Customer Reviews for Miracle-Gro Seed Starting 8 qt. Potting Soil Mix

I used this potting mix to start seeds in March. A lot of plants didn’t even show after 2-3 weeks so I replanted and the same thing happened on most seeds. I did have a handful of tomatoes and cherry pepper plants appear, but they all died within about two weeks. The plants stopped growing, turned yellow and started to shrivel up and die. Horrible product! Last year I had over 100 tomatoe and pepper plants for my garden, family and friends. I didn’t get one plant due to this product! All of this is time consuming but love to watch the plants grow and once transplanted in the garden you take pride knowing you started them by seed. Not this year! Now I have to go buy all my plants which will be expensive! Horrible product!!! Don’t use!!

As another reviewer stated, I am not understanding all the negative reviews. People are complaining about sticks and wood, when they seem not to understand that a starting mix is NOT the same thing as dirt. Starting mix is lighter and less compacted to allow more breathing room. Also, complaints about mold and unknown growth might be due to pots that were not cleaned and sterilized with a bleach-water spray before potting, or particular bags of the mix might, in fact, have been infested, but I think the company might replace that, if you just reach out to them. I did a previous review, but I'm doing another one to counteract the negativity. And I'm including a picture this time.

I only put seeds in one row but a lot of things are growing that I didn't plant. Hope my super rare seeds do come up. Until then I'll see what this other stuff is

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.

is very good

I used it to start two Night Blooming Jasmine (Plant - Cestrum nocturnum ) for this spring/summer/fall season.

The potting soil is very excelente, because help grown the seed very fast.

I’ve used Miracle-Gro many times and I’ve never had an issue with mold before this year. The seeds germinated but then mold started growing on some of the plants and soil. I water everyday and their getting a decent amount of sunlight. My concern is, even the pots that don’t show mold; the plants are wilting and dying. Did something change in your mixture?

I have used this seed starting mix for years and usually it is great. This year, as I was transferring my hydroponically started seeds to their own pots I found a number of ROCKS in the mix! It’s a newly opened bag, so I know it wasn’t my 4 year old “helping” this time. I’ve never encountered something like this with the seed starting mix; I’ve come across 2-3” chunks of wood in regular miracle grow potting soil, of course, but I thought this was more finely screened? Idk. Still pretty good stuff. Wish they’d move to something more eco friendly like coir, though.

Excellent Quality Seed Starter Soil I used Miracle Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix to start my Fall crop. A lot of people do not realize how necessary healthy soil is to seeds. Amateur gardeners generally assume that the soil in their backyard is sufficient to plant seeds and often times end up disappointed when the seeds do not sprout. Seeds need to have healthy soil, constant light and and loads of water to grow into healthy plants. When I first planned to start a vegetable garden in my backyard, i wanted to invest in healthy soil for my seeds. The Miracle Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix was the perfect product I was looking for. I planted Broccoli seeds using this mix and my seeds sprouted within 3 days!! Further almost all of the seeds that i had sowed have sprouted. I was pleasantly surprised, given how usually the percentage of seeds that actually sprout is less than half. I documented my experience of planting my fall garden in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9OG9013_I&t=49s I would definitely recommend this product for all the gardeners.

Works perfectly. Use bag fast . .

Last year I had great seedlings. This year, everything is dying. Some don't sprout at all. Other plants have sprouted, but then leaves fade and die. It's not isolated to just one plant. It's my tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, squash, cantaloupe, marigolds... Even my lettuce isn't doing well - and that's the easiest thing on earth to grow. And mushrooms have sprouted up in my little starter pots. Only thing different is the starting soil. Whatever the company did, they made it so plants CANNOT grow.

it is so expensive for the quantity...

It holds moisture well and the color changes visibly signaling you to add more moisture. It was easy to put in my pest moss containers.