Raymond Deschenes

March 02, 2022

Verified Purchase

“Today I’d like to thank our sponsors…” effing nobody! This is a TRULY HONEST review.

I bought the 2 cube or 70 pound bag of Happy Frog potting soil (red bag). My pint of dirt, in a self-watering 2 liter, takes about a 1/4 cup of water every 2 days. I did have to pick out some 4-5mm twigs and medium sized mulch pieces off the top of the soil, but it gives me something to do besides misting aka overwatering.

My RH is 16% all over my house, but these self-watering companions bumped me up to 33% on their own in a week. Even with, as I like to call it, “Ass low RH,” my gals still grew just fine in this soil.

Start in a peat pellet and 3 part self-watering tray. When roots expose, take off the paper and transplant to a Jiffy pint with this dirt. A watered pot feels heavy, but a dry pot feels absolutely empty. You’ll get it the first time you pick up a dry pot. If there’s any density, don’t mist or water. A lot of gardening is a healthy amount of permissive neglect. Don’t put the S in mother and never assume they’re dead just because they’re slow.

JodiODO

January 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

I have 20 year old holiday cacti and they don't do as well with regular fertilizer (I usually use fish emulsion), so when I was looing to repot them last year, I tried this. The previous year I had used potting soil with fertilizer in it and my holiday blooms were very large, but there were far fewer than normal. So I decided to try this potting soil. I repotted one of the cacti very late in the summer, so they didn't bloom as well as usual in November, but the other planters bloomed nicely (still recovering a little from the regular fertilizer from the year before). Well, I now have an unusual second bloom with at least 50 buds on that planter. If I leave the plants out in windows (n direct sun, but not dark, cold storage I did for years) I'll normally get an occasional bloom here or there during the winter. But this year? A spectacular show for my least favorite season of the year!

Jessie

May 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

I recently upgraded the size of my soil pots for my plants from the 4"x4" they started in to 2 gallon pots, and I expected some transplant shock. I am very delicate to the plants during this process but with new soil, nutrients, PH changes, and adjustment to water uptake from larger pots, shock is often unavoidable. My plants responded with pleasure. I added a few tablespoons of organic fertilizer and 10% ratio with VermisTerra earthworm castings ( I am a private citizen and do not work for them, but I must say these castings are quality, and that matters, too) and then carefully transplanted all my babies. I could tell the minute I sifted through the heterogeneous mixture that it was going to perform well as a medium. Two days later, and my plants are LOVING IT! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! When they say, " you get what you pay for", this product is the perfect example. I would post pics but... ;)

Nikki

August 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

I have ordered 4 bags, once when they were $42, and then again, reluctantly, when it skyrocketed a few months ago to over $60!! I understand organic soil & nutrients are important, BUT THIS IS DIRT. Have been getting several mushrooms popping up. Plants are growing great, but I’ve since bought other soil and have mixed like 3 together total with my compost tea. So, my review of this product is a bit wonky, but those mushrooms began from the get-go after purchase and the first soil I used for all plants - I haven’t noticed the shrooms damaging crops...but maybe I’m just not educated enough to know if they are slowly damaging crops. Let’s hope not! Began buying organic soil from HD for like $8 a bag. Holy saving money!!! I’m not paying that much for dirt again unless I have a huge farm ?? I can put my dogs “guano” in it if I really want some damn guano ?

86

March 23, 2022

Verified Purchase

I start my hot peppers indoors (on Long Island) in March and then transplant outdoors 2 months later. I used to buy Jiffy seed starting mixture to sow my seeds in cell trays. Then, a couple weeks after they sprout I transplant them into 3.5" starter pots containing Promix or other non-fertilized soil. Then, I would use FoxFarm's Grow Big and Big Bloom fertilizer for the second month until the plants went in the ground outside. NOW: I skip all that madness and use Ocean Forest or Happy Frog to start my seeds and as the growing medium while the plants are inside with NO FERTILIZER required! Super easy and worth the extra expense (cause this stuff ain't cheap).

I just did a 3-month experiment on this at 86peppers dot com. I compared Ocean Forest vs Happy Frog, along with Espoma soil and plain topsoil.

Maddi ?

December 22, 2021

Verified Purchase

I initially wrote a really bad review for this product because I didn't receive it and the seller told me it had arrived.

I see now that we were both told incorrect information, because my soil did eventually arrive two weeks later. In the meantime the seller sent me an entirely new bag free of charge because of the issue with the company handling the shipping; and it arrived faster than the initial bag.

I really appreciated that especially since it wasn't their fault in the first place. I feel bad that it took me so long to update this review because the seller is great and the soil is awesome. My plants are having some explosive growth because of it and I frequently recommend this soil and the shop to people now.

LTJayDee

May 23, 2020

Verified Purchase

It was supposed to come with gloves, but that's fine I wouldn't have used them. Maybe for cleaning the sink or tub maybe. Haha. But it did come with a few finger sized holes towards the bottom. The soil performing nicely. And that's what's important. I didn't have to add nutes for over 3 weeks. I'm almost done with my autos I'm growing in the HP. A couple weeks left maybe. This worked nicely. I buy local compost soil for my outdoor growing, but for indoor something like this maybe with a bottom layer of super soil would be perfect for indoor and you probably wouldn't need to do much in the way of nutes other than maybe supplemental ones like terpene enhancers or molasses for eg.

Tiffanie B

August 02, 2021

Verified Purchase

This soil is fantastic! We use it alone for the majority of our indoor houseplants and they are THRIVING! I was sick recently but wanted something to do so I ordered two bags of the soil to start reporting some plants. Unfortunately only one bag was received. I contacted the seller and they not only responded quickly but they offered to send out a new bag that same day. Funny enough I had a lady contact me letting me know she actually received my second package because the address was slightly cut off on the shipping label so I told the seller there was no need to send a new bag. It was just awesome that they were so willing and easy to work with.

Rick

July 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Very good quality soil, however I did find that the PH is a bit lower than stated; making it a bit acidic. I had to amend with a bit of dolomite lime to bring the PH back up a bit. Additionally my bag did not come with the protective gloves. A bit disappointed because the vendor charges a bit more for this soil then from other online retailers. I thought it was a bit more expensive because of the gloves and was disappointed when I didn’t even get any. I basically paid $10 more ordering it here (including shipping) than I would from another retailer for no reason if I don’t get the additional item. Still happy with the soil though.

pacemax

October 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

Very good soil makes my plants grow really well doesn't compact around the roots. very rich in nutrients.
I really like it better than Miracle Grow and that is what I always used until I found Happy Frog! I've just started using so my tree's and a lot of other plants haven't had much time to shine yet specially which winter coming on and everything going dormant. Wait til next spring when everything comes up and I'll send some pictures got some unusual plants to plant and can't wait to see what they will look like. All I know I wanted a good rich soil and couldn't be happier with Happy Frog