Live Stoner Chat Is it ok to reuse soil ?

lining the bottom of the pots made no difference , prolly due to my pro-mix being very airy anyway

peace

I've always been off the opinion that lining the bottom of the pot with stones has no real benefit in the vast majority of situations. People think it will help with drainage but mixing the stones in with the soil helps with the drain a hundred times more. It can help if you're using something like Autopots or some other bottom feeding type of system.
 
I've always been off the opinion that lining the bottom of the pot with stones has no real benefit in the vast majority of situations. People think it will help with drainage but mixing the stones in with the soil helps with the drain a hundred times more. It can help if you're using something like Autopots or some other bottom feeding type of system.

it does help with actual dirt and house plants , but when useing a good quality soil or soiless that is already airy it showed no benefit whatsoever

as for mixing anything big , stones or hydrotron etc throughout your soil/soiless , thats not an advisable method , it creates an inconsistent medium , its best to use smaller perlite that mixes evenly , and if you want it really really airy you just use more , it still remains consistent throughout , so long as you mix well , a big rock here n there can not

peace
 
I agree perlite in soil is the best.

I don't see how having stones at the bottom of a pot of regular soil you'd buy from any home and garden store for house plants is going to have any benefit. I used to put stones in the bottom of house plant pots myself ages ago but once I thought about it for a while I don't see how it's going to help. The general school of thought is that stones at the bottom of the pot helps with drainage. As long as your pot has enough holes in the bottom of it, the best thing to aid drainage is to mix perlite in with the soil. Putting stones in the bottom of a pot with lots of drainage holes is going to have little or no benefit in my opinion. Let me know what your opinion is. Not sure why stones in the bottom are of benefit, enlighten me :)
 
I always theorized that stones at the bottom (in addition to improving drainage) would also work as aeration to the roots, b/c the roots grow in and out and through the stones and receive plenty of air down there. Also possibly facilitate self-pruning as it hits the air as they grow through the stones, similar to air and smart pots?

What about a layer of perlite at the bottom? I've tried this thinking it would have same benifits as using stones plus better nutrient uptake in that zone being a soiless medium.

IDK though, I could (and probably am) completely wrong.
 
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I always theorized that stones at the bottom (in addition to improving drainage) would also work as aeration to the roots, b/c the roots grow in and out and through the stones and receive plenty of air down there. Also possibly facilitate self-pruning as it hits the air as they grow through the stones, similar to air and smart pots?

What about a layer of perlite at the bottom? I've tried this thinking it would have same benifits as using stones plus better nutrient uptake in that zone being a soiless medium.

IDK though, I could (and probably am) completely wrong.

what you are mentioning is completely true with a more "dirt" based medium , especially since the bottom of a pot of dirt is like mud

i dunno if anything benefits an already airy medium

peace
 
Great bunch of replies :)

I use organic nutes (Plant Magic), i'm thinking maybe if i do a half-and-half mix of old and new soil it may be ok.

On the other hand i don't want to risk it and have a crap grow!

May just stick to new soil, i've got plenty left i buy 50L at a time but i was curious.


Thanks,

steely
 
ive seen many times where growers who grow 100% organic claim the used soil performs better

i dont know that from personal experience though so dont take it as gospel

peace
 
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