What to do with 'used' growbag compost

[drf]

I'm starting to consume my first grown lettuces that I've had in pots filled with growbag compost. I'm wondering what to do with the compost when I finish with it (I'll have rather a lot eventually as I also have tomatoes, courgettes and dwarf french beans on the go). I don't have any garden to speak of that I could stick it on. Presumably it wouldn't be any use to plant something else in, nutrients used up & all that...Is the only thing to do find someone who might have a use for it? I don't know if the council would make use of it for their composting purposes.

Chris

[Madasafish]

I recycle all my used compost into a small dustbin, add compost and manure and use next year for tomatoes /peppers/ potting on large plants.

[moggssue]

Thats a good idea Madasafish - could you use it for potatoes? They seem to use up an awful lot of compost during the year.

[Farmer_Gyles]

i chuck all my old compost in the compost bin with the grass cuttings / peelings / banana skins etc etc

i don't think it's a case of old compost having all the nutrients used up - different plants require different nutrients - think about the crop rotation etc and growing different things on the same plot year after year - if soil can be used for several years, no reason why growbag compost cant

or am i wrong?

[terrier]

I'm growing some extra late potatoes in pots so I'm using expired compost to top them up. Some of the compost is useable for soil conditioner in the plot and the rest (full of old root systems, etc) goes in the Dalek.

[Nicos]

The main problems with re-using old grow bags is that most of the nutrients are used up and the horbouring of pests and disease. Fungal spores and slug eggs being the main ones to think about.
You can easily add more nutrients, but heating the soil should kill off bacteria and bugs, but I have no idea about fungal spores.
No idea what temperature though!

I chuck the compost from my pots on my flower borders.

Why not offer it at a local allotment...they may offer you some courgettes and rhubarb in exchange!

[terrier]

Evidently (I've not tried it), sterilising old compost can be done by filling a suitable pot and putting it in the microwave on full power for a few minutes. MOH would murder me if she found me trying it in her new microwave. When I was younger, the old growers you'st to tell me that they would steam the compost to make potting medium. I might have a go in my old Baby Burco.

[rustylady]

I either put my used compost into the big compost bins, or use it to top-dress the beds and borders.

[Cutecumber]

If my compost is once-used and the crop has been healthy, I try and use it again in the same year - it gets mixed with half new compost and some extra food, then I use it for a different crop. After this, I put it some on the compost heap and some around the garden. My garden isn't huge and it is quite tricky at times to work out what to do with it.

When you have no beds or heap for the tired compost to go on, it is a particular problem. Nobody writes about that in the "patio gardening" articles, do they!! I don't see why you couldn't re-use some of the old compost this year - once the beans have finished, for example, remove the large roots (leave any with little "nodules" on them, as they will return nitrogen to the soil as they decay) and give it a good mix around. Add some balanced granular fertiliser and use it for more lettuce - if the weather is kind or you can give it some protection, you should be harvesting lettuce into the winter.

When you can't make the compost stretch any further, and if friends or colleagues with a garden can't take it, you could see if your local authority accepts it in their "green waste" reycling scheme.

[Fred Perry]

I place my used compost in an old compost bag and in September put it in pots mixed with some chicken pellets, then grow carrots, coli, spring onion and letuce over winter in greenhouse. End up with pots everywhere.
All the best,
Fred Perry.