prepping potting soil for next season, would like better results

3 years ago

Hi:

My first container gardening attempt was a mixture of mediocrity and partial success.

Can someone confirm these are good steps to take for next year to reuse my potting soil?

1. mix all soil together, send sample to lab (see attached)

2. sterilize

3. mix some compost in, and additional perlite/pumice if necessary

4. Adjust soil mix pending lab analysis

I don't think I can do the sterilize part, it's beginning to cool off and sun now hiding behind overcast, max maybe 5-6 hours of direct sun. I'll probably have no choice but to skip. I've got extra contractor bags, think it's worth trying?

Results

- Tomatoes: two varieties grown one dwarf one indeterminate; all had thick huge vines, mushy fruit, first fruits had BER (which was fixed by second flowerings), and mutant vines growing from flower stems all point to nutrient imbalance in favor of too much nitrogen; tomatoes died prematurely, looks like blight or mildew; root systems when pulled from grow bags were mostly small and frail

- chili peppers: one variety has grown excellent (still flowering and harvesting!), another has large production with disappointingly small fruits and taking forever to ripen (should be 2-3 times larger, and I'm still waiting on these)

- garlic: very small cloves, never got to scape phase, but this could be that I used a hardneck variety that needs a lot of chill (I put cloves 3 weeks in fridge before planting)

- beets: small roots, wonderful leaves, all absolutely delicious; took forever

- pickling cucumbers: these were in ground, and my ground soil is very poor; limited production, yellow leaves, and severe mildew problems

- wala wala onions and black radishes: these were also in ground, which has poor soil, took forever to grow and both ended up small, bitter and very spicy

Almost everything above was grown in home-made "grow bags"; I bought spun landscape cloth and mom helped me sew bags ranging from about 4 gallons to 7 gallons. Soil was an attempted 5-1-1 mix, with less than 10% worm castings and neem seed meal thrown in. Fertilized once a week with texas tomato food per instructions; occasional fish/seaweed glop, and I also dissolved dolomite lime in vinegar and added this to watering ever 2-3 days.

In removing the old plants from the soil, I did best to remove roots, however, most were very fine and just ended up tearing and becoming part of the dirt.

I'd like to try some of this soil for some temperate/cool weather edibles. I'm in 10a, coastal southern california, and am thinking more onions, radishes, beets, and try some leafy greens. Anything else to give a go?

Thanks for reading :)

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Comments (4)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
If you are using the 5-1-1 mix in gro bags or entertainers, then no need to send it out for testing. 5-1-1 contains no actual soil so you are not testing anything that will provide any meaningful results.

I would not bother reusing if you suspect this seasons's plants had disease issues. It is likely too late to effectively solarize it and sterilization is a smelly and awkward process.

Otherwise, follow the instructions you can find here for properly formulating the 5-1-1, don't add worm castings (instead make a tea and use that when you water or fertilize) and just a decent all purpose liquid fertilizer with a full range of micronutrients
j
Original Author
3 years ago
If the recommendation is to toss the soil everytime there's a possibility of disease**.. there's gotta be a better way to do this. Sourcing the 5-1-1 components here is such a PITA. Maybe I should give hydroponics a try next year.

**I actually don't know if mine had disease, but based on what I've been reading in this forum and others, I think I had the same blight or other fungus that a lot of people seemed to be suffering from this year. Can I reuse the 5-1-1 with different vegetables? It was the tomatoes that potentially had the disease.
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chadinlg Zone 9b Los Gatos CA
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
If you are using organic fertilizers, don't sterilize the soil or there won't be any microbes left to break down the organics...

Grow bags are fine, but dry out too quickly for me (also in CA) and need to be watered daily or more. BER is often due to water issues not nutes. You can shade the grow bags and that will help some.

As long as your soil mix shows ability to drain, don't add more perlite or bark but do add compost (on top is OK if easier). This is what works well for me.

I'm not a big fan of 5-1-1 except in cases where the type of plant has very exacting requirements to prevent root rot. I prefer a more moisture retentive mix that includes compost.

Oh and as far as container size - I grow things like potatoes and tomatoes in at least a 15-20 gallon bag. I think your small bags may be part of your problem, especially in the summer.
j thanked chadinlg Zone 9b Los Gatos CA
j
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, @chadinlg Zone 9b Los Gatos CA

It's helpful to hear, I will look for compost sources here, and the soil looks like it's able to drain fine. Yeah, I had to water daily, but doing so helped me observe what was going on daily and learn. I am going to try reusing this soil, at least, for a winter crop and see what happens.

My descriptions of the situation were summarized and "averaged" to keep things simple. For example, one of the bags I used wasn't homemade, instead it was a beach bag that was probably around 15 gallons. The vine was one of the larger ones (exceeding 8ft in length), and produced the heaviest tomatoes. Vines grew from flower stems, one of the flushes exhibited extreme curling, and the first fruits had BER. All of this was corrected when I halted the fertilizing for two weeks, then reduced quantity, and supplemented with DL dissolved in vinegar. This particular plant also had a small root system, could easily fit into a 3 gallon container.

Nearly all my tomatoes exhibit the symptoms of too much nitrogen fertilizer noted here: https://extension.msstate.edu/content/what-causes-tomatoes-become-mealy-or-soft

prepping potting soil for next season, would like better results

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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prepping potting soil for next season, would like better results

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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