Back to the Roots Succulents & Cacti Mix

Love this stuff!! I have yet to find any Back to the Roots product that hasn't been high quality. I make my own potting soil and use the organic coco coir, perlite, vermiculite and earthworms from Back to the Roots and I am always satisfied! The products are very well priced too!

This stuff is great for starting seeds so that wilt doesn't hit the baby plants. Best to keep it just a little bit on the dry side and water from the bottom. It has little or no nutritional value for the plants so gently fertilize then transfer the babies once the root system is established. It does dry out easily, but little monitoring takes care of that.

Coir is a great, more sustainable alternative to peat as a potting medium. Similar to peat moss, coir is low in nutrients (which is important for seed starting as a nutrient-rich medium increases risk of disease for seedlings), and the texture is almost identical to peat moss. This stuff easily expands 2-3 times its dry volume. As you can see in the photo below, I entirely underestimated how much it would expand. I filled the seed tray with coir pieces to less than the height of the rim of the tray, and at the time I took the photo it was still expanding and coir was falling over the sides. So the brick may seem small initially, but it does give you a lot of growing medium. In the second photo, you can see that I have an almost 90% germination rate with the coir. I am growing different seeds in one tray. In the back row, I am trying to grow Gaura seeds, which are notoriously fickle, and which account for the 10% failure rate. (I do currently have 3 germinated.) I have had zero weed seeds germinate, so I think the medium is sterile, which is good. In the photo you can see some long fibers, but overall I found the coir to be of good consistency and low contamination. I do want to note that the dry coir brick is extremely dense and hard, almost as hard as wood. I would advise using a hammer and chisel to break up the pieces, or a saw.

I bought this to help my indoor sunflowers thrive. I started growing them earlier in the year for my kids when their school plants died. We're in NYC and had originally used wild dirt. In short NYC plants is pretty darn hardy considering the fact our dirt doesn't hold moisture well. I had to essentially water our sunflowers daily in the wild dirt. Cut to this bag of indoor soil, it's holding up well. It came to me premoistened with no pebbles and debris. It does have some tiny wood chips or sticks but it's not a big deal considering this is far better than NYC wild dirt. My sunflowers have been thriving. I don't have to water any where as frequently and I didn't have to enrich the soil as much as I did with the wild. Wild NYC dirt needed so much work to be ok for the sunflowers. I fertilized the soil, added dehydrated fish and spent coffee beans to help enrich the soil for the flowers. I didn't do anything with this brand of soil much to my delight. It's working well for my needs and will reorder should I want to start growing other indoor plants. Update 07/06/2026 I've used this brand on multiple occasions. I've picked it up here and via Home Depo. That said for the most part quality of this potting media has been consistent although some batches has been a bit more excessive in thick sticks than others. My more recent batch for sure was excessive in the wood. Luckily I have a very mature dracaena in a 16in pot that I toss the excessive woody pieces into. I also recently mixed this into Fox Farm's happy frog potting media. Fox includes peat, perlite and coconut chips for aeration. Back to the roots depending on which collection may not have perlite for such. This still holds onto moisture so depending on your watering habits, can cause some root rot. If you don't want to water often and are diligent about checking moisture levels this is a great purchase. I do have some plants is an excessively large pot however I don't water those plants frequently but say once every 2 to 4w depending on the weather. Since the north east did just experience a heat wave with temps exceeding 100 plus degrees I did only have to water deeply once through it. Despite the quality changes, my plants have been doing fine in this media. I usually amend it with my own fertilizer which has allowed my seedings to grow in this medium just fine. I do indoor gardening only. I've been successful in growing cilantro, scallions, basil, sweet potatoes and now carrots in this potting medium. If your seedlings is struggling to grow in this, it is very wise to invest in an appropriate fertilizer to promote healthy roots, vibrant foliage and vigorous growth. While this does come with bare bones fertilizer on it, it is not sufficient enough to sustain heavy feeders and the long term health of tropical houseplants. Lastly, this is one of my favorite very affordable potting mediums. I've refreshed it through the seasons with amendments being more perlite, orchid bark and coconut chips for aeration. I also add in homemade compost for nutrients and long term health of my houseplants. Never throw away your "soil" it can always be reused.

Good soil