Spot on & thanks, Rodney! I stumbled onto that somewhere while searching here this morning. The $200 is what I spent previously trying in vain to fix this. I took all soil out, nothing left but the larger root-balls. I've got the beds and soil solarizing even as I type this. I had a roll of contractor grade clear plastic, like thick drop cloth stuff... so I spread it all out to about 2-3" thick out in the sun. Lo and behold... a cloudy day darnit (not the norm for here). If the sun doesn't poke back out, I'll wrap my rootballs and wait until tomorrow.

I have been using Kellogg's GroMulch. The very first thing I noticed was the color - a flat black that looks like no organic material I have ever seen. It looks like ground-up automobile tires. I have used it as an amendment and a mulch, as instructed on the bag. It seems to work as an amendment in that it will mix well with my old garden soil, and I also add Gardeners "Composted Chicken Manure." I have not had a problem with smell, but when used as a mulch, a hard crust forms soon after watering. The crust cannot be easily penetrated with fingers, even though my soil was very loose and crumbly before i applied the mulch. My tomatoes and other veggies are doing well, but I used pine chips from Tractor Supply as mulch on them. The flowers with the GroMulch on top of the bed seem to be growing very slowly. I also have trouble with seedlings in the GroMulch-amended potting soil. I live just North of Joshua Tree National Park, so I have to water almost daily. The black color really heats up the beds, and dries out quickly. I am going to use pine chip mulch over the GroMulch to try and keep the bed surface from getting so hot. I would not use GroMulch if any alternatives were available that I could afford.

Bought 15 bags put in beds will NEVER use again worst plants ever had

I've used a ton of Kellogg's garden and raised bed soil over the years because it's the best deal at Lowe's in terms of volume for price. I never really questioned what might be in it until this year when a wood chip with blue paint on it caught my eye. Within days I found dozens more like it. (Blue chips are actually pretty easy to spot especially when watering.) I informed Kellogg and they responded quickly that it was probably the result of grinding up pallets, and that it was unacceptable. They refunded me. Then a few weeks later I bought another batch that was created from a different lot that had been produced months later than the previous batch and I discovered the same thing: wood chips with blue paint on them. Worse, since then I've paid more attention to the soil and found lots of little plastic pieces and even something that looks like an elastic band. I collect them in a little baggie and will attach a photo. Very disappointing to know how much plastic garbage I now have in my "organic" garden soil and what low standards and false advertising goes on. What else is in there that I don't know about yet?

I just tried it this year and it's really bad I'll go back to miracle grow I'm reall not wanting to spend my time and money on it to get nothing ya know I love love houzz products and I know that this isn't dont take me wrong I jus love my fresh vegetables and I dont have them this year will never use it again

It is crap I've waisted these vegetables and not happy

Odd that my 20+ years of using Kellogg soil products have never turned up a single problem!! But then I purchase it under a different label - Gardner and Bloome - and are these only sold through independent nurseries and garden centers, never the box stores. As with most plants and many gardening products sold through the boxes, the quality there is obviously inferior.

I used both Happy Frog and Kelloggs outdoor potting soil for bumping up tomato plants. Happy Frog was the winner by a long shot!

I love how this discussion is still going strong 11 years later....

I think it REALLY depends on the batch, the bags I got last year (All natural n'rich) were perfect, the ones I got today (after waiting weeks - hello covid) is an extremely stinking mix (ammonia) with lots of piece and bits (including metal wrapper (like in cigarette containers), plastic strips, painted plywood... Not thrilled..... (They did offer to reimburse the cost)

I've had great results with Kelloggs patio plus. Yeah it smells a little poopy but hey ,fertilizer is a good thing as long as it doesn't burn our plants . I'm actually experimenting today with Kelloggs and Bkack Gold. 5 plants going in the Kelloggs and 5 plants in the Black Gold.

So does anyone have any experience with Black Gokd soil . Back in the 89s it's the only soil my uncle used in his indoor grows.

Wow, I can't believe this thread is still on the front page! I asked this 11 years ago, when I was just getting started gardening with my very first raised bed, and now have more than a decade of gardening experience under my belt - time flies! I wish I'd remembered this thread existed, since I just went out to purchase 2 bags of Kellogg's Patio Plus on Friday...I probably would've gone with the other recommendations instead of purchasing the same thing, but my memory is, apparently, fairly short. Well, fingers crossed that the new strawberries I plunked into it aren't too picky.

Kellogg's is usually produced close to where it is sold, so what I get in So Cal may be slightly different than what people get thousands of miles away. Us the right product for your purpose, for example Patio Plus for containers and GroMulch as a lawn topper. Gardner and Bloome is their more premium product and sold at independent nurseries.

Ha! I was hoping to find out which, if any of the Kellogg's products drained the best! Now I'm skeered to ask!! But I will anyway.....anybody out there know?

My favorite soil brand Just Natural organic soil was replaced by Kellogg's. Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's removed all other brands and replaced everything with this brand. I personally do not like this brand. It doesn't promote worms in my garden.

If it smells like ammonia, return it. The smell could be from contaminated manure from cows that were fed tons of antibiotics, which destroys their gut bacteria and may contain salmonella.

The ammonia smell is due to the product being anaerobic....enclosed, damp and lacking oxygen. Unless specifically labeled as a manure, Kellogg products do not contain cow manure.

If due to manure, an ammonia smell is hardly indicative of contamination. Manure has urea, which naturally breaks down into ammonia. Ideally that ammonia has already been nitrified into soil nitrates, in which case the smell would be gone, so an ammonia smell may well indicate incomplete composting. Just don't eat the stuff, and you'll be fine.

Yesterday my husband bought two bags of the Kellogg Organic Garden Soil from Ace Hardware. I open the bag today to spread it on my plants and I noticed there were blue pieces in it so it looks like blue painted wood chips as well as one piece of blue and gold wood and also a blue piece of plastic. I did notice the whole bag had this in it so I did not open the second bag if he’s going to return it also I did complain to the company via email. I took the blue pieces out as best as I could and used it as mulch since I had already dumped it out in my wheelbarrow. It’s pretty much like mulch anyway, huge pieces of wood, I would not call this soil. Also it does not smell. I think it’s just wet wood chips from a questionable source.

Interesting timing on this. This week I had to just about jackhammer compacted Kellog potting soil from a pot it was wedged in. It had been in a part of a landscape that was getting flooded and before we could repair that issue, the deal was done. You could use this stuff as adobe right now...or dang near close to it!! Buyer Beware! Oh and I see I asked the question prior to using several bags of this, Not sure if I was insufficiently warned or not, but there's my answer. Will NOT do it again.

Update on the Kellogg garden soil. A customer service rep contacted me and requested the lot codes and photo. They will be looking into it and I will be getting a refund. I found two more types of plastic in the mix, what looked like shredded, clear vegetable produce bag

and a hard piece of plastic of some sort and of course a lot more blue painted wood.

I did not open second bag. If it were not for the trash in it it could be used as mulch, at least for non-edible items. Who knows what else is in it. I’m using rice straw right which the earwigs love :(

Oh, for heaven's sake!! Way too much ado about nothing!! Compost made at commercial composting facilities that recycle yard waste often have bits and pieces of assorted junk included - plastic, glass, sometimes nails, bark chunks and bits of wood, etc. It's because homeowners seem unable to distinguish between compostable yard waste and garbage and the scale of these operations preclude sifting out all the extraneous stuff. That doesn't for a heartbeat mean that the product cannot be used in the garden or as a mulch, even with edibles. It's not going to poison your plants!!

Get a grip, people!!

The photo shows little wood pieces... oh no!

Also plastic is literally EVERYWHERE. So if a few tiny pieces make it into your compost, please don't have a heart attack, no offense.

You're literally paying for 99.99999% NOT TRASH.

ANYWAYS, the only time I use Kellogg's is if I mix it with something else. I usually use it as a filler in raised gardens and I try to find some good free soil to mix it with. Last year I got lucky and a person from Huntington Harbor in Huntington Beach was giving away a couple tons of beautiful BLACK native soil with earth worms which used to be wetland/ bog soil before we came here and ruined it with our dirty plastic infested society. Right?

The more you guys accept being sold junk, the more you‘ll get it. It’s metallic-painted wood pieces. Do you know what kind of paint? No. Do you know what kind of plastic? No. It is labeled organic SOIL. It’s riddled with it. I’ll bet you’re boostered up to your eyeballs and triple-masked, too.

The US military uses blue painted oak pallets. I wouldn't knowingly use their ground up pallets in my veggie garden.

Lots of our food comes wrapped and or packaged in plastic. If you don't like plastic touching your food, you're in big trouble. As to pieces of glass, you can also cut yourself on a shard of rock. I've done it. As to paint, you're deluding yourself if you have a garden bed near a house and you think the soil doesn't have any paint in it.

I'm not so much worried about the paint on the pallets, but what was stored on them for many years, or decades in some cases.

If it's mulch your after, just go to the city after tree trimming co's drop of their bits. I wouldn't want all that extra crap either. I've never seen anything but good mulch there...and it's free or cheap. Bring your own bags.

You guys are all in, huh? lol. “plastic is everywhere, theres paint on nearby houses...” blah blah blah You are welcome to use it. Last I checked I have the freedom to choose what I want to use and the freedom to have an opinion. The thread was about this particular line. So I commented. I never expected to be scrutinized by The Ministry of Garden Truth over my Wrongthink on not using a specific bagged soil. I honestly thought the Ace brand Garden Soil was better, but it was $7.99 cu/foot. I’m done with this craziness. BTW that was interesting about blue pallets pallets, I didn’t know that. Take care, all.

Nobody is telling you what to use. We're just telling you that your reasons for not using soil with bits of plastic and flecks of paint don't make a lot of sense to us. Yes, it is sloppy of Kellogg to sell that stuff, but I'm not going to freak out over it. Have a nice day, and enjoy your freedom. Your opinions are always welcome. As are ours.

@jaceymae Thank you for the tip! :) I was actually after good, dark, rich soil to plant in for new raised beds. We live in a very harsh environment here so I used the native soil mixed with compost over rice straw for a base but wound up using an ACE garden soil layer to plant in. I ran out and hubby thought he was doing well by grabbing what he did. So now I have a layer of the Kellogg soil over that around the plant bases. Every time I see a blue piece I pick it out.

If you were in Texas I'd advise Texas Native Soil compost blends...It actually mellows out into some pretty cake mix looking stuff....wasn't always the case, but it has been this year. Not sure why. But before the only thing I disliked was chunks of clay from time to time. I don't see that so much anymore. THANK YOU TEXAS NATIVE GUYS! Much appreciated! Cottonseed Compost also mellows out the soil pretty well, I think it's called Back to Nature now. It can be used as a mulch.

I use Kellogg raised bed bags mixed in with MiracleGro bags. Has been doing well for me in grow bags this season so I'll be using it in my new raised beds too. I'll also be throwing in Black Kow & EarthGro manure too.

Are your growbags in the ground? I too used Kellogg with some Little Gem Magnolias. I used it straight and now I wish I'd mixed it. Wondering it I top dressed with something like compost it might improve the consistency. There was a water leak in the area and they got superwet for an extended period. I thought I'd lost them, but the leaves that dropped are not resprouting and I even saw a bloom today, so maybe will be ok.....still..

This year has been a total bust because I used this soil. Green bean leaves were chlorotic, tomatoes and potatoes grew very tall and thin with no produce. The cucumbers were supposed to be long thin burpless ones but the 3 I got were short, fat and seedy. The perennials were not happy either. No amount of fertilizer or amendments helped. HORRIBLE STUFF!!

bought kellogs 2 cu.ft. soil at home depot for a little over $ 10.oo a bag

Bought 3 huge bags of the potting soil to fill planters for seeds already started. Also repotted some houseplants with it. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAS THRIVED IN IT! I am a bit of a green thumb, so seeing just the plants in the Organic Plus struggle let's me know it's the soil. It packs down and dries out quickly. Although I have fed everything, I'm going to have to excavate my seedlings and plants and replace most of the soil with my tried-and-true Miracle Gro soil and hope for the best. But it's put my plantings way behind where they should be by now...

I used it to plant some beautiful magnolias in grow bags. They are still alive but never thrived. I intend to redo the whole thing but stil not sure what the best amendment will be. Kellogg's was a real disappoinment.

My garden is far from thriving! It’s almost all like mulch. I have replaced all of my basil 3 times my lettuce never grew carrot seeds are 1 inch tall and I planted them the week before Mother’s Day. Red onions are dying off and and are as thin as a pencil. Nothing grows in this stuff! So disappointed!

I use Kellogg Patio Mix. I sift out the courser stuff and add some fine perlite and use it for my vegetable seed starting mix. I amend my used container mix. I use it as is. I have never had an issue with Patio Mix.

I usef the raised bedbmix last year for my veggies and perennials. Everything did awful. This spring I dug a lot out to plant my veggies and so far all is doing well. my perennials are doing better as I was not able to dig that soil out So I think that whatever the contaminant was has leached out. I do not recommend their products. They eould mot tell me what the problem was when I called.

I purchased because it had all the ingredients I was looking for in a potting soil for cannabis plants. Unfortunately I stunted every plant because it retains moisture way too much. I would water every 4-5 days and the soil was still wet! Found out too late

I used Kellogg raised bed and container mix for the first time this year, filled three half whiskey barrels with it. Planted container and bush varieties of squash, beans, carrots, tomatoes - and NOTHING did well. Nothing. The squash never set any female blooms, bush beans produced only enough beans for about 4 servings at dinner, carrots grew 2" tall and just stopped growing, container variety of corn grew short, set tassels nicely but no ears until 3 weeks later. Genovese basil and marigolds stayed small, and even a good-sized patio tomato plant produced only ONE tomato all summer. (My in-ground plants produced a bumper crop, as did eggplants and peppers.) The mix seems to have a lot of wood chunks in it, and I've pulled out bits of blue plastic. Not impressed!!

I’m a professional gardener and have used gardner and bloom potting soil for ornamental containers. It’s way to light and doesnt hold moisture well at all. i ended up having to dump all the pots and change to a soil mix that has more compost in it. if you do use it i suggest adding 30% compost to it

HU-683..... As a professional gardener, I am slightly surprised you are not aware of the issues of adding a readily decomposable ingredient (compost) to a container potting soil, especially as much as 30%!! There is no doubt at all that it will increase water retention but to the point that it will jeopardize good aeration and root development.

The Gardner and Bloome soil is primarily bark based so not too light at all and what professional growers and wholesalers recommend for a quality potting soil.

I might direct you to the Container Gardening forum for more discussions on suitable container soils for both indoor and outdoor use.

No real problem with lot of compost, except that in time, it will dramatically shrink. Will need to top it up frequently. For that reason, large doses of compost work best in in-ground beds rather than containers. Adding compost to your soil improves its ability to accept and store water. It also helps aerate it. Most extension services recommend 30% or more, even for containers.

Extension services are rarely on top of progressing horticultural trends, specially those that deal with container planting and container potting soils. Compost is NOT an advised addition!

Well, that's a striking comment that extension services are not current on horticultural trends, but it makes some sense that they might not be an ultimate authority on container gardening. In their literature, though, they don't hesitate in making pronouncements about optimal soil structure for containers. With regard to advice on container soils, what literature is best?

I filled three new whiskey barrels with the "organic" raised bed and planter mix last year - first time I've ever used any Kellogs product. Didn't really like the look of it (I worked 12 years for a greenhouse and was used to the lovely commercial mix we used there)... I sure wish I'd seen this thread first!! I've grown in barrels with nice success over the years, but NOTHING I planted in that soil did well. Carrots never grew beyond 2" tall, no taproot to speak of. One healthy, stocky bush tomato plant produced ONE tomato and died. (A cherry tomato did semi-ok, but they're half a weed anyway.) Three different dwarf/bush type squash plants, and only one female bloom the whole season. Green beans failed to yield, I picked enough for one meal for two people. Container variety of corn got about 2' tall, and tasseled weeks before any ears appeared. Swiss chard, planted in the fall, got about 4" tall and stalled. Nasturtiums, bought in 3" pots, just stalled and never bloomed. Even my marigolds stayed tiny. The only thing that flourished was some chocolate mint, and after reading this thread I think I'll just pull it up and start again with some other kind of soil!! I'm going to be pulling all the Kellogs junk out of my barrels this spring and using it as fill dirt where I don't plan to plant anything important. Hopefully grass will grown in it...

daninthedirt, it does depend on the specific extension service but no, they do not always reflect current information. You will find various extension services still recommending amending planting holes and that has been proven to be an outdated and no longer advised practice. Ditto with staking trees.

For good and accurate advice on container soil media, I'd look at bonsai sites as well as whatever greenhouse/nursery/grower literature you can find. Also, the Container Gardening forum has some excellent data as well.

As to difficulties some seem to have experienced with the Kellogg products, all we can go by is what the users relate......whether the poor plant performance is due to the soil issues or to some other factor is simply not known and unverified. Since the actual formulation of these products will vary according to the region in which the are produced and sold, it is difficult to assess if the regional formulations are somehow defective or otherwise of poor quality. All I can say is that I've been using these products for more than 25 years and have never encountered any of the issues described above. And most of my gardening is done in containers.