Poll: What do you do with your old potting mix?

[Judi]

Depending on the time of the year, mine goes either in the compost or as mulch around my flower plants.

[peeweelovesbooks]

I throw mine away. Sometimes I leave it out and hope the feral cats will eat it and choke to death so they stop pooping in my yard. Alas, none of them have yet to take a bite.

[ChasWG]

peewee, two words for you and your feral cats:

Air Rifle

I'm pretty hard line about feral cats. They totally destroyed the indigious animals from around my grandmother's mountain cabin. Squirrels, chipmonks, BlueJays and all other birds except for the humming birds, all gone. Tey are not natural to any ecosystem. And they are excellent hunters. You need to take them out. Either trap them (I wouldn't, they bite) or something more permanent.

Sorry if that bothers some of you, but they are dangerous to all other animal and human life. And they are there because some human thought it would be better to release them instead of taking care of them properly.

[peeweelovesbooks]

Originally Posted by ChasWG

peewee, two words for you and your feral cats:

Air Rifle

I'm pretty hard line about feral cats. They totally destroyed the indigious animals from around my grandmother's mountain cabin. Squirrels, chipmonks, BlueJays and all other birds except for the humming birds, all gone. Tey are not natural to any ecosystem. And they are excellent hunters. You need to take them out. Either trap them (I wouldn't, they bite) or something more permanent.

Sorry if that bothers some of you, but they are dangerous to all other animal and human life. And they are there because some human thought it would be better to release them instead of taking care of them properly.

Ugh, not to hijack the thread, but I truly hate those things. First, they are HUGE. They are at least 20 pounds and once I mistook one for smaller dog. They aren't afraid of people and they are everywhere in my neighborhood. They use my backyard (which is covered in white gravel as their pooping station and nothing I do works. I have to call animal control to see if they give free traps so that I can start doing this. They initally belonged to a lady in the area, but she let them all loose and it's now an out of control situation. They topple over clay pots that are almost too heavy for me to lift, and they've shredded some of my plants. We planted crown of thorns in the front, so that helped, but we have to do something more drastic. Thanks for commiserating with me.

[ChasWG]

Yeah sorry for hyjacking the thread. Didn't mean to.

Get the Gamo Big Cat air rifle with the hallowpoint rounds.

Back on topic, I'll start throwing it in the compost pile as well.

[snow]

going back to the original thread; i compost mine or sometimes i mix it with potting medium for my houseplants

[PleuroPal]

Thanks for the replies (and no worries about the slight diversion). I love cats, in fact I have two of them. But I'm totally with you guys about the feral ones. If it weren't for my gf, I'd have opted for the "permanent" solution too.

Anyway, I also hate to see the stuff go to waste, so I usually either mix it in with regular potting soil or use it as a mulch around other areas of the garden/landscaping.

[Hedge]

Hi, I'm a composter too, unless the orchid died of something , then I send it with the green waste to the town recycling centre - their compost heaps get hotter than mine
Heather

[MuscleGirl'sHobby]

I compost my old orchid medium. I like the idea of spreading it in the flower beds though, I may start mulching with it

I shoot the feral cats with an air rifle.

For a permanent solution you could put out anti-freeze I haven't done this.... yet. I have 2 indoor only kitties and the strays of the neighborhood know it. My front door has become a tomcat spray magnet :mad:

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Hedge

Hi, I'm a composter too, unless the orchid died of something , then I send it with the green waste to the town recycling centre - their compost heaps get hotter than mine
Heather

I'm sort of with you Heather, although I've not yet had orchid bark that needed to go in the green bin (for those not in the UK we get a green bin which gets collected and goes to the recycling centre's compost heap).

When I'm gardening most stuff goes in my compost bin, but weeds and stuff like that goes in the green bin and I let them deal with it. As you say their compost heaps get hotter to kill more than my little cold one.

My bark goes on the compost heap, although I also buy large bark chips to go arround the flower beds and keep the weeds down, so it sounds like a good idea to just put the old orchid bark on the garden as well.