to know this technique. When Spring finally arrives, my soil enhancer preference will be the liquid organic concentrate that is fish extract and sea kelp based instead of with chemicals.

Thanks for stopping by, Kappygirl. I've been working on my photography and am glad you noticed. This is a great hub with useful information. I often re-use soil but didn't know about pasteurizing it. I'll definitely have to do that in the future. By the way, you've got really nice pictures too! Congrats on your Hub of the Day award for this very useful info.

Getting the most out of potting soil is a good thing! Hi, Kirsten. The weather shifting here too, and my summer flowers are fading away. Thanks for stopping by! MarleneB, baking soil in the oven is a little smelly, but well worth it! Glad you commented.

All the best, Jill. Excellent tips! I absolutely love the idea of placing the soil in the oven. That is truly a clever solution to killing off harmful stuff in the soil. By the way, congratulations on receiving the Hub of the Day award. Jill, great tips. I might have to do that next year for my summer plantstwo of them have bit the dust, one's left for another week or so. Congrats on HOTD! Hi Donna. Yep, you want to be safe when reusing soil. I'm about to replace our tired summer flowers in pots for autumn ones.

Will have to check out some of your hubs for ideas for an autumn door decoration. Our door looks best with a swag. I put up Indian corn, but it looks a little sad all by itself there.

Great information, Jill! I never knew that I couldn't just reuse my potting soil so I'm grateful for your suggestions on how to safely recycle it. Pinning to my gardening board. Thanks and congratulations on your HOTD! Thanks, Patricia, for sharing the article, and for your kind comments. I'm delighted that the article brought up good memories for you. This has been a great refresher article for me to read because she has been gone from the planet for many years and I had forgotten some of what she said Hi sgbrown!

You sound like a real soil recycler! I do the same thing you do, plus throw old soil into the composter--and I bet you do that, too. Great to hear from you! Great information! I always reuse my old potting soil. I get a big bucket or pot and just start dumping the old soil inside as I clean out my pots for reuse.

When I am planting in the ground, I will mix the old soil with the dirt I dig out and plant with that. Very good advice here, I've been doing the same thing for years and it works great!

Up and useful! Hi Mike! Thanks for the feedback. Take care, Jill. Letitialicious -- I'm not sure about the plant, but you could save the soil by baking it in the oven a pot-full at a time to kill the pathogens in it, including fungal spores. You could also dump it into black plastic garbage bags and let it heat up on your deck or patio over the winter.

I live in the city and recently inherited literally some pots with water logged soil, which I allowed to dry out, but I've planted one plant so far and it looks pretty droopy, several months down the line. Nice to hear from you. What a cool, unique memory. A woodstove. I reused last year's soil and plan to do it again this year. My father used to bake soil in the over of the woodstove before he planted seedlings at a low temperature.

It works, all right. An excellent piece, awesome and UP! Buying dirt--it really does seem ridiculous, Mary--like driving to the track in order to walk, which I've also done. Sounds like you're an old hand at reusing old potting soil! My Mother would "turn over in her grave" if she knew I bought dirt! When I was growing up, we just went into the woods and got our potting soil. I live in S. When a plant dies, I pull it out, and reuse the same soil for cuttings or another plant.

I would never throw out potting soil, it's too expensive. Our Home Depot sells torn bags of soil cheap. Hi Suzie HQ! Join the conversation. Related Stories. Read all recent posts.

You might be surprised to know that jasmine holds. David is the cofounder of Terremoto, a landscape d. Ken and Jean Victor Linsteadt love symmetry. So many gardeners these days are looking for ways. Fragrance is such an important component in garden. So what is the proper way to recondition your soil so it is ready to start growing healthy, sturdy plants for a second or third season?

The best practices for container gardening recommend that you empty out your pots at the end of the growing season. Much like you would clean up all the organic matter from your backyard garden, this gives you an opportunity to sift through the soil and remove any stowaway insects, weeds or debris. It also offers you the opportunity to clean and dry your pots thoroughly to ensure that there are no residual bacterias, funguses or viruses from the previous season. Make sure you use organic soaps or other plant-friendly substances that will both clean and disinfect.

Rinsing with water may remove other materials like dirt and insect eggs but it will not sterilize the pots. You can choose to use a large tub, or several, to store the potting soil from the previous season over the winter. If you have grown tomatoes, store their soil separately so you know which soil should not be used for tomatoes the following season.

This may prevent you from having an insect infestation on new plants next season. Another option to ensure that weed seeds, insect eggs or larva and pathogens have been destroyed is to bake the soil in the sun.

This can be done by placing the soil in dark plastic bags or tubs and leaving them in the sun until they are very warm. Although you can take certain steps to mitigate the risks there is always the possibility of a problem from last season carrying over to the next if you reuse potting soil.

One sure-fire way to destroy pathogens, insects and seeds is through the process of pasteurization. While this technique is mainly only available to commercial growers it greatly reduces the risk of carrying over organisms from one plant to the next when reusing soil.

The process consists of raising the temperature of the soil to degrees fahrenheit and maintaining it for 30 minutes. If the temperature reaches degrees fahrenheit most organisms are killed and the soil is considered sterile. Home growers have the option of baking their soil in their ovens at this temperature for 30 minutes, however, this can often leave an earthen odor behind. If pasteurization is not an option it is usually best to err on the side caution and refrain from reusing soil that you know has a plant pathogen that could be passed on to your other plants.

Just as important as cleaning your soil the previous season, it is just as crucial to prepare it prior to planting the following season. To prepare soil for planting you will want to add in enough elements to bring the nutrient content back up to keep your plants in good shape all season.

So what should you add to get your potting soil ready to plant? Keep in mind that when using fabric pots like the Classic Spring Pot the medium can be a bit heavier than a soil you would put in a plastic pot as water retention is not as great an issue. If you feel the potting mix is too heavy, you can also add fillers like coir or perlite to fluff the soil up.

As an added safeguard against weed seeds you can add a layer of compost or dried leaves to the top of the soil. This added layer will block out sunlight and keep the seeds from germinating. There are plenty of other ways to reuse and recycle potting soil. It can be turned into established gardens and flower beds or used to help fill out raised beds whose soil has settled. You can use it to fill in holes or gullies in your yard that are collecting rain water or to grade the ground away from the foundation of your house.

Lastly you can add it to your compost pile or bin. During the composting process the heat will destroy the living organisms and the process of decomposition will aid in returning nutrients to the potting soil so it can be used in future growing seasons.

Reusing potting soil can be a great way to cut down on the hassle and cost of purchasing new materials season after season. As long as you take the necessary precautions to ensure that your potting soil is clean and sterile and that an adequate amount of nutrients have been added back in, your soil can be used for many seasons.

Spring Pots hold their own shape for easy filling and are also collapsible for simple winter storage. Click here to see some of the Spring Pot designs that make cleaning and refilling your pots easy and convenient. Site Maintained by Cannaverse Solutions.