If you’re a person who reuses soil be careful. I’ve been running into issues with seedlings just straight up falling over dead. The stem gets really weak at the soil line and they just drop. Apparently iits because of the pathogens that can “exist” in the soil? I guess the same pathogens that breakdown dead roots at work here. I planted 7 of the Modified Oreoz from Copycat and so far all of them have died but 3 and I feel like it’s only a matter of time till these flip over. They prolly eating the stems right now and there’s nothing I can do 
Didn’t even know this could happen the plant is always teaching us something it seems.
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Sounds like you have something nasty in there.
I found I had to be careful with fresh earth worm castings (EWC)
You could sterilize (pasteurize?) your starting soil…
(I’d go pressure cooker but I have the equipment)
Cheers
G
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I’m pretty sure my wife would kill me in my sleep if I use her instapot for soil I already broke a straighter making dabs, and made oil and Rso in the Crock pot. She thinks if she uses anything I’ve used for growing she’s gonna get high and croak over
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Jokes aside though I can just put boiling water on it? How to you go about pasteurizing? I can’t bring myself to throw all this soil away
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How much soil are we talking about?
What’s your process for recycling that soil?
About a Rubbermaid tote full. I’ve used it for about a year and haven’t really done anything to it other than try to flush it pretty well with a hose but that clearly didn’t work
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I use a 200L (45G) rubbermaid tote (in the garage), used soil + dandelions & kitchen waste… and Red Wigglers…
Start it in the spring, feed through the summer adding rock dust and other micro-nutriments. Mix it a few times (half-assed is good enough) 
Worms die in the late fall and by spring they are ‘one with the soil’ and the bin is ‘ready to go’.
Cheers
G
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If I get really special seeds I start them in a fresh mix of coir and perlite till plant is big and tough enough to go a old mix with no problems
Rich mixes and overwatering usually kills seedlings-Ive learnt the hard way
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That’s a lot to process in a pressure cooker and I’ve got a big one.
I’ve heard of raking it out thin on a tarp and leaving it in the baking sun.
Personally I go in the opposite direction and buy Promix because it’s cheap and headache free.
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yeah my ex wasnt to terribly happy when she got home early from a stay away vaca with her parents and found i was using her dishwashe ras a parts cleaner while rebuilding my bike engine 
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That’s what this is lol. Promix. But I don’t have anywhere to put the waste really so I just been stockpiling it after it’s used. So I have a big tub of discarded promix also mixed in with some new that I’ve had left over. I figured I could probably just use it. Didn’t know it would straight up strangle my seedlings to death in a matter of hours when I least expect it lol
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My experience with trying to reuse Promix didn’t work out so well. So full of roots that even stomping on it barely released any. I treat it as disposable now.
Could it be you have rotting roots in there?
I throw it down the garbage chute wait I mean the green waste chute.
compost pile and add abunch of wiggles and mellon rind and banana peels ask local restuarnts if they will save that kind of stuff for you
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Snowhigh talks about this issue in a recent interview and my ears perked because I go through this with my seedlings in recycled soil.
You can sterilize the soil using turkey bags and microwave. Or you can just mix up a base seedling mix of compost/ewc, aeration, peat moss.
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I mean I’ve had pretty good luck so far up until now and honestly the problem I believe lies in me misting the top layer of soil all the time. I read that I should leave the lid off for a while and it might kill the pathogen. Wouldn’t rotting roots act as an organic fertilizer? This was always my thought process. And I have adult plants growing in reuse just fine so it’s odd.
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It is a bit strange.
I’d think a little decomposing root is ok but the rootballs I remember would be a big slimy mess.
If this was some lovely living soil filled with additives and mixed with love and sweat I’d say try to save it. But my two cents is if it’s just Promix go buy some more.
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Interesting. I have been reusing soil for a while now with no issues. Thank you for the heads up, I’ll read more into pathogenic soil issues.
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What kind of growing were you doing with it before and how long did it sit idle before being reused? Did it go hydrophobic? I ask because soil reuse isn’t inherently a disease-prone process. Typically it’s the opposite as soil systems mature and become more robust.
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i’ve stopped all damping off with cinnamon, never had a problem since, every seed that cracks open lives, just a little sprinkle on top of the dirt after putting in and watering the seed, also, blasting my lights very close, or germinating in the sun, thats what works for me
everytime i mention this, im surprised nobody is like “oh yeah me too”
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