Can You Reuse Your Potting Soil? Probably, And Here's How: LSU Garden News

Being sensible isn't a bad idea. Whether it's about protecting the environment or being financially conscious, we gardeners can make choices to save money and resources.

Another option is to reuse potting soil. Many home gardeners today grow and grow annual plants, herbs and vegetables in containers, but these plants complete their life cycle in one year. If the plants are healthy and die at the end of their life, the pots and covers can be reused and replaced with plants of the following season.

Remove dead plants and large roots from the pot and fill it with new media or amend the soil for reuse.

Photo by Heather Kirk Ballard

When it's time to clean and store the pots, you need to do something about the soil that will be used. While most people throw soil in the trash, it can be used in many other ways. First, the soil can be easily used to fill holes in the garden or to add flower beds and other plants. The soil can be spread thinly on the lawn or added to compost.

There are some good caveats and reasons against reusing flooring. If plants die from bacterial, fungal or viral diseases, you should not rehabilitate the soil, because soil-borne pathogens may still be alive and active. However, reuse of potting soil is generally acceptable if the plants already growing in the soil are healthy.

One way to ensure that the soil is clean is to sterilize it, and there are many ways to do this. One is to heat the soil in the sun and the other is to heat it in an oven or microwave.

Start by removing any dead plants and removing used potting soil into a container to collect large root colonies and larvae or insects. If you want to sterilize the soil in the sun, put the soil in an airtight plastic bag or plastic container with a lid. Close the bag or bucket and leave it in the sun for 4-6 weeks.

The heat of the sun kills all the pathogens in the soil. Heat also increases the rate of soil decomposition. As such, it's a good idea to add some compost or other types of soil amendments that can replenish organic matter.

The second method is to heat the earth in the oven. It can leave a room with an earthy smell, so keep that in mind. Be sure to remove any insects and place the ground in an oven covered with tin foil. Bake at 175 to 200 F for 30 minutes. You can also microwave 2 pounds of soil in a microwave-safe bowl on full power for 90 seconds.

Now that your soil is clean, you can use it again. We recommend filling any ingredients used in the sterilization process. You can do this by adding compost and other amendments to the soil.

Here's a short list of common soil amendments you'll find at your local nursery or garden center: compost, peat moss, mycelium, potting soil, compost, vermicompost, wood ash, mushroom compost, biochar, and more. .

In addition to adding organic matter, you can increase the amount of layers by adding new potting soil from 1 to 3 (1 part new to three parts old). You can also renew old covers with sphagnum moss, which has a coarse texture, helps good air circulation and has excellent water retention capacity, but in small quantities.

You can add sand to improve drainage and aeration, but do so carefully, because the sand can weigh down the material. Perlite is another soil amendment that drains well and is lighter than sand. Finally, vermiculite can be used to improve soil aeration, nutrient and water holding capacity.

Reusing topsoil gives new meaning to the term cheap soil. There are many ways to reuse potting soil. Save a few dollars so you can buy more plants!