Tbh my entire propagation station got wrecked by one bad bag of potting mix

Honestly, I was so proud of my setup on the sun porch. I had about 30 cuttings going in little pots, everything from pothos to a fiddle leaf fig. Last month I ran out of my usual mix and grabbed a bag of this cheap stuff from the local garden center. Ngl, it looked fine. A week later, I noticed a weird white fuzz on the soil surface. It was this thick, slimy mold that just took over. I lost over half my babies to root rot before I even realized what was happening. I had to throw out the whole contaminated bag and scrub every single pot and tray with a bleach solution. It set me back almost six weeks of growth. Has anyone else had a brand new bag of soil go bad like that? How do you check it before you use it?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahs451mo ago

Sniff tests never worked for me.

robert_anderson691mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst! I've had that happen with a bag that smelled sour right out of the bag, like rotten eggs. It was way too wet and packed tight. Now I always open it in the store and give it a good sniff before I buy. If it smells like a forest floor, it's good. If it smells like a swamp or a locker room, I put it right back. A quick squeeze test for moisture helps too. Dry and fluffy is what you want.

ross.kevin1mo ago

Oh man, that's brutal! I feel your pain so hard. Last spring I got a bag that looked totally normal, but it was absolutely crawling with fungus gnats. I'm talking clouds of them. It infected my whole indoor herb garden before I caught it. Had to do the whole bleach scrub routine too, and start all my basil and mint over from seed. Now I'm paranoid and poke a small hole in the bag right at the store to check for bugs and smell it. If it's not loose and earthy, I don't buy it.