Do you reuse/recycle your mix?

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi all, when I used to repot, the waste soil was generally only reused in grow pots, or if there was too many roots it went on the garden bed or chucked (at that time I used store bought bag mix), but since graduating to my own bonsai mix over the last couple of years I am now finding after repotting I'm left with mix that still has decent structure and can be regraded (sieved) and potentially combined back into a new mix. My main hesitation is that their is fragments of old feeder roots - so, are these safe to be in a mix, do they just decompose and treated like other organic material in the mix (like pine bark, spag moss or coco peat)? or could they cause rotting or disease?

Thanks, Ryan

[kcpoole]

Did not vote at all as my option is not there
Wash Re-use 100% of my mix and the only time I use fresh stuff is when I am starting too run low, then top up the barrel.

Ken

[fae]

Same as Ken as I use the same mix as his.

Prior to this I would recycle old mix (minus roots )into grow pots.

Fiona

[Meagi]

Thanks Ryan
For this thread I've often wondered what was the best thing to do.

[FatMingsBonsai]

I chuck them in my wife's vegie garden

Cheers.

[Guy]

reuse after spreading and checking for nasties(making sure any worms end up in the worm farm), drying and sieving

[Damian Bee]

Unless the mix has had little growth development i will reuse without seiving. If a plant has been growing for more than half a year in any pot I will seive out the fine roots and dust.
I would not re-use on the same genus like the Rhodies for example.
If there is any sign of trouble it goes to the wheelie bin.

[Isitangus]

I still use potting mix (combined with perlite and zeolite) and I reuse my mix. I also mulch anything that's not in a bonsai pot so when I reuse there is a good amount of compost etc. I do add fresh mix with the old mix. Right or wrong = not sure

[deejay335]

I have always made up fresh mix but have often wondered if I could reuse some. This year the $$$ added up to a huge amount to repot so am interested to follow this thread re opinions on how good an idea it is. All my old mix goes straight into the chook pen; they deal with any bugs etc that were in it, they seem to eat any organic matter like roots etc and the stone mix in the bottom of the pen is good for that soil as well. Every year or so in September I dig out a load of 'chook shed soil' and top dress under the lemon trees; read somewhere it was good for them and seems to go well. My labour is free to me, so time taken to seive out the mix wouldn't be a problem.

[Josh]

Did not vote at all as my option is not there
Wash Re-use 100% of my mix and the only time I use fresh stuff is when I am starting too run low, then top up the barrel.

Ken

I agree Ken. Now that I'm not using the cheap crap it still has good structure and nothing wrong with from a mix point of view. If any tree shows any sign of a problem the mix is tossed.

Josh.

[Biofusion]

I reuse my mix, the only
Problem is, you have to have a refined and solid mix that stays the same in order to have continuity across the mix.

For instance if you change the amount of any of the components in the mix, for instance increase the amount of zeolite or diatomite, then reusing this mix won't result in the ratios you want.

I tend to use reused mix for collected material, as it is usually general mix of 30% diatomite 20% zeolite and the rest organic.

I replace what organic I need when I repot, and if it doesn't look open enough ill add extra of the inorganic.

When I refine a mix for a tree I'll start off with a formulated mix with brand new material, and then reside this every time I repot.

Unless of course I experience problems with the mix or tree, then I'll use fresh mix and exchange it if I need to.

In most cases I don't have an issue keeping it at the same ratios in pots I have decided on a mix formulation as the organic usually breaks down almost completely, or at least to a point where I can wash it out.

If I have recorded the amount of other material in that mix, then I can then alter the amount of each by adding more of one of more aggregates to change the inorganic component ratios and then add the organic I need.

[shibui]

Fresh mix for all bonsai pots and sale pots. The only place I use recycled mix is poly boxes for growing on seedlings of tough species. Any old mix is used to grow vege seedlings, terrestrial orchids or sent to the vege garden or grow beds.

Recycling mix will eventually cause buildup of weeds, pests and disease. Small growers will get away with it for longer but the more plants you have the greater the chance of recycling something nasty and the greater the consequences. ALWAYS discard all mix from plants that have died or show signs of pest or disease. I have seen Pup comment several times that the cost of fresh materials is minor compared to the value of the plants.

Small quantities of mix can be sterilised in a microwave. I treat 4 litres at a time on full for 10 min. Temp should go above 72C to kill most problems.

[daiviet_nguyen]

Scoria does not break down easily!

Diatomite does, but slowly.

I cannot see why we should chuck all that out?

I sieve and re-use them. I divide my mix into three particle sizes as per the sieves. Anything fell through the finest sieve get chuck out.

I do not know worry much about the left over fine feeder roots in the recycled mix, they are just organic.

The problem is the weed stuff: we cannot never clean them all out.

[Dario]

I have been reusing my mix for the first time this season...bit of work but saves $.
My mix has coco peat and some fine roots and fert bulid up.
So I first dump it in a container and fill with water to cover it, mix it with a stick and skim the surface to remove muck and coco peat etc that floats to the top. I repeat that a few times till surface muck is pretty much gone. Then I tip water out and add clean water and repeat (tip all water out) to get the crap at the bottom out. I use a piece of shade cloth when removing water to stop the mix from falling out of the container.
On the bottom of the mixing stick I hammer a few nails close together and find that when I am stirring through the mix, a lot of the roots get caught around the nails so I can remove them more easily.
I then sift it whilst washing it with water via the hose (the same as I do with fresh diatomite). The set up I use is a wooden frame with shade cloth nailed to it. I then have one of those large round sifters from B'ings that I hold above the frame with the mix in it.. With a bit of shaking and the water from the hose it cleans and separates the smaller particles that collect on top of the shade cloth.
This further cleans it and divides it into bigger and smaller particles.
I then dry it and it is ready to be reused. When it is spread out flat on a tarp and drying I pick out any obvious bits of root if any still remains. But I don't worry too much as it is organic matter and don't reuse mix if a tree was unhealthy and died for a reason that I am not aware of (if tree died because of summer heat and not enough water because I was away etc, ok to reuse mix).
Cheers, Dario.

[fiveoffive]

I use it once then place into a Big Big (grow bed ).
I use the grow bed as a spot to put my bonsai soil and then mix in poo. cow, horse and chook, blood and bone.
after mixing and watering and all the normal turning of the bed over a year i find it to be great.
full of worms and ready for pots.

If you have the space / time i think you can make it as good or better then the day you got it from the shop.