Question for those that reuse substrate...

[RJG2]

... what do you do about small roots and other debris that makes it through your sifting?

Do you just pick out as much as possible? Do you not worry about it?

I spread a bunch out on a tarp today to dry/disinfect in the sun and was thinking about going over it lightly with a leaf blower...

 

[yashu]

I will do the wheat and chaff trick if the weather cooperates. You need some air movement anywhere between a light breeze and a reasonable wind. Slowly pour the sifted material from one bucket into another. The substrate mostly falls down and the organic stuff mostly blows away. You might be able to simulate this effect with a household fan. I haven’t tried it but I bet it works.

 

[RJG2]

I will do the wheat and chaff trick if the weather cooperates. You need some air movement anywhere between a light breeze and a reasonable wind. Slowly pour the sifted material from one bucket into another. The substrate mostly falls down and the organic stuff mostly blows away. You might be able to simulate this effect with a household fan. I haven’t tried it but I bet it works.

I like it, good idea!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Over here the media is water washed in a wheelbarrow, then washed through a colander. After that I heat the media to 450F/90min. Cool, sift, add akadama and or biochar as needed.

We heat to hasten turnaround time and ensure absolutely no pathogens survive… important out here. Process works superlatively, but keep the exhaust fan on!

Last batch 4 gal.


Todays batch, just washed. Likely 3 gal.,



@leatherback accumulates media over time, waits for hot sunny days, dries, sifts and reuses. He’s got a video of his process here. One can also find an ever growing collection of videos on his site. Well done and in some cases successive videos showing progress over time of projects.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I rinse it a couple times and that should be it.
If there are pathogens in there, that killed my plants, then I just don't recycle it. I try to rotate the crop that'll be in there though.

But I keep the bits and pieces. It's extra carbon.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I try to get out the fine roots as much as possible, let it dry in the sun, then cook it on medium/high heat on my gas grill. This will cook off a lot of the organic matter in the soil so I add that back using sifted, composted pine bark.

 

[leatherback]

@leatherback accumulates media over time, waits for hot sunny days, dries, sifts and reuses. He’s got a video of his process here. One can also find an ever growing collection of videos on his site. Well done and in some cases successive videos showing progress over time of projects.

Yes! He does!

 

[bonsaichile]

I rinse it a couple times and that should be it.
If there are pathogens in there, that killed my plants, then I just don't recycle it. I try to rotate the crop that'll be in there though.

But I keep the bits and pieces. It's extra carbon.

I do this too, and really don't sweat it if there is some small amount of organics in the recycled mix

 

[Oleg]

Heat to 350 in oven until bone dry, fill a bucket with water and let the hose run at the bottom. As it over flows add dry dirty old substrate slowly and the dry organics sit on top and are washed over the side as it overflows. Have a small sieve to skim the top occasionally, it's fast and does a great job, uses a lot of water though.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I use a wheelbarrow for the rinsing process, most of the roots and woods float to the top. The organics are mostly gone once the media is poured from the wheelbarrow to through the sieve. The last bits left in the wheelbarrow are usually broken down lava and Akadama.

Once in the oven any residual wood becomes low grade charcoal as an added bonus.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[luvinthemountains]

Once in the oven

Now having a mild panic attack realizing I forgot to sanitize my re-used substrate before repotting a couple of maples. Crossing fingers...

My lackadaisical approach (seeing a theme here) has been to pick out what chunks of root, moss and other detritus I can see by hand and not worry too much about the rest.

 

[RJG2]

Thanks everyone for the tips. So far I'm only reusing some for trees in development, so I wasn't super worried about it.

Good sized pumice is getting hard to come by here, so I wanted to see what everyone that reuses substrate was doing.