Re-used soil problems

[Zayah]

OK so I have read up on sanitizing soil in the microwave, now it never mentions first flushing the soil with distilled water or anything first so I never did that but I did sanitize it in the microwave covered up with vent holes and now my plant is doing some funky shit that I’m assuming it’s from that . The problems just started showing very recently and I transplanted it last night.
Using fox farms ocean forest mostly, although someone got me some happy frog and it very well could be that or maybe even some of both. Prob should be more careful with keeping the soil separate but it’s possible that’s what happened

Anyone have any tips, dos and donts when it comes to reusing soil ??

 

[Emilya Green]

I use soil over and over and over again, especially FF Ocean Forest. Happy Frog will start to break down a bit after a grow and go acidic, and it needs to be flushed real well between uses so as to wash out the decomposed sphagnum moss that is affecting the pH.... other than that, it can be used several times before it just decomposes into nothing.

I don't think your problem has anything to do with your soil, it looks like maybe too much Nitrogen and definitely watering too often.

 

[Emilya Green]

Also, I would not trust the microwave to sanitize your soil. A microwave only heats up water molecules, it does not heat up the organics. It is possible for microwaving to not disinfect your soil of all contaminants, whereas heat, old fashioned 250 degree heat in a regular oven for 20 minutes, will do it quite effectively by heating up everything, not just the water droplets.

 

[bobrown14]

Never herd of putting soil in a microwave or an oven. Maybe I'm old fashioned or something.

We actually want the soil to be alive so doing stuff to kill microbes cant be a good thing.

Back to your problem .... why were you microwaving your soil??

That leaf that looks sick looks like a pH problem to me. Have you tested your water?

 

[Emilya Green]

Never herd of putting soil in a microwave or an oven. Maybe I'm old fashioned or something.

We actually want the soil to be alive so doing stuff to kill microbes cant be a good thing.

Back to your problem .... why were you microwaving your soil??

That leaf that looks sick looks like a pH problem to me. Have you tested your water?

I sterilize my soil in the oven all the time, and since I started I have never again had a gnat or any other soil related bug problem. Not sterilizing your soil just to preserve a few microbes is silly... fresh and active microbes and fungi are easily added again after the soil has cooled down.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Also, I would not trust the microwave to sanitize your soil. A microwave only heats up water molecules

And it doesn't even do that evenly. This is why most packaged food heating directions state that the person needs to let the item sit for a minute (or longer) afterwards, to give the thing time for the temperature to equalize throughout. Otherwise, it tends to be way too hot in some places and not hot enough in others. The rotating thing helps, but only somewhat.

Microwave ovens are best for warming precooked foods (although one can cook many things in them, of course) and heating water for a quick hot drink, IMHO.

 

[SmokingWings]

Never herd of putting soil in a microwave or an oven. Maybe I'm old fashioned or something.

We actually want the soil to be alive so doing stuff to kill microbes cant be a good thing.

Back to your problem .... why were you microwaving your soil??

That leaf that looks sick looks like a pH problem to me. Have you tested your water?

Sterilizing soil in the oven is that old fashioned way of doing it. No idea of when doing this started but probably sometime in the mid-1800s. The newfangled way of doing it seems to be with steam sterilizing ovens which came into use around 1890.

Reasons for doing it include killing off insects and insect eggs, killing off weed seeds & recently germinated seeds, and just as importantly killing off fungus, bacteria, and all those other pesky invisible things living in the soil. Many of them are not beneficial and can slow down or ruin our grow.

One of the most important reasons to sterilize soil is to kill off the fungus that causes Damping Off. The idea being to sterilize the soil, plant the seed and by the time any air-borne fungus spore settles on the soil the seedling is large enough to not be affected.

For whatever reason the soil seems to recover quickly and the population of beneficial micro-organisms returns in time for successful growing of plants past the seedling stage.

 

[TorturedSoul]

So how much did that steam oven contraption cost you? Most of us probably don't already have one.

 

[bobrown14]

I sterilize my soil in the oven all the time, and since I started I have never again had a gnat or any other soil related bug problem. Not sterilizing your soil just to preserve a few microbes is silly... fresh and active microbes and fungi are easily added again after the soil has cooled down.

I better go run out and tell my farmer neighbor he better sterilize his crop fields. I dont know how he wood do it but it must be a thing cause no one I know does that.

" Plants and microbes have evolved intimate relationships that enable them to coexist"

I wood be remiss if I didn't have some science to back me up.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...plant-fertility-Biol-Fert-Soil-48-489-499.pdf

I haven't had a fungus gnat since I stopped using bagged soil I bought at the store.
That 1 time I had fungus gnats I got rid of them with a fan.

Most soil insects are good or we wood be starving.

I grow organically and depend on soil organisms and worms and all sorts insects to break down my organic matter in my soil so the plants can uptake the nutrients given back.

 

[Emilya Green]

Here we go again, trying to equate an indoor container grow with something that happens outside in the fields. Your argument makes no sense.

 

[Pat Puffer]

I am growing in some 4 yr old Sphagnum Peat Moss. I understand that annually it drops in the pH. I saw problems last year. This year i added Dolomite Lime to the mix, plus Blood Meal, Fish Bone Meal, and Neem Seed Meal. The plants are all monsters this year. I do not sterilize any thing. Flushing is good for soil if you use chemical based nutes (hydro, i.e. FloraNova), otherwise i would leave the Rhizosphere intact and undisturbed.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Here we go again, trying to equate an indoor container grow with something that happens outside in the fields. Your argument makes no sense.

Generally speaking, I tend to agree with that sentiment. Many people who try to bring outdoor gardening practices indoors end up having issues. However, Bob has an indoor cannabis garden and seems to be doing okay. Perhaps because he also has an outdoor garden, compost pile, et cetera instead of merely a container garden in a tent/closet that is being treated as its own completely closed biosphere. But maybe not, lol, I really have no idea as to how he does things.

BtW, Bob (Bo?), the second link in your .SIG is nonfunctional, and gives a 404 "Oops, not found" error.

 

[Nunyabiz]

If you want a sterile dead medium then use Coco.
If you use soil then you're screwing yourself by killing off what makes it soil.

Every perceived problem listed here is because of lack of oxygen, anaerobic soil, that's why bad bacteria and fungus grows, just aerate the soil and introduce dissolved oxygen and the soil becomes alive and thus is able to defend itself and the plant from the bad bacteria and fungus and grow good bacteria and mycorrhizae.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

I've personally do not sterilized my own soil as I try to be organic as best as I can.

However when I reuse my own soil I throw away 25% the rest go's in my compost dustbin where I add a product called powerzyme which breaks down the roots into sugars & other enzymes the plant can use with in a few weeks then the missing 25% gets added from a fresh bag which gets mixed in well along with some worm castings, which helps balance out the soil PH along side some nutrients from the main bag pre load with an EC level. Pretty easy.

That is the way I do it, their are other products out there which can break down roots as well perfect for hempy growers or people reusing coco & clay pebbles.

If you want to sterilize & have the benefits of living soil then you need to add x % of living soil into your sterile & let sit for a few weeks to get active then again I would only sterilized after bug nasty's I don't think you need to do this every grow as it is more work.

 

[SmokingWings]

So how much did that steam oven contraption cost you? Most of us probably don't already have one.

I just did a google search specifically looking at the history of gardeners, greenhouse operators and indoor growers that were sterilizing soil.

Most of us do have steam oven contraptions for sterilizing our soil if we wanted to go that route. It is the oven in the kitchen and we build a steam oven that operates inside that oven. I don't remember if it was @Emilya or someone else who mentioned using a turkey roaster for sterilizing. Putting the soil into the roaster and then putting the cover on and putting it into the oven. The moisture in the soil produces the steam and the steam speeds up the heating of the soil.

 

[safeman]

why cut corners - soil is our base !!!! along with good lighting and genetics are your 3 most important things

 

[TorturedSoul]

I just did a google search specifically looking at the history of gardeners, greenhouse operators and indoor growers that were sterilizing soil.

Most of us do have steam oven contraptions for sterilizing our soil if we wanted to go that route. It is the oven in the kitchen and we build a steam oven that operates inside that oven. I don't remember if it was @Emilya or someone else who mentioned using a turkey roaster for sterilizing. Putting the soil into the roaster and then putting the cover on and putting it into the oven. The moisture in the soil produces the steam and the steam speeds up the heating of the soil.

Oh. Thought maybe you had one. Also thought you were discussing the pressurized autoclave steam sterilization type ovens that inject steam at 250°F to 273°F for up to 15 minutes.

IDK how you could force steam through soil with a turkey roasting pan. But some of the creative solutions I see these days make me feel old, lol; I suppose the mind starts losing "flexibility" after age 40, and it's been years since I saw that particular number.

 

[nivek]

I haven't had a fungus gnat since I stopped using bagged soil I bought at the store.

this is the one possible reason to sterilize ones soil,, i did it regularly when i used soil. of course,, as soon as i added some new store bot soil to the mix i re infested my grow every time. it took me forever to figure out where the bugs were coming from.

i got spider mites that i had forever,, and i got sporadic infestations of thrips and gnats. i only ever saw one flying gnat actually

i finally got bug free by going hempy/perlite

important point,, bugs can come in store bot soil,, yep

but also from store bot peat moss,, and i have read that peat moss is more likely the culprit than soil,, but both are bad

 

[SmokingWings]

IDK how you could force steam through soil with a turkey roasting pan. But some of the creative solutions I see these days make me feel old, lol; I suppose the mind starts losing "flexibility" after age 40, and it's been years since I saw that particular number.

The turkey roaster just traps all the steam coming off the soil and that should speed the process up.

I understand the "flexibility of the human mind" thing. It has been decades since I saw that number, myself. Now-a-days I just blame all that loss of flexibility on the concept that my mind has become full of facts and trivia, and I keep adding to it every day. So full that I often cannot remember to keep it all sorted out like I could when I was in my 20s.