Seed Starting 8 qt. Potting Soil Mix

This is good, it helps plants grow !

Seed starting mix should not have ANY chunks, twigs, sticks, or large pieces of anything. It should be soft, fluffy, and have no obstructions for seeds to germinate and sprout through to the surface. This bag, and others I have also purchased, had a ton of the junk you don't want. I had to spend time screening and picking out these pieces before I could use it. At the price of a much larger bag of potting soil, this seed starting soil should be pristine. I expect more from Miracle Gro.

Great starting soil!

This "seed starting mix" is anything but... loaded with sticks and chunks of wood, not properly screened, garbage.

This is my first time using seed starting mix. Usually I use regular Miracle Gro potting mix to start my Marigold and Celosia seeds which had about 90% germination. But not much success with other variety of seeds. This year I’m using Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix and all varieties of my seeds germinated close to 90%. Here I have so far, Silver Sage, Mother of Thyme, Bachelor’s Button, and Cosmos. The bag is lightweight enough for a child to carry. This also means the mix is very dry. Before sowing, I pour the mix into a bowl, and mixed thoroughly with water until evenly moist. This guarantees there are no dry pockets which will be hard to fix once you sow your seeds. But once they’re moist, water passes through easily. I only watered once in the two weeks that have gone by. I did find a bit of white mold growing on the mix of my Bachelor’s Buttons. It was caused by the tray being covered. Once I removed the cover, the mold stopped growing. I did not have mold on my other seedlings which were not covered. The bag did have a moldy smell even when not opened. I didn’t see any gnats. Yes there were sticks I had to pick out so there is some work. I’m looking forward to sowing my zinnias and marigolds soon.

If you want super fine texture, this is not it. For example, it is not fluffy and airy like peat moss, if that is what you have in mind. This product (as do most seed starting mixes) has twigs and sticks in it; some rather sizable. If you are going to use it indoors, you will need to sterilize this product (like all others). Place it in a bucket or tub and saturate it with boiling water. Cover and wait a few days for it to dry, then use it indoors. If you don't do this you will be plagued with gnats.

I used the miracle grow seed starting mix for years. Starting this spring every bag I use seems to be "hydrophobic". You literally can't get water into the soil. When I water my flats the water pools and runs off with half my soil in seeds. It ends up being a huge waste of money as I'm losing expensive seeds. Sounds like others are having this issue as well.

Very good seed starting mix

Just purchased a bag of Miracle Grow Seed Starting Mix at Lowes. I opened it to pot up some Canna seeds and it is full of sticks. Seed starting mix shouldn’t have sticks or large chunks in it!

23 watt CFL leaks a little bit of U.V. which can burn seedlings so keep the CFL further away. Germinated seeds are white with no green. Need to green a little with very gentle light and then move closer to the light. I use 2 of these 8 watt 5000k daylight LED 800 lumen house light bulbs and 1 CFL in a brooder light which is probably 2700k to 3000k and its warm in color and its 1600 lumens. I also saw mold and fungus that probably came from the seed starting mix and the CFL removed all the pathogens that cause damping off. 100% success with every seed germinated. 3200 lumens total with 3 light bulbs to start. I use an old Sekonic camera light meter and when light is at least 500 lumens per square foot seedlings thrive. ½ warm ie 3000k and ½ blue ie 5000k Kelvin Temp. Room temperature average around 70 degree's. These seedlings are 5 weeks old. Excellent product and perfect fertilizer just right I don't have to worry about plant food. These suggestions enhance an excellent product. I hope this helps. I'll be buying more of this excellent seed starting product.