last years gro bags

Question

What do you recommend doing with last years grow bags. Used in green house for tomatoes and will purchase new bags for this years tomatoes. How to utlise the contents of last years grow bags – ie should they go on this years raised bads, go in the compost bin or go to the tip. Any ideas would be helpful.

Answer 1

The decision on how to re-use grow bags and potting mix is determined by how old the mix is and whether any of your plants in the bags were diseased. If there was disease, put the soil in the trash. To prepare the bags for cleaning, empty the potting mix and let the bag dry for a day or two then brush it to remove debris. Grow bags holding diseased plants should be thoroughly cleaned with a soapy solution and 10% bleach by volume or other sanitizer. Non-diseased bags do not need sanitizer. Some fabric pots are washing machine safe. Rinse and dry well.
Potting mix deteriorates slowly and can be re-used another year, possibly two. Remove stems and roots left in the soil. Mix compost into the old potting mix so that you have 3/4 potting mix, 1/4 compost. Eventually, you will add old potting mix to the compost bin unless it held diseased plants.