Re-cycling / Upcycling Used T coco fibre substrate

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
So, I lost my OBT and poured his old substrate into my (now winter dormant) organic garden outside. Waste not, want not.
But I have used G Rosea substrate from a recent substrate change (I was looking for a lost mealworm) and I am not sure what to do with it. I figure there are urticating hairs all through this used stuff. Is there some use for it? I know birds and squirrels dig through my gardens outside, so I hate to put something possible dangerous out there for them to dig into to.
Could I use it mixed in with dirt for maybe a houseplant that will receive no animal contact?
Can you even use coco fibre substrate for plants?
Do I toss it? If so, in the trash?
What do you guys do with used substrate?
(This isn't an attempt to recoup costs -- it's cheap -- I just hate to waste things)
Thanks in advance.
 

Julia

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Messages
433
And the first time you go to mess with the soil of the houseplant, you'll regret deciding to use hair-laden dirt. Plus, those hairs can blow through the air. Personally, I'd dump it.
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
And the first time you go to mess with the soil of the houseplant, you'll regret deciding to use hair-laden dirt. Plus, those hairs can blow through the air. Personally, I'd dump it.
Well, yeah, I guess there would be that. Maybe I could buy some halloween cup-cake topper picks with skull/crossbones and stick them in the plants that I use it in.
Or I could toss this used co-co substrate in the trash and move on with my life.
 

samatwwe

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 30, 2009
Messages
365
I dump mine in our vegetable garden. There hasn't been vegetables in it for years though so it's just a box of really nice dirt now lol
 

Drache

Arachnosquire
Joined
Sep 23, 2014
Messages
53
This is an issue I hadn't even considered, and I am very much into composting.
How long do you think urticating bristles would take to decompose when buried? My pile's kind of large and enhanced with rabbit manure, and I find that snake skins dissolve in less than a year. if I don't bury them they last longer and end up looking like old plastic and cellophane wrappers blowing through my yard.
 
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