Planning my next grow. Looking ahead and making sure I’m all set up for when my first plants are done.
Do you start with fresh soil/perilite? Can you dry out, mix/stir up and break up previous plant roots to use the same soil again? Is there an upside or downside to doing this? Better or worse for the next grow?
Thoughts?
I recycle my soil a couple of rounds before tossing it. Make sure to recharge it before using. I usually get lucky and am able to just mix dry amendments in and everything will take off in a week or so… i use coast of maine and their dry amendments @Herbication
I’ve reused soil for as long as 2 years and it was still going strong. I just thought it was about time to replace it.
If you have the space to keep twice the number of pots than you use you can just keep it moist while you are growing in the second set of pots and the micro life will completely break down all the roots from the previous plant. If not you can pull out the bigger roots and leave the rest they will break down during the grow feeding the plant as they break down.
I have to do the latter now and it works great. Simply add some good compost and/or 
whichever you prefer and some perlite because the perlite drakes down a little during a grow. I also add a little micro life and of course my dry veg amendments. All this goes back into a clean pot watered and allowed to cook for 2-4 weeks. I prep my pots wait about 5 days then drop my seeds for the next grow. By the time the seedlings are ready to go into the pots it’s been around 2 weeks since preparing the pots
If you click on my Homer then again on my featured topic you will be magically teleported over to my page and there’s a lot of information on how I do my soil and plants. Also feel free to @ me anytime I’ll do my best to help
Happy growing
@Herbication great question
I use COM Bar Harbor and will reuse it 3 or 4 times before putting it in the vegetable garden. After a grow is over I pull out the root ball and discard. Let it dry and then break all the clumps up, storing it in 20 gallon totes. Before using it, mix in worm caste, mushroom compost and water. I let it start “cooking” and then fill the 10 gallon bags and transplant the plant… Been working fine for 3 years now.
This ^^^^ i do the same. I use Stonington Blend
I am like @MeEasy and reuse for years. This batch has over 2 on it. The original worms i tossed in still thrive. All my pruning goes back in. I will add perlite and some worm dookie. Some fish shit. My dry ammendments. Life and cook as he does. I have a big assed bin of black gold just sitting becoming pure joy at all times. I also cook in bag a bit before planting. Mixing up a good biome kills its connections forcing it to start over. Hence the no till route suggested by most University programs.