I'll ask my question first and put the setup later for those that don't want to read a crazy, rambling TLDR post.
Is it safe to reuse recycled, amended, 'tilled' (dumped and mixed) soil again if the plants that grew in it had botrytis and or PM? Do they stay dormant in the soil or are those just a systemic plant issue that comes in from the plant as a whole and leave when it's removed?
Just a little pre-setup here. This year will be my 3rd cycle using a basic coots mix style 3 part mix with amendments. I use 15 gal fabric pots that don't really seem ideal for notil and I have some reservations about notil despite not trying it. I generally pull the top of the rootball out and leave a lot of the feeder roots in, dump the containers out on a tarp and add some more compost and cover for the winter. Then I would amend and check moisture/water if necessary in the late winter early spring.
Last year's harvest was less than the first year but I didn't train my plants at all and neglected them due to some serious depression and crazy stuff during the initial outbreak of the pandemic. The quality was better last year though, possibly due to selecting better strains. This year I've got some local genetics for outdoor specifically, some that finish early as August, and Mid/Late September for the latest since rainforest BC climate is always ripe for PM and botrytis in October.
Last year, I also was gifted some feminized seeds and decided to try them for fun and as to not offend the person who gave them to me. They were supposed to be White Rhino and GSC. Clearly, they were selected indoors not meant to be grown outdoor or at least in my climate. The girl scout cookies plants mostly died (5 of 6) and the one survivor was the worst plant I've ever grown in my 6 seasons. Like I've done infinitely better with a bagseed and blue crystal 20/20/20 lol... The White Rhino was... okay (6/6 germ and all vegged to be able to be finished and gave a couple away) but really susceptible to PM and botrytis and one even had black sooty mould/mildew in addition to the other two which I've never seen on cannabis I've grown before. I threw that plant out entirely. For the others, I just tried to manage the PM and cutting out any botrytis and then generally emergency harvesting to not waste all my efforts entirely. The good genetics had just minor amounts of botrytis and no PM.
I dumped the 13x15gals into a big 200+ gallon pile after adding more compost but left the 6 containers sitting, still to this day, that had the disease issues. No pest issues mind you.
Should I make a separate pile and use it with caution or just dump it into compost or vegetable garden beds? Or fire it off into the sun and never touch it again (hopefully not needed)
I'm going to try to upgrade to 30 gallons pots (maybe a couple 50 or 100 also) so I will likely need to mix more soil this year but the more I can recycle the better obviously.
Thanks in advance for any replies or advice. Have a good day.
Is it safe to reuse recycled, amended, 'tilled' (dumped and mixed) soil again if the plants that grew in it had botrytis and or PM? Do they stay dormant in the soil or are those just a systemic plant issue that comes in from the plant as a whole and leave when it's removed?
Just a little pre-setup here. This year will be my 3rd cycle using a basic coots mix style 3 part mix with amendments. I use 15 gal fabric pots that don't really seem ideal for notil and I have some reservations about notil despite not trying it. I generally pull the top of the rootball out and leave a lot of the feeder roots in, dump the containers out on a tarp and add some more compost and cover for the winter. Then I would amend and check moisture/water if necessary in the late winter early spring.
Last year's harvest was less than the first year but I didn't train my plants at all and neglected them due to some serious depression and crazy stuff during the initial outbreak of the pandemic. The quality was better last year though, possibly due to selecting better strains. This year I've got some local genetics for outdoor specifically, some that finish early as August, and Mid/Late September for the latest since rainforest BC climate is always ripe for PM and botrytis in October.
Last year, I also was gifted some feminized seeds and decided to try them for fun and as to not offend the person who gave them to me. They were supposed to be White Rhino and GSC. Clearly, they were selected indoors not meant to be grown outdoor or at least in my climate. The girl scout cookies plants mostly died (5 of 6) and the one survivor was the worst plant I've ever grown in my 6 seasons. Like I've done infinitely better with a bagseed and blue crystal 20/20/20 lol... The White Rhino was... okay (6/6 germ and all vegged to be able to be finished and gave a couple away) but really susceptible to PM and botrytis and one even had black sooty mould/mildew in addition to the other two which I've never seen on cannabis I've grown before. I threw that plant out entirely. For the others, I just tried to manage the PM and cutting out any botrytis and then generally emergency harvesting to not waste all my efforts entirely. The good genetics had just minor amounts of botrytis and no PM.
I dumped the 13x15gals into a big 200+ gallon pile after adding more compost but left the 6 containers sitting, still to this day, that had the disease issues. No pest issues mind you.
Should I make a separate pile and use it with caution or just dump it into compost or vegetable garden beds? Or fire it off into the sun and never touch it again (hopefully not needed)
I'm going to try to upgrade to 30 gallons pots (maybe a couple 50 or 100 also) so I will likely need to mix more soil this year but the more I can recycle the better obviously.
Thanks in advance for any replies or advice. Have a good day.
