Soil Problem

[<>AXLE<>]

Hello all,
I recently premixed my soil, foxfarmsoil with bone and blood meal with perlite also. I mixed the soil in a rubbermaid container and stored it in a basement. It is humid in the basement and the cantainer is not air tight, the soil has grown mold or something on the top, My question is if the soil is still useable or should I trash it and start over? Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[junit]

Happens to me... I still use it.. not sure if i should or not... But i just churn it up and leave the lid off with a fan around it (My bin is in the grow room)... The soil Dries out and No more mold Then you can put the lid back on.

 

[Guest]

i have battled too much mold to simply say "use it".... here goes.....

i have battled too much mold to simply say "use it".... here goes.....

you should be turning and mixing your compost pile every week at least. Inside, more frequently.

If it smells sour, safely dispose of it outside and try not to breath any in, i doubt it does tho, you have no uncomposted manures in there, or food products, i'd imagine...

whats in the bagged soil u bought?

if it is ocean forest, you goofed. Get the one that has just peat coco perlite vermiculite wetting agent and a pH buffer, NO COMPOST if you are mixing in dry ingredients.. if this is the case, go to HD and buy a bag of promix as it is the cheaper and more readily available pre-bagged soiless mix.

do not sow seeds/propagate cuttings in this moldy compost you are making, it may be fine for the mature transplants if you keep turning it, aerating the mix... Not doing so creates an anaerobic environment encouraging the growth of nasties...

If it's only been a few weeks ditch it and buy some promix to ammend, fox farm is pre-ferted usually, if you like their stuff look for "peace of mind" dry soil ammendments..and mix into perlite along with a complete round of ammendments, not just bone and blood. The point of a super-soil is not having to feed anything but water, without a complete mix to start you will find yourself missing primary and/or secondary elements and trying to water them in...which can lead to overfert./lockout/pH problems that you will not be able to fix, as bone and blood, are not easily flushed from the soil.

Beneficial bacteria is good, and what you want, you need to mix your pile and create an aerobic environment where beneficial micro-organisms can thrive. "Build the micro-herd"

If you don't like to look at mold, increase airflow.... no surface mold will grow if there is fresh air circulation constantly, as there is outside, hence outdoor compost piles.

hope this helps
cj

 

[Guest]

lol junit

The soil Dries out and No more mold

in an ideal world, yes.
In reality, when you water it will activate or, "wake-up" the mold and it will continue to grow. IE: you let it dry out, turned it, ok now you wet it and sow seeds or transplant seedlings to the mix, the mold, looking for a host, finds your taproot (which, by the way, tastes amazing, you should try it ) and goes to town... If it is that type of mold... there are millions of species of lower fungi that it could be, don't take the chance tho, as your "garden-variety" pot-farmer, i'm positive, can not differentiate a beneficial Trich. before sporulation to a mature colony of Hypomyces
cj

 

[KingRalph]

time to bake the soil. let's say 300 degrees for 30 minutes? not sure what's ideal, may need hotter to kill all remaining mold etc.

 

[Guest]

Thats what I used to do with my soil to kill any bacteria or fungi in it. I did it in the microwave. Its been so long now that I dont remember how long is did it for, but I do know you can bake it to get rid of mold and other such pests.

 

[<>AXLE<>]

Thanks for the advice all think I am gonna try baking the soil today. Will baking the soil kill the nutes in the soil? My thought behind premixing my soil and letting it sit for a few weeks before using it was that the mixture would kinda blend together and be easier for plants to take up the nutes, but I dont think I will be mixing siol till its time to use it.

CJ - I am using the FF soil that is an orange bag has only worm and bat sh t in it, not the ocean forest one.

I got to say I am glad I found this website everyone here is very helpful, Goodluck all and thanks again for the help.

 

[gift of gab]

If you cook the soil to kill the mold spores its gonna fry any goodies you got in the soil too. Anything organic is gonna be gone too. Ive never actually cooked my soil or even premix goodies into my soil so this is pure speculation on my part.

Im with captainjack, personally wouldn't grow with moldy soil. I would probably use it if I cooked it, but if it wasn't a whole lot I would probably just toss it in the back yard myself. Cooking soil sounds like alot of work to me, but Im pretty lazy, especially if Ive been smoking

 

[junit]

Kind of got that Cappy... lol... but i get the drift. I havent had a problem.... has never come back or hurt my plants... though ill watch out for it.

 

[sparobis]

no need for bone and blood meal with ffof ...its hot right outta the bag

 

[Guest]

The soil will be fine. Has happened to me before. The soil is full of good and bad microbes and fungi. Simply mix it up and let it do its thing. Keep the humidity down in your grow area and you should never have a problem.

 

[Magic Native]

1) from everything ive learned do not use if their is any presence of molds, how do u know if this is a mold that will harm or be of benefit. Unless u can afford the loss then hey up to you. But it probably wont end well and you most likely won't even know theirs a problem till later.
2) don't bake soils.. Yes it may kill bacteria's in the soil that are problematic but your going to fry the good one and destroy all the good ones as well. Plus you will fry any nutrient value this soil may have had.. The most important part is that by doing this you will also make the soil say 0% of soil bacteria either good or bad right.. Well the problem their isn't going to be right away either. Bad bacteria will be able to come back and form in this new "0%" and will be able to thrive and grow without anything to stand against it.. Eventually they can and will take over.. And once you've gotten a plant to grow your going to hate finding out its trash because of a large number of problems you didn't see coming. Or it'll just straight do before ever getting their.. Either way what's the loss in spending another$10-$20 bucks on newer soil or making a new batch from what's left.. Whatever you do good luck hope it works out