Do I need to totally change my soil every year?

Elliot · April 24, 2014

I plant in huge home depot green buckets. Last year I changed the soil using a combination of miracle grow potting soild and compost and manure. Its expensive. Question: Can I get away with adding or changing the top layers or do I need to empty out the entire buckets this and start fresh?

KarenO · April 24, 2014

Hello,

If you had no disease problems last year, go ahead and re-use your potting mix. I think most of us do. I moisten it, stir it up and top it up each year with fresh compost and granular slow release fertilizer and then plant as usual.
KarenO

Ed of Somis · April 24, 2014

this subject has been discussed in length on this site and others. Not all agree...but I tend to think like Karen. I usually re-use mine with new added. Like K said...no past diseases allowed.

bower · April 24, 2014

Like many others I recondition my container soils each year. I dig out the big roots in the fall and remove them as well as any aboveground tomato parts. Almost all fungal diseases survive on plant debris, so it's important to remove that. The small bits of root disappear pretty quickly if you have a few worms in the tub. I add fresh compost and chopped up kelp, a bit of lime if needed... ready to replant.

luigiwu · April 24, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elliot

I plant in huge home depot green buckets.

Curious, what do these buckets look like and what is 'huge?'

Stvrob · April 25, 2014

I just dump out the previous years container soil into a big wheel barrow/garden trailer in the early spring and spread it out in the sun and let it dry out a few weeks. I assume the UV and the drying helps zap at least some disease, in any case I haven't had bad problems doing it this way.

Elliot · May 15, 2014

they sell them in every Home Depot. They are green in color, plastic and its takes roughly 2 cu feet of miracle grow potting soil to fill one.

cythaenopsis · May 27, 2014

Are those the sub irrigated pots?

I'd bought 3 of them last year. They were fine for the season, but I discovered that UV exposure compromised the plastic. At the end of the season, one of them split in half. The other two were fine, but as I tried to prepare them more splits happened. Cheap is expensive, as they say.

April 24, 2014	#1
Elliot Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Hicksville, New York Posts: 503	Do I need to totally change my soil every year? I plant in huge home depot green buckets. Last year I changed the soil using a combination of miracle grow potting soild and compost and manure. Its expensive. Question: Can I get away with adding or changing the top layers or do I need to empty out the entire buckets this and start fresh?

May 27, 2014	#8
cythaenopsis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Hoboken, NJ USA Posts: 347	Are those the sub irrigated pots? I'd bought 3 of them last year. They were fine for the season, but I discovered that UV exposure compromised the plastic. At the end of the season, one of them split in half. The other two were fine, but as I tried to prepare them more splits happened. Cheap is expensive, as they say. __________________ I'm GardeningAloft.blogspot.com (container growing apartment dweller)

April 24, 2014	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	Hello, If you had no disease problems last year, go ahead and re-use your potting mix. I think most of us do. I moisten it, stir it up and top it up each year with fresh compost and granular slow release fertilizer and then plant as usual. KarenO

April 24, 2014	#3
Ed of Somis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Somis, Ca Posts: 649	this subject has been discussed in length on this site and others. Not all agree...but I tend to think like Karen. I usually re-use mine with new added. Like K said...no past diseases allowed.

April 24, 2014	#4
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	Like many others I recondition my container soils each year. I dig out the big roots in the fall and remove them as well as any aboveground tomato parts. Almost all fungal diseases survive on plant debris, so it's important to remove that. The small bits of root disappear pretty quickly if you have a few worms in the tub. I add fresh compost and chopped up kelp, a bit of lime if needed... ready to replant.

April 25, 2014	#6
Stvrob Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,413	I just dump out the previous years container soil into a big wheel barrow/garden trailer in the early spring and spread it out in the sun and let it dry out a few weeks. I assume the UV and the drying helps zap at least some disease, in any case I haven't had bad problems doing it this way.

May 15, 2014	#7
Elliot Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Hicksville, New York Posts: 503	they sell them in every Home Depot. They are green in color, plastic and its takes roughly 2 cu feet of miracle grow potting soil to fill one.