Great Buy or Crap? Sta-Green garden soil NOT FOR POTTED PLANTS
Let’s take a look at Sta-Green flower and vegetable garden soil with fertilizer and see if it’s a great Buy or a piece of crap.
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February 9, 2026
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"Harmony in Every Heartbeat
Let’s take a look at Sta-Green flower and vegetable garden soil with fertilizer and see if it’s a great Buy or a piece of crap.
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I wasted a growing season trying to save a few bucks with this garbage, so demoralizing to watch all your plants struggle then DIE.
Here in West Central Florida I won't buy anything but Sta-Green. It feeds for up to 6 months.
Miracle grow is crap. It only feeds up to 3 months, if that.
However, the best soil I have ever found was to make my own. I go to the recycling center and pickup mulch. Then sift it down. The soil produced requires the addition of some fertilizer and Black Cow but out performs anything store bought.
Made the mistake of purchasing this soil instead of the miracle grow option for raised garden beds as it was 50% off this past week. I WILL NOT BE MAKING THAT MISTAKE AGAIN! THE PRODUCT WAS LOADED WITH TRASH AND I FOUND A FRIG'N SOCK IN THE BAG! Definitely not an organic or vegetable option.
I screen all my purchased soil. I find a lot of junk in it such as pieces of plastic, wire, glass over size chunks of wood etc.
Please screen a bag-full of this "soil" through 1/2" hardware cloth and show us the stuff that remains.
As a new gardner my biggest concern is whether this soil is safe to grow my fruits and vegetables. I understand it isn't organic but i don't want harsh chemicals in my food if i can help it.
Great Video , very informative
I've used this for the past two years. Roma tomatoes and Serrano chilis. I use it with 10 gallon grow bags and 3 gallon nursery pots. I like it. Miracle grow is a let down these days.
Miracle grow is a lumber yard. Los Angeles
I bought 60 cubic feet of it for my raised beds for $2 a cubic feet . I added peat moss to it
The 2024 bags smell unlike anything I've ever smelled as far as "soil". I planted three plants without gloves and it made me itch like crazy. I didn't have any good feelings as soon as I smelled it and hope the reviews about it killing your plants or plants dying in this stuff, isn't true… but wouldn't be surprised.
I used this for my container tomatoes this year, it worked excellent!
turns hard as concrete
it don't qualify as soil
Can I use this for my watermelon and pumpkin plants
The only brands that I use from the store for potting soil of gardening would be G&B Organic, Kellogs or Whitney Farms products. Most of the time I buy a big bale of Peat Moss which is more sustainable than Coco Coir and mix that with Manure/Compost Blend from the store, with Perlite and Vermicululite then add in some organic fertilizer and then put a layer of mushroom compost or worm castings on top. Much higher quality.
I bought some of these bags because it seemed like and good deal and thought how bad could it be from a large retailer like this. Foolish foolish me. As a professional landscape architect I should have known better. This appears to be mulched toxic wood. It smells like literal shit. Normal dirt is fragrant, but not like shit. Among the thing I found in the bags I bought were mold, mushrooms, gnat eggs, rocks, and part of a torn plastic bag. Shame on whoever made this and slapped a label on it. It will kill your plants.
Interesting video. After trying different bagged soils, Sta-Green is all I use.
Last year I started to use Espoma with Bio tone for vegetables and had a fantastic experience. Vegetables still into late fall. So it does help to use a great organic fertilizer with it.
Have used this for years but this year I had a problem with my vegetables leaves turning brown and dying even with watering every 2 days. This and city water are the only differences this year.
UGA extension tested Sta-green soil nutirent contents etc amongst a few others and supports your conclusion – examines water retention, P & K, pH etc https://extension.uga.edu/content/dam/extension-county-offices/henry-county/anr/AG%20Poster.pdf
This soil has been terrible! None of my plants have grown hardly at all, in spite of ample watering, supplemental fertilizer & sun. My sister's garden, using the exact same plant varieties (I started them for her) was planted weeks after mine in Miracle Grow soil & has been neglected entirely & is fruiting prolifically! Do not waste your money on Sta-Green.
This stuff wasn't a good selection for me. I found that the bag more closely resembled mulch, and generally was a poor choice for me. I think this is a great mix in bag for in ground soil, but for raised beds or pots, this is absolutely a no go. AVOID at all costs unless you have a soil that needs these items mixed in. I'm returning the other bags I purchased and exchanging for miracle grow or a specific raised bed mix.
There's no soil there, my friend. Your review is bogus. It looks like mulch. It is mulch. You can't plant in all alone. You have to add this to your garden soil as an amendment. Might as well by coco coir or peat moss. There's no nutrition beyond the trace amounts of fertilizer which measures in the 100ths of a percent. This stuff killed everything I planted in it.
Lowes had this dirt on sale 3 bags for $10. It was not water log and easy for me to puck up. So I bought @20 to 30 bags for a new raised bed and flowers. It was terrible. My flowers did not do well. My veggies were also terrible. I had to a lot of other stuff in it. I put extra fertilizer and bone meal in it and some things still did poorly. I've been gardening for 50 yrs and I've never had such an awful garden. I must say I've just started doing raised beds and so it is different
I bought two bags of this stuff and one was full of termite larva.
I tried the conversion but still confused…how many lbs./bag? Thx
Thank you for the information.
Do you know if earthworms will survive in it?
Your this video is helpful.
1.Can I add some top soil, perlite and compost to it? 2. By using organic fertiliser and organic seeds with this sta garden soil, can I get organic final product?
Because I have this 2 bags with me.
Hi new subscriber ! and new Gardner here and I really like your is it good or is it crap videos LOL I would love to see one on the potato grow bags I would like to try them but I’m just not sure 🤔 (The ones with the windows on them)
Very informative and good review. It’s about time to get my soil prepped and ready to go for my tomatoes