Good morning...I was wondering...I guess I'm supposed to dump out and replace the soil in outdoor pots each year, but what do I do with the soil in the big half whiskey barrels? Just amend it a little? (I admit I don't always dump out the smaller ones either) What do you folks do?

What was the "old soil"? If that was store bought potting soil it isn't really soil at all but a soilless mix of, mostly, peat moss. What this then needs is something to replace the nutrients that peat moss does not have. If this was a mixture that you made replenish it with compost and it should be okay.

For my smaller pots and especially the terra cotta pots, which would crack overwinter (unless I bury them), I dump the contents - along with shredded fall leaves and additions of mulched grass clippings from the end of the season as well as plant debris - into my new compost pile each fall.

The larger pots (I also have five huge whiskey barrel planters), I skim off the top 1/3 or so layer, dig out any roots from last year's plantings and replace and fill w/new soiless potting mix and compost (usually a 1:2 ratio).

I don't dump soil out of big pots, I just add some fertilizer to replace nutrients and I also use water crystals to hold extra water for the plants. Only time I dump soil out is if it stinks, if it got too wet and roots ect still in there started to rot, then I dump it out, wash it out with a bit of bleach and air out for a day, then add packing peanuts and empty pots to the bottom and re-fill with new soil.
Anne

I do the same thing w/either the peanuts or squished milk/water jugs. This year, however, I broke up into pieces all the stryrofoam packing that came w/my new kitchen cabinets. Got enough to half-fill about a gazillion pots by now.

Thanks for advice! I'll get busy and amend the pots with my compost.

I make up between 2-300 gallons of soil per year for bonsai. The longest cycle I keep oil in a pot before changing it is two years. Most trees get repotted yearly.

Bonsai soil has a much higher percent of inert material (mostly stone chips) than peat based potting soil which should be pretty broken down after a years use.

If air cannot penetrate soil in pots plants will not do well.

Compost your spent soil or use it as a lawn amendment. Its pooped, give it a rest.