I'm up-potting over 30 tree this year from 1st year cuttings that are in 1 gallon pots.  The old mix is heavy with perlite.  I hate wasting anything, and I know it sounds ridiculous.  While I do have a big bag of perlite, I'd like to somehow filter the perlite from the old mix just because it's very useable stuff.  As for the old mix, I don't care to reuse that.  Any simple methods for this cheapo?  :)

Are you bare rooting the plants. Only way I know to not reuse the old mix. Probably not a good idea. If you do break up the mix the perlite will float to the top when flooded. That too is probably not a good idea.

Ditto to Jake.

Frank,
I usually spread everything on the lawn or in the garden. But that's just me,,, and Jake, so to speak.

Plus it's not worth the hassle and you'll end up cussing up and down.

Thanks guys.  Yes, I'm bare rooting the plants.  No roots are in the separated mix.

Can you soak it it a tub...won't the perlite float to the surface for skimming?

Rick,

This seems like the easiest and fastest approach.  I'll give it a shot and see if it's worth my time.  Probably not, but won't hurt to try.  Thanks!

Floating in water, as mentioned, is one way.

Also, when you shake the plant outside the pot and remove all material that can easily come off, mostly perlite I hope, you can then add more soil to it to dilute the perlite concentration!

 

Why are you tossing the old mix? Why not reuse it in it's entirety?

my wife reuse soil for her potted plants. some seasonal flowers. i rarely reuse my soil mix for the figs. not sure why i don't reuse them. typically the soil out of 1 gal should be fine to be reused.. they are 50/50 perlite and seedling soil and they don't break down in 1 yr i keep the trees in them. 

I have potting soil which started out as Miracle Grow that I have been using for more than 10 years to grow tomatoes in containers. I usually add about 25% new each year. Easy to reuse because of the type of roots. If I did throw it out it would still be soil as it would go into my garden.

That's impressive, Jake.  I guess I could add other soil to it and revive it.  We do plan on growing several veggies and strawberries this year.