Authentic Ladbrooke Maxi Soil Blocker, One 4" Block Per Press, England

8 soil blocks fit in a standard 1020 nursery tray. This is a great tool for potting up seedlings that you want well established before moving outside. Be aware that this much soil gets a bit heavy and can overload flimsy 1020 trays. I've found that Bootstrap Farmer trays hold up best.

I have been starting seedlings indoors for a few years now, and I really dislike using seedling trays. They are cheap, break, and they take forever to clean and store. Not to mention they are plastic and not great for the environment. I wanted to try soil blocking to see if my starts really are healthier and if I could avoid the junky plastic seedling trays. YES! It is all true. I love soil blocking for so many reasons. If you are thinking about trying it, I would suggest starting with the 1.5" inch maker first. You will quickly want to get all of the larger and smaller sizes. I really love using the smaller blocks and nexting them in the next size up as needed. I have found it very helpful to use my fingers to press the soil into the crevises of the blocker and rinse the blocker between each block/set of blocks you are making! Soil blocking is very doable and fun. I use 1/2 seed starting mix, 1/2 nice potting soil, a scoop or worm castings, and water to make my soil blocks. You can totally do this and you will love it.

Cheaper to buy the tool rather than paying for someone else's labor.

Had a design flaw. The part on the inside moves when you're plunging it out and ruins the soil block 75% of the time

Makes a block that can be put in a 4" pot if you're planting in them. Otherwise just put in the ground. You need quite a bit of soil to pack it but does the job well. Well built.

I tried with different mixes of soil, all supposedly made for soil blockers and this large blocker is too large plus it is not put together well; the inside plug is crooked and might well be why the block does not hang together. Am going to try and return it as damaged goods as it was very expensive.

Let's get this out of the way first- $90+ for a device that eliminates using plastic pots for your seedlings. I haven't even tried to figure out the math of how many times you would have to use it to break even! However, if you're seriously thinking about purchasing the 4" Maxi you're more concerned with other factors such as the environmental impact and the ease of transplanting your veggies. Soil-blocking is a lot of fun! Instead of buying plastic pots which will be around forever you use the actual soil itself to contain the seedling. This is done by using a special blend(there's many recipes online) of soil that needs to stay moist so it doesn't crumble. The other benefit is that the roots air-prune themselves instead of twisting-up into a ball in your plastic pots. This makes upsizing/transplanting much easier for the delicate plant. The Maxi 4" in this review is the largest size I've seen. I'm currently using this size for my squash, peppers, and melons that I can't keep outside permanently(it's still frosting at night here in early May). The block holds enough soil to give your plants room to grow and has an indentation at the top sized perfectly for a 2" block to fit. It's heavy-duty and will last a long time if you remember to rinse it off and dry it after use. The only drawback of it(and the reason for the 1 star deduction) is, as others have stated, it takes A LOT of soil to fill! If you're going to use it a bunch( and hopefully you will after spending almost $100) you'll want to make your own recipe of soil instead of buying the pre-made stuff. 4 stars for a solid blocker! Jae

I need to get my soil consistency correct, but this works well so far. Sturdy construction