Hi i was going through my garage in an attempt to find some more soil considering the 4 new seeds i gathered today, they are just bagseeds so im not too worried. I want to know if it would be alright to re use some of the soil from my last grow plants and/or transfer from some of my mothers house plants to grow these seeds, or will i have to go buy some more. If so could you explain to me the pros/cons of reusing soil.
I have reused soil that is not too full of roots. But I mix it with fresh soil. Farmers reuse their soil every year.
Farmers also use a great deal of fertiliser to be able to continually grow with the same soil. The nutrients of the original soil will have been sapped away by the house plants. Everything I have read suggests to use new soil mixed with pearlite/vermiculate or peatmoss, for each grow to get the best results.
i get ya, thanks for all the help. Ive heard that some of the richest soil there is comes out of compost dumps, if so i have plenty in mine, does anyone know about that myth. Ill stick to pot soil now though because i dont know anything about the npk of the soil that is produced in my compost.
dont re-use the soil. why u ask? first, u dont know what was grown in it before. what if it is a plant that contains an allelopathy chemical. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allelopathy or made the soil hi/low pH. etc... second. the soil becomes a sponge for everything u put into it. if someone was watering with hi/low pH water, that is now in the soil and not good for ur tender plants. or crappy food. or who knows what... i could go on and on. but here is some basic math. go to the store, buy a bag of soil for 4$ and fill up a couple of buckets of soil. lets pretend u spend 2$/bucket. 2$ to secure ur plant in its home. 2$ to not have to worry about one more problem that could occure. 2$ for a plant that could be worth anywhere from 100$ to 500$. so ur wondering weither u should spend 2% to 0.5% of ur total grow cost on the most important part of ur soil grow? dont re-use the soil.