[earthing83]

This might seem like an obvious question but I'm only in my second year so it's not to me!
When is it OK/not OK  to re use compost from containers that have been used previously? I have bags of compost that potatoes/house plants/annual flowers etc have grown in either last year or for a few years. Is it just a case of adding more nutrients and re using?

[Paul Plots]

I think it very much depends upon what you want to reuse it for...and maybe what it was previously used for.. :blink:

Ideal for topping up tubs for flowers, sprinkling on and around other plants as a mulch.

Not so sure I would want to try it out for seed compost... bacteria and other nasties will most likely damage new seedlings.

Most of ours is added to the compost heap and makes its way into the garden borders for shrub and flower planting. (Not very adventurous )

[earthing83]

Thanks for your advice learner.  I hadn't thought of adding it the compost, at least then,as you say, it will end up back in the garden. It's the old potato compost (grew them in bags) that I am not sure about. I am thinking along the lines of crop rotation in veg gardening that helps to prevent pest build up etc, so I'm guessing therefore that it make sense not to reuse it for potatoes again, but that it'll prob be fine for something else (once improved a bit)

[Elcie]

I use mine for the chickens to dust bathe in!

[BostonInbred]

It'll be full of fine roots and root hairs. You could mix it with some of soil conditioner such as dried farm manure, or mix it about 4:1 with compost off the compost heap and use it for potting on, or for hanging baskets, but by far and away the best use is to use it as bulker on the compost heap with layers of horse poo and rotting veg.

[Paul Plots]

It'll be full of fine roots and root hairs. You could mix it with some of soil conditioner such as dried farm manure, or mix it about 4:1 with compost off the compost heap and use it for potting on, or for hanging baskets, but by far and away the best use is to use it as bulker on the compost heap with layers of horse poo and rotting veg.

No poo in our compost thank you.... we are totally orgasmic organic 

[mumofstig]

manure doesn't stop you being organic, does it?

you just have to be careful where you get it from surely

[Paul Plots]

manure doesn't stop you being organic, does it?

you just have to be careful where you get it from surely

Too true..... I'm sure there's nothing quite as organic as good farm-yard muck 

It's just that we have two huge big compost heaps and fill them easily during the course of year... no need to add manure for general garden purposes and we'd run out of space in the compost heaps too quickly....

Also.....happy to avoid the nasty residuals that some peoples ground suffered from after they'd added tainted manure....

[BostonInbred]

It'll be full of fine roots and root hairs. You could mix it with some of soil conditioner such as dried farm manure, or mix it about 4:1 with compost off the compost heap and use it for potting on, or for hanging baskets, but by far and away the best use is to use it as bulker on the compost heap with layers of horse poo and rotting veg.

No poo in our compost thank you.... we are totally orgasmic organic  

Definition of 'organic' in respect to growing food:

Under organic production, the use of conventional non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides is greatly restricted and saved as a last resort. However, contrary to popular belief, certain non-organic fertilizers are still used. If livestock are involved, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones, and generally fed a healthy diet. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified. It has been suggested that the application of nanotechnology to food and agriculture is a further technology that needs to be excluded from certified organic food.  The Soil Association has been the first organic certifier to implement a nano-exclusion.

Cant get more organic than poo from grass fed horses.

[Paul Plots]

It'll be full of fine roots and root hairs. You could mix it with some of soil conditioner such as dried farm manure, or mix it about 4:1 with compost off the compost heap and use it for potting on, or for hanging baskets, but by far and away the best use is to use it as bulker on the compost heap with layers of horse poo and rotting veg.

No poo in our compost thank you.... we are totally orgasmic organic  

Definition of 'organic' in respect to growing food:

Under organic production, the use of conventional non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides is greatly restricted and saved as a last resort. However, contrary to popular belief, certain non-organic fertilizers are still used. If livestock are involved, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones, and generally fed a healthy diet. In most countries, organic produce may not be genetically modified. It has been suggested that the application of nanotechnology to food and agriculture is a further technology that needs to be excluded from certified organic food.  The Soil Association has been the first organic certifier to implement a nano-exclusion.

Cant get more organic than poo from grass fed horses.

Fank you for that information....... sounds very technical.... I think I'll just stick to bunging on the old green-stuff and prunings 

[Kristen]

This might seem like an obvious question but I'm only in my second year so it's not to me!
When is it OK/not OK  to re use compost from containers that have been used previously? I have bags of compost that potatoes/house plants/annual flowers etc have grown in either last year or for a few years. Is it just a case of adding more nutrients and re using?

I put spent compost into bags for reuse.

I reuse to fill the bottom of tubs and urns (I add water retaining gel, to bottom 1/2 only - otherwise it comes to the surface and blows away! - and some whole-season fertilizer granules, as the spent compost will be ... spent!)

I mix it with about 1/3rd sharp sand to grow carrots in containers

I use it to pot up things like Garlic and Broad beans - where the seeds / plants are strong and unlikely to need too much mollycoddling

For seeds I use only John Innes (which is a formulation, containing soil, rather than a brand) Seed Compost - which I sieve first - I don't know how the manufacturers think that twigs etc are OK!

From pricking out to potting on I use a newly purchased general purpose compost, and all failures /root balls at end of season / etc. get bagged for re-use.

My Potato containers / bags have a layer of well rotted manure at the bottom, and then earthed up with half soil : half spent compost (nice and friable). This, and any spent compost / root balls from Tomatoes etc. goes where the outdoor Potatoes were that season - so it keeps all the same-species bugs in one place.

I used to put the spent compost on the compost heap, but I find it more useful to keep it separate now.

[sclarke624]

I do because I am a tight wad.  But if you use it for nuturing seedlings indoors its difficult to tell if you are giving TLC to a weed or a veg germination.  I have made the mistake of lovingly careing for a seed sprout only to find its a weed. LOL.

[BostonInbred]

I do because I am a tight wad.  But if you use it for nuturing seedlings indoors its difficult to tell if you are giving TLC to a weed or a veg germination.  I have made the mistake of lovingly careing for a seed sprout only to find its a weed. LOL.

Yes, its potentially full of seeds, root hairs and root particles, you cant really use to to grow anything in without killing all the unwanteds off. Thats why i use it mainly as a bulker for horse poo compost.

[JayG]

I certainly wouldn't re-use potting compost for its original purpose for all the reasons given in previous posts (even if you add nutrients to it).

Just use it as a soil conditioner as you would home-made compost because it's a very similar humus-rich but relatively nutrient-poor material.

[solway cropper]

I always try to get two crops from each compost-filled container but I do mix my own with shop-bought growbag stuff plus the home made variety and a bit of soil. At the moment I have first early spuds in fish boxes which will be followed by beetroot or salad crops. After that it goes onto the heap or gets used as a mulch. One of the big benefits of growing your own is realizing that just about anything can be recycled.