Can Compost be Re-used

Jerseygirl55

We are planning to grow, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Lettuce and Toms in Potato Bags and Veg Bags ( from Homebase )
We have bought Home base Multi Purpose Compost
after the growing season do we discard the compost or can we re-use it next year

as you can probably guess, this year is our first attempt

cheers

Jerseygirl

Green_Aura

You can re-use it as long as it's not obviously diseased - mouldy looking, foul-smelling.

A good practice would be to use it for something from a different family e.g. if you used it for growing spuds, don't use it to grow potatoes, tomatoes or peppers.

mcspanna

Hi jerseygirl,

The usual advice is to discard it after the year; when I say discard, you could always spread it on your flower borders to 're-use' it...having said that, I gow veg in planters and have grown veg for 2 years without changing the compost but I'll more than likely change it this year - also, if you do try using it for 2 years, don't put the same type of plant in the same place 2 years running as you will be tempting fate with diseases.

HTH

olly300

It's not a good idea to reuse compost for food crops as:
1. The compost is depleted of nutrients
2. Most importantly there is a risk of passing pests and diseases to the new crops you are growing

Either:
1. Put it on flower beds where you are not to bothered about the plants
2. Take it to the local tip for land fill

If it was a small amount I would say you could sterilise it in a microwave but as it isn't you only really have the 2 choices I've outlined above.

stilernin

If you are using large containers you could probably dig out just the top 50% of compost and replace with fresh. Particularly if you are growing shallow rooted crops like lettuce, radish, beetroot, dwarf beans etc.

HariboJunkie

olly300 wrote: »

It's not a good idea to reuse compost for food crops as:
1. The compost is depleted of nutrients
2. Most importantly there is a risk of passing pests and diseases to the new crops you are growing

Either:
1. Put it on flower beds where you are not to bothered about the plants
2. Take it to the local tip for land fill

If it was a small amount I would say you could sterilise it in a microwave but as it isn't you only really have the 2 choices I've outlined above.

I use a 3 bed rotation system so I just add the required nutrients to the compost plus some leaf mould and new compost and make sure that the same veg is not planted in the same spot twice.

If I do remove any compost from the beds I use it in my patio pots and window boxes.

Lotus-eater

olly300 wrote: »

2. Take it to the local tip for land fill

<rant on> Right you want someone to drive to the garden centre, grow a (very) few crops in the bought compost, then drive to the tip to dump it?? Very good idea, if we all did that, we wouldn't need to worry about huge farms using up vast amounts of oil producing our food, we'd all be doing it ourselves <rant off>

Firstly, if you have any garden soil, put it on there and then grow some of your food in the ground.
If you haven't got any soil, grow a different crop in it for next year, learn about crop rotation.
Compost in buckets is no different to the soil in the ground, it need nutrients replacing and needs to be kept damp. Ideally it should be on the ground, its much easier to do those things there.
Add some poultry pellets to it and grow something else in it.
If you really must get rid of it, give it to a gardening neighbour, I'm sure they would be more than happy to get free soil conditioner.

olly300

Lotus-eater wrote: »

<rant on> Right you want someone to drive to the garden centre, grow a (very) few crops in the bought compost, then drive to the tip to dump it?? Very good idea, if we all did that, we wouldn't need to worry about huge farms using up vast amounts of oil producing our food, we'd all be doing it ourselves <rant off>

Not everyone who grows crops has a garden with beds or a neighbour who will take the compost of them.

I personally dump my soil in the garden unless I have grown something with massive roots then I have to take it to the tip.

Solomon_Broad

Make sure it's clean before you reuse it. I once spread vine weevil all through the garden by reusing compost. :eek:

Lotus-eater

I can't understand any reason to take compost to the tip unless it has a plant disease in it.
What on earth would you grow that has roots that either you can't take out and compost, (dry or drown them first if you want) or that wouldn't break down if put out into the garden?

Larumbelle

I reuse my compost, and think you'd be mad not to. At the end of the day, it's just broken down organic matter... any roots left in it are going to break down into organic matter too! You do need to observe basic garden hygeine, practise crop rotation and be aware of any diseases/infections/infestations, but I agree with Lotus-Eater, to routinely dispose of compost after a single use is utter madness! It's decidedly unsustainable and has the potential to wreak as much environmental damage as buying shop-bought veg - and to push the price it costs to produce some crops up there with supermarket prices too!