This weekend I was at Wal-Mart and in a hurry, so I grabbed some unfamiliar potting soil. It was called Hyponix, and it's very similar in consistency to what you described. It feels like clay...when I pack it in my hand, it stays packed, doesn't crumble. I potted a couple of new plants with it and am really worried about whether I should have used it, so I'm curious to see more answers to your question.

I have a friend whose wife grows plants in the muddy stuff. Last year I finally convinced her to add drainage holes in her pots that lacked them.

This year I will be working on gently easing her away from the mud soils sold as suitable for containers when they aren't.

The good news is you can grow things in the stuff, you just have to be careful about watering and don't expect plants to be as large or vigorous as they could be. Consider using a wick per Al's instructions in the water movement in container soils threads.

It's among the worst stuff out there for containers, but it *can* work OK if you are careful to avoid frequent overwatering and stick to fast growing plants that will fill the container with roots rapidly.

Nothing says you can't gently repot now though ;-)

First clue not to use material of this nature (even when it says potting soil:( is that it is by weight in most cases this is a very poor choice for containers. At my garden center I tell folks this and tell them that every retail nursery has it because people seem to demand it be available for them to buy. I always recommend that if you don't want to mix your own material (like many of us on this forum suggest:) than at least buy a media that is measured in quarts or by the cubic foot AKA by volume not by weight. Read on this forum the countless posts on mixing your own and you will find it will in the end be close to the price paid for this cheap junk(although you will pay more up front for the quanity needed to make a good mix. The cubic foot price will in almost every case be cheaper and grow better plants. I offer the 20 and 40 pound potting soil but readily ask people to look and feel it and I suggest it for raised beds or to fill or add to the garden or a berm but please don't use it in containers!!!! If then they choose to I have done all I can to help them to not make this mistake and I move on to the next customer. I have plenty of mixes for planting in containers or will help people to make their own mix. I want people to have beautiful plants that they bought from my garden center and I will do all I can to help them toward that goal.
Please both of you consider repotting your containers now before the plants suffer too much and you are disappointed with your results. We here can and will help. Ask, read and learn from the proven ideas expressed on this forum, There is some very savy plant and container folks here willing to help.
Happy Growing A Garden Center Manager David

Dear justaguy2 and hitexplanter: Thanks so much for your feedback. I haven't had much experience with gardening, so I'm definitely still learning. I think that I will just go ahead and try to repot. What are your suggestions in doing this safely? Thanks again for your help.

kat616:

I wouldn't dump out all the Ace potting mix. Just get better/looser ones from a nursery and mix (maybe 2 new to 1 old) the two together. Maybe add some perlite too for drainage.

What are your suggestions in doing this safely?

Just be gentle ;-)

Chances are if you just planted a few days ago there hasn't been much new root development so you can probably just gently dig/lift them out without too much root tearing.

Even with a small amount of root loss most plants will be fine.

I would suggest doing this in the evening after the heat of day has passed if possible. Going out and watering them a few hours in advance would also be good if the soil is not well moistened right now.

Do it now. There is a full moon. I just replanted a bunch of seedlings last nite into larger containers and left them to get the full benefit of the full moon.

If you have the room, start a compost pile. When I go to Menards I usually stop by the 25%off torn bags section and buy one or two bags of manure or potting soil. I mix this in with the finished compost bin or in the fall in the bin that is cooking. Mix it well and after adding a small amount of clean sand, I use it for containers. You can use a wheelbarrow or a tarp on the ground and mix what you have with regular dirt from an area of the yard and make a mix that should be ok. If you are container gardening you will be adding some nutrients later anyway.

hi
i am new to gardening and i was just curious,what is the relation between a full moon and repotting.i am sure its a stupid question,but i just had to ask.
thank you

I bought Ace's brand potting soil last year and it was terrible--it was muddy and stinky--but I live in a small town and couldn't find anything else that was said to be organic so I used it with disastrous results. Nothing grew and I will never use it again.

Funny seeing a post on this 10 year old thread today but just last night I was scurrying around Home Depot trying to evaluate every bagged potting mix. It was VERY hard to find anything that did not have fertilizers added, organic or not. There was large cube bag of something called Black Magic for $44! The other option was tiny bags of Jiffy seed starting mix for $5 each, of which I would have needed 10. I caved and bought a whole bag of peat moss and will be mixing my own with perlite I already have at home. It's a lot more quantity than I need, but there were no affordable, good bagged options.

It's really confusing. I was looking for something last year for strawberries and ended up mixing my own too. The Mirace-Gro Nature's Care Organic Potting Mix looks tempting. I generally avoid Miracle-Gro for food because of chemicals but I might try the organic. I couldn't believe the Ace soil was bad 10 years ago! I can't imagine why they haven't done anything to improve it. My plants got root rot from it. Some of the commercial compost contains human waste (from treatment plants) and I wondered about the Ace stuff.

For adult plants I think there are acceptable options that contain fertilizer but for seeds, tubers or cuttings it won't do. I just have to mix my own.

I'm starting seeds indoors this year because the Wisconsin growing season is so short for things like melons. I've never done it before and I'm using the Jiffy seed starting mix. Some of the bedding plants like peppers and cherry tomatoes I plan to grow as patio plants in pots. I like patio tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers because they come early while I'm waiting for the garden veggies to ripen. I bought them already fruited last year but this year I'll know exactly what they're grown in as far as soil, fertilizer, etc.

I just bought 2 (20lb ea.) bags of Ace potting soil, it is like clay, barely a fourth of the way into the bag, I have a collection of rocks, broken plasit pot fragments. Ther's a case of getting what you paid for.