After summer is over, are only empty pots left? Don't throw away the old soil - mix in a little of this to save money and make it fertile

Once Chushu (End of Heat) passes, autumn has truly arrived. Take a look at your balcony - have you tipped out quite a few empty pots? How does everyone deal with the soil in those empty pots? If you just throw it away, isn't that too wasteful! Hurry up and learn this 1 trick from Huahua, so your old soil instantly becomes fertile soil and you save a lot of money!

Empty pots at the home of the gardening friend "Please Call Me Lei":

How do you disinfect old soil from empty pots?

Old soil that has been used to grow flowers can be reused, but it must be sterilised and disinfected first, otherwise the bacteria in the soil will infect newly potted flowers. So how do you disinfect old soil?

1. Disinfect by baking in the sun

Old soil that has been used to grow flowers contains many insect eggs and bacteria invisible to the naked eye, and it must be disinfected by baking in the sun before use. Spread the soil in a thin layer on dry ground and leave it in direct sun for 3-5 days.

2. Sterilise and disinfect with carbendazim or potassium permanganate

If you don't have enough space at home to bake the soil in the sun, you can put the old soil in a sealed plastic bucket or plastic bag, add a prepared potassium permanganate or carbendazim solution, then seal it up to sterilise and disinfect.

3. High-temperature disinfection

Finally, Huahua will introduce a simple method: high-temperature disinfection. Find an unused iron wok at home, put the soil in it and stir-fry it a few times, or put it in the microwave and heat it directly for more than 5 minutes, and basically you can achieve the goal of sterilising and disinfecting!

Mix something into the disinfected old soil and it instantly becomes dripping with fertility!

Although it has been disinfected, the old soil that was previously used to grow flowers has basically had its nutrients used up. If you plant flowers directly in it again, your flowers at home will definitely not grow well! So you must mix something into the soil to make the flowers grow more vigorously!

1. Mix some okara into the soil and it instantly becomes dripping with fertility!

To add nutrients to old soil, you can add some okara fertiliser. Keep the okara left over from making soy milk at home, or ask for some from outside.

Put the old soil in a foam box, add a layer of okara, spread it in a thin layer, then cover with soil, add another layer of okara, and keep going until the whole flower pot is filled, then seal it up to ferment. In about 1 month it will have composted into rich, fertile potting soil!

2. Mix some pine needles into the soil for looseness and breathability!

The thing flower growers fear most is soil in the pot being unable to breathe, which causes root rot. So we can take advantage of autumn to pick up some pine needles in the neighbourhood or on the mountain, bring them home and soak them in carbendazim to disinfect them.

Mix the disinfected pine needles with the old soil, wrap it up in a plastic bag, seal it and let it ferment. It only takes about 1-2 months for the pine needles to decompose and turn black, becoming loose, breathable pine needle soil!

3. Add some fruit peel to old soil and the leaves of your plants will be lush and green!

When you eat fruit at home, never throw away the leftover banana peels, watermelon rinds, orange peels and so on - just collect them and compost them into soil, and the nutrients are very plentiful too!

Chop up the banana peels, watermelon rinds and so on, then mix them together with the old soil, add a bit of water, seal it up and let it ferment. Fruit ferments very quickly, and basically it only takes 1 month to decompose fully and become nutrient-rich potting soil!

Use potting soil like this and your plants will grow like crazy and fill the pot!

Once the old soil at home has been composted, you can use it for your flowers when you repot them in autumn!

1. When the temperature at home stays at 20-25°C, you can repot your flowers! Huahua will use the clivia (Clivia miniata) as an example. First take the clivia out of its pot and clean the soil off the roots.

2. Prepare the pot you need for repotting, and place a few pieces of broken brick or tile over the holes in the bottom of the pot, so that water and air can pass through without soil leaking out.

3. Put the composted potting soil into the flower pot, then carefully place the clivia's roots in, and keep filling with soil.

4. Potting soil composted this way can continuously provide nutrients to your flowers, making the plants at home grow more and more vigorously, with leaves so green they drip, and blooming whenever they want!

(Image author: Dachen Yu)

That's all from Huahua for today!

Has everyone learned it?

Why not hurry up and collect the old soil at home,

and give it a big makeover!

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