Soil that Tomatoes have been grown in

[HearTheDark]

So last year, being the amateur I am, planted 3 packets of Tom seeds and ended up with 50 plants!! These were grown in morrisons flower tubs. Now I've ended up with 50 tubs of soil, but ive been told I can not recycle the soil by tipping it into raised beds and growing other veg in it!! Is this true? What can I do with this soil! Thanks!

[veggiechicken]

I'd like to know who told you that you couldn't reuse the soil - and why
I reuse mine every year - usually for topping up the beds in the GH.

[HearTheDark]

Something to do with disease? Some of my toms went brown, but I wasn't planning on using the soil for that, more root veg?

[Veggieman]

Was it just the tomato fruit that went brown? IF it was, it will be fine to reuse. If the whole plant went brown, it was probably blight, and I would be wary about growing tomatoes or potatoes in it for a few years, but for root veg and salads, you could definitely reuse it.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Blight will only survive on plant material not in the growing medium.

Personally I would riddle it, mix in some 7-7-7 fertiliser and reuse it. Some of my compost has gone round that many times I have no idea how old it is.

[BertieFox]

I guess it was the compost manufacturers that told you that! I reuse compost many times and have never encountered any problem other than a lack of nutrients (easily sorted with a bit of fertiliser). I must admit I would not plant tomatoes or other members of the same family in the same potting compost twice, but as for most other things, yes.

Compost is so expensive now that nobody can afford to just dump it on the compost heap, far less discard it.

[Snadger]

As my toms come out spring cabbage go in the same soil.I have a lovely crop of spring cabbage now! Need I say more!

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

^ I grow mine in mosser's flower buckets too. I recycle it all. This year I have added some of that compressed coir to it along with some blood fish and bone. It'll get used for a variety of tasks.

[Kristen]

If the whole plant went brown, it was probably blight, and I would be wary about growing tomatoes or potatoes in it for a few years

Tomatoes / Potatoes will be fine in it, provided that there are no small spuds left behind which then start sprouting (if there are, and they do, just pull them out - under no circumstances let them continue to grow). Blight only survives in living plant tissue.

That said, "crop rotation" is preferred as different crops will make different demands on the soil. But I find, in containers, it is hard to keep the compost separated from one crop to the next. I tend to tip the smaller containers into one big dustbin, and it all gets mixed up and reused ... although I suppose that is a sort of crop rotation, mixing the soil across various crops.

Any soil-borne disease, such as Clubroot or Onion White Rot, needs more careful handling (disposal would be best), but they would be rare in a container system - importing and planting infected plants would be pretty much the only route to infection.

[Sarico]

I will grow tomato in flower tub this year and at the end of the seasons I will put in the potato bed so that bed will not be used for the next 4 year( I mean after harvested the spuds). Compost. Expensive and doing that I will fill all the bed in the next 4 years for free lol. I'll recycle the compost bad grow the path as well. Make your penny worth it.

[KevinM67]

I have read that you should keep strawberries well away from any soil that had previously been used for tomatoes.

I don't know ??

[sparrow100]

I have read that you should keep strawberries well away from any soil that had previously been used for tomatoes.

I don't know ??

Yes, me too. They can both be infected by fusarium wilt.

[Valleyman]

I have a dedicated tomato compost composter. I layer fine garden waste with shredded paper with the compost out of my tom containers, stick it in a composter for 18 months and then re-use it. Blight etc is well dead by then, and to be honest I've never suffered anyway. A bit of BFNB and it's as good as new multi-purpose.

The ONLY reason I don't re-use directly is that tom roots are so dense that I can't be bothered to break up the pot contents and riddle. I let the composting process do it for me.

If I threw away all my precious compost every year I calculated I'd need about 1000 litres for all my pots. Even at the cheapest rate going that is £50 every year and the thought of carrying those big 125l compost bags is enough to put me off regardless of the price. Through re-use and sensible garden composting I am currently down to about 250l of compost a year.

[brownfingers]

I riddle mine, add a bit of growmore and BFAB, give it a good mix, then bag it up in old compost bags and leave outside all winter to percolate. I use it for everything other than toms which get fresh each year.