If your potting soil has been sitting in your shed since last year in an opened bag and it's gotten wet, toss it. If it somehow stayed bone dry, it should be OK to use.
Plants use their roots to take up moisture and also oxygen. If your soil is constantly wet, there won't be enough air pockets for your plants and the roots will not be able to breathe properly. This can cause your roots to rot and, therefore, your plant will suffer.
If you notice a rotten egg smell coming from your potting soil, it's a sign that it's gone bad. The bad smell is caused by bacteria and fungi that are breaking down the organic matter in the soil. It still can be used if you spread it out on a tarp and let it bask in the sun.
Can Potting Soil Go Bad. Potting soil can go bad if not stored properly. It can dry out, clump, develop mold and fungi, and even smell rotten. Using this can introduce disease to plants or starve them of nutrients, water, and oxygen.
To dry out soil quickly, you can apply hydrated lime to the soil, add compost and then turn the soil thoroughly to aerate it. Adding hydrated lime and compost will help absorb the water in your soil, and turning it all will help distribute the water in the waterlogged soil throughout your garden.
The duration of the rain is the first aspect that impacts how quickly the ground will dry. If the rain was brief, such as 15 minutes, the ground may dry up in 6 hours and you may be able to work on it afterward. However, if there is continuous rain for 4 days, the ground may take longer than 4 days to dry up.
3 ways to restore weary soil
Barely moist is all you need. Its easier to moisten dry soil by first clearing the area you want to plant. Slash/ cut everything down leaving those all important roots in play. Leave any useful up and coming seedlings, or plants in their prime, and work around them.
As long as used potting soil still looks fairly fluffy and doesn't emit a rotten odor, gardeners should be able to use it again with good results. However, if the plants formerly grown in the potting soil struggled with disease or insect problems, it's probably best to discard the mix and start fresh next season.
No matter which side of the debate one defends, reviving an old potting soil with nutrients can improve the quality of a previously nutrient-poor growing environment. The next step then is to look into adding compost, soil amendments and fertilizers to help rejuvenate your soil.
"For most plants, especially carnivorous ones, moldy soil can take nutrients from the plant and end up being toxic to its growth," Brown says. A heavily infected plant is more susceptible to diseases and other stressors and in some severe cases, moldy soil can lead to the death of a plant.
After 6-12 months most bags of potting soil have lost some, if not most of their nutritional value, but they are still safe to use. It just won't have optimal food to feed your plants. Most potting soil can be stored 1-2 years without spoiling if stored properly, but its nutrients will still degrade.
Seeing white mold on plant soil might be a terrible sight, but it is quite natural. The mold growing on soil is often harmless and can be treated with relative ease. This phenomenon is caused by a saprophytic fungus and can appear as a white fuzzy mold on top of the soil.
Legionella bacteria can multiply in bagged potting mix, mulch and other soil products. To minimise the risk, people should always read and follow the manufacturer's warnings on the outside of the bag.
One approach is to drain the water away to some lower location. The simplest way is with a ditch, or, if your garden is large, a few ditches. You will also, of course, need somewhere even lower into which the ditch can drain. The more clay in the soil, the more ditches are needed to draw off the water.
Often, when a bag of garden soil or potting mix is very heavy, it is either water soaked or it contains too much sand. If potting mix becomes soaked it can begin to break down in the bag, become compact, lose air space and result in poor roots and plant growth.
Large outdoor planters and containers require large quantities of potting mix, and yes, the same mix can be reused from year to year. Begin with a good-quality mix like Miracle-Gro Potting Mix or a mix recommended by locally owned garden centers.
Replenish lost nutrients by adding slow-release fertilizers, vermiculite or compost. Because compost is dense, it can lead to compaction and should be used judiciously (a ratio of one part compost to three to four parts potting soil is most effective).
Place the bag in a cool, dark, dry spot that will not attract pests. The potting soil stored this way will be good for 2 to 6 months. If there is the risk of rodents or pets getting at the bag, place it in a plastic tote to secure it.
The added nutrients are critical to make sure you get the most out of your potting soil, and those nutrients will deplete as time goes on. You can reuse potting soil each season, which can save you money and a trip to the garden center.
A: Yes, you can reuse potting soil, but only if you can guarantee it is pest- and disease-free—or if you have sterilized and amended it. While it would be economical to use potting soil already sitting in containers, doing so can transmit diseases, spread pests, and lead to a lack of nutrients.
Organic Potting Mix
Plants typically benefit from being repotted every 12 to 18 months, depending on how actively they are growing. Some slow growers, like cacti, can call the same pot home for years, but will just require a soil replenishment.
Heavy rainfall on top of bare, frozen ground can cause another problem, especially on farmland: It erodes soil, causing dirt and other pollutants to run off into streams and rivers. It's a particular concern in the Midwest, where researchers estimate topsoil is eroding 100 times faster than it is forming.
But the strongest smell is released when rainfall arrives. Raindrops landing on dusty or clay soils trap tiny air bubbles on the surface which then shoot upward - as in a glass of Champagne - and burst out of the drop throwing aerosols of scent into the air where they are then distributed by wind.
While potting-mix-linked legionella infections are uncommon, cases have occurred in countries including Australia, Japan and the US.