Did you know that you can easily make old soil fertile again – without any chemicals? Instead of throwing it away, we’ll show you an ingenious trick for turning depleted soil back into nutrient-rich soil with home remedies and little effort. Whether for balconies, gardens or potted plants: These tips will save you money and do something good for the environment. How to make old soil fertile again and ready for new plant growth!
If you try the following trick and recycle old potting soil, there are two things you should bear in mind:
- You should only reuse soil from healthy plants so that the new plants are not damaged.
- Of course, the soil must not be moldy.
Reuse old potting soil with a trick
Preparation
Before you can get started, you need to loosen up the old soil and remove any root fragments. Then it’s time to tackle the main problem: used potting soil is depleted. To make it nutrient-rich again, the first thing you need is biochar as a nutrient reservoir.
Make your own biochar
You can make charcoal yourself by charring dry logs, branches, sticks and leaves, for example. A fire bowl, a fireproof barrel, a kiln (a type of funnel) or an earth con-tiki (a special pit) are suitable for this.
To get the fire going, first light a few small pieces of wood or branches. Then gradually add the material you want to char. Each time, wait until a white layer of ash has formed before adding new fuel. Finally, douse everything with water and leave to cool. If you want to save time, you can of course also buy ready-to-use charcoal.
Other ingredients: Parts of plants or compost
The biochar is an ideal nutrient store, but without nutrients it won’t do you any good. You therefore need another source of nutrients: Shredded plant parts or compost, for example, are suitable for this.
Sauerkraut juice to activate
The last important ingredient you need is sauerkraut juice. It contains microorganisms that decompose the plants or compost and convert them into nutrients.
Homemade fertilizer
Mix the three ingredients (biochar – plant residues or compost – sauerkraut juice) into the first third of the old soil. Finally, moisten your homemade fertilizer and spread it over the remaining two thirds of the old soil.
Another tip: To make the most of the potential of potting soil, you should use new potting soil primarily for high-yielding plants (e.g. potatoes and tomatoes), which extract a lot of nutrients from the soil. You can use old soil preferably for medium- and low-yielding plants (e.g. carrots, radishes, lettuce).
Sources: facebook, focus, erntefibel
Preview images: ©Flickr/MissMessie
