Reusing Compost

[oldtimer1]

I completed 4 grows reusing the original composts 3 times after the first grow a few weeks ago, thought I would let you know how it went.

I started out using both allmix and westlands hanging basket + JI, half the pots had added inoculant and rock dust. 9 plants in each 36 in all. Of the untreated composts the westlands gave better overall health and final yield than the all mix.

The treated composts did better, had better rootballs, were just more sturdy all round and yielded better than the untreated composts, there was less difference in yield but the westlands still had it by a few grams.

I concluded that the westlands was a much better compost than bb’s allmix but that the allmix could be improved a lot by the addition of rock dust and inoculant. Whatever micro heard allmix has, it does not do the job when it comes to plant health.

I decided to reuse the compost for the first time mainly because westlands my first choice had reformulated their mix. I kept the two composts separate sieved the roots out remixed them adding 5% premix and 10% worm, rockdust, enough water to make damp and left it a couple of weeks to ferment/stabilise.

I inoculated the plants on the first potting up, that was it, there was nothing between the reused allmix and westlands, all plants did well were sturdy, good rootballs and were healthy, Average yield was up on the best of the first grow. I concluded the effort had been very worth while.

I decided to do it again, this time I just sieved and mixed both composts used the same additives and method. The results were even better than the first remix, plant health was stunning.

The final remix was late spring, with this I used the same method, but had been given some high P bat, so I added a little to half the mix. The result was little or no difference between the bat and ordinary remix as far as yield or smoke, its not an indictment on bat poo. Overall the yield was down a few ounces on the first grow, none of the plants were as healthy, and a couple went down with a root fungus. So its time to start out with fresh compost again.

I suspect there has been a build up of all sorts of things from tap water, plant exudations and the fertilisers used, probably the base fertiliser ratios had all gone to hell and the ph buffer was probably way out as well. I’m sure the spent compost will be a very useful addition to my veg garden when used as a mulch and hoed in.

This is not a formula or a how to do anything, I’m just telling you what I did over a couple of years and how it worked out for me.

[Randalizer]

As always a great pleasure to hear from you OT1. Your advice and educational legacy here at UK420 have done so much to improve the quality of my garden! From every aspect of my heart, thank you.

[Danklord]

Good tip OT1 that'll save me some sweat and pennies in the future, i've reused my All mix once in the past but didn't add any pre mix or guano and had just as successful a grow as with the fresh compost.

Just one Q. What do mean when you said you inoculated the plants? It's not something i'm familiar with.

[Randalizer]

What do mean when you said you inoculated the plants?

Look here. Innoculatin means introducing healthy microbes (healthy for your plants anyway) into your compost. These enable the plant to absorb more nutrients from the soil and to fight off pathogenic microorganisms.

[Danklord]

Nice one Randalizer. A bit of terminology minefiled in my hungover state but it's saved for future reference. Guess i'll go out and find myself some Trichoderma Harzianum!

Really interesting that has such an effect on the uptake of nutes, definitely worth a little effort.

Cheers

[agito]

think canna sell it .

if you pop this post in the problem solver section you may get a better response .

i would def leech.

and tasting problem sounds like a flushing issue to me

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Thanks OT

So roughly three uses before seeing a drop in performance would seem to be the case, should help save a few pennies and get a bit more use out of the compost.

[oldtimer1]

Nice one Randalizer. A bit of terminology minefiled in my hungover state but it's saved for future reference. Guess i'll go out and find myself some Trichoderma Harzianum!

Really interesting that has such an effect on the uptake of nutes, definitely worth a little effort.

Cheers

I did not use Trichoderma, I used webbies root magic essential granules, while it has beneficial bacteria and fungi spores its main purpose is to inoculate the roots with endo and ecto mychorrizal fungi.

Very interesting indeed, cheers Ot1

im wondering why the compost worked better on the second/third go than on the first,when its technically fully loaded,the results make it very much worth doing for me but im just wondering why would the peak performance of the compost come in after remixing and useing rather than first time?

is it down to the compost taking that long to properly get to peak performance because its formulated to be used in gardens and technically last about a yr, or is because of the ingredients that you used to reconstitute the compost brought it up to what it should be? i.e the pre-mix,worm,rock dust ,inoculant etc

sorry if that doesnt make sense im a little high on paint fumes and weed

Ey up Pro, first time round, the fertilisers are whatever the original compost base came with. If you were asking me to speculate, I would say 2nd and 3rd grows allowed the micro heard to multiply a lot and the compost to become much more fertile, I think by the fourth grow the chemical salts from the tap water had built up enough to become toxic to the micro heard. Tap water has some awful stuff in it, with about 13 weeks in final pots every grow, a lot of evaporation directly from the compost takes place apart from transpiration.

[Guest nu jerzey devil]

Hi OT1,

Looking for abit of advice on how to reuse soil.

Do you add anything for PH?

Do you add anything for trace elements?

As I am looking to reuse alot of soil and for future use

Cheerz NJD

Edited August 16, 2008 by nu jerzey devil

[oldtimer1]

Hi OT1,

Looking for abit of advice on how to reuse soil.

Do you add anything for PH?

Do you add anything for trace elements?

As I am looking to reuse alot of soil and for future use

Cheerz NJD

I told you exactly what I did and exactly what I added.

I live in a hard water area, so its possible that after the first 3 grows that the carbonates had caused the buffer level of the compost to rise to high, I did not test for ph buffering, even so the grow was pretty good, as was the bud produced.

The thing you need to do is find a compost that works well for you just as it comes out of the bag before you do anything else to it! ie don't try and amend it in any way although I would recommend using a mychorrizal inoculant. Once you find the compost that does what it should, then reuse as I have outlined.

Did you read my advise to you in this reply to you here????

[beanz]

Hi OT

is their anything I can use to do the same job as webbys innoculant but from a garden centre type place?

[oldtimer1]

Hi OT

is their anything I can use to do the same job as webbys innoculant but from a garden centre type place?

You will find rootgrow at any good garden centre, its not as good as its only mychorrizal spores but does help a lot.

[beanz]

Thank you

[I Zimbra]

piranha/tarantula, halo... theres loads

oops from a garden centre, dunno

Edited August 16, 2008 by I Zimbra

[beanz]

piranha/tarantula, halo... theres loads

oops from a garden centre, dunno

Thanks for the thought mate but all the hydro companies do is copy whats been proven sucessful out in the 'normal world' to the 'cannabis world',its just knowing what will replace it!

OT..?

Do you think you could have kept reusing the compost if you had'nt had to use tap water?