Micro 20

When I opened the package, I was surprised at how small the unit is. Perhaps I should have looked at all the pictures of it that Amazon provides.It took me about half an hour to get my soil's consistency right. After that, I can say that it makes neat little blocks that hold together well. Germination time is good. I'm glad I bought it.

I ended up not using this. I bought it with the 4-Soil Block Maker. It seemed extra work to plant seeds in a small soil cube and the insert it into the bigger soil cube when the seedling outgrew the small cube. I planted my seeds in the 4-Soil Block Maker and they did great. I love that one! Easy transplanting and healthy seedlings. I may try to use this next year with tiny seeds.

Quality is great, but I wouldn't recommend this for most gardeners. The squares it makes are so small as to be pretty much useless in almost any instance. The next size up is perfect.

It’s too small and the cubes always falls apart. Useless. I follow the instructions and online videos on how to make these cubes but this small size should never be attempted. The bigger size works better but I got curious and got burn for my curiosity

This little guy is awesome. It's very well built like Ladbrooke's other soil block makers. I've had success with very small seeds with this one, like foxglove and snap dragon seeds. I tried some lupine seeds but they seemed to be too big for this size soil block. They had a tough time penetrating the soil since they weren't deep enough into the block. So I'll use the larger blocks for seeds that are larger. Lesson learned. I had pretty good luck with these blocks rooting well and being ready to pot up to the next size blocks in a couple weeks. I can fit 300 micro soil blocks into a 10X20 tray, so if they don't sprout, not much wasted space.Here are a few tips for you: I use regular 10X20 trays for these. Since the bottoms are ribbed I needed something flat to put the soil blocks on. I used some corrugated plastic sheets and cut them to size. You can usually find them at a big box hardware store near the glass. I make the soil blocks on the sheet first then put them into the trays. If you need to put a temperature probe for a heating mat you can just put it underneath the corrugated sheet.Keep in mind that these little blocks can dry out quick if the tray is not covered. So spray them with a spray bottle of water daily to make sure they don't dry out. For the micro blocks I use a mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and a touch of composted manure for my mix. So once it's dry it's hard to get it thoroughly re-wetted.

Micro blocks are set too close together. Wished they made it with a thicker plastic. Indentation at the top is almost nonexistent to place seeds. Once it is up and ready to be pot up, the plant is barely anchored in the soil, root system is good but the delicate part where the seed germinated and sent out the first leaves is easy to snap off. Potting up using the soil block system doesn't remedy this unless you plant it out in the garden or in a container. Which then defeats the purpose of trying to not use containers. Flawed design. Better to use the next size up for all seeding. Also the soilmix needs to be finer and just right to get good soil blocks. The larger size soil block makers (1.5 & 2 inch) are much more forgiving on the soil mix.

Only one problem, indentation for seed could be shaped a little differently. Maybe a little deeper.

My third year of using soil blocks and they just work better. The plants come up faster (I use Eliot Coleman's recipe) healthier, and the process is much faster. Best part besides healthier plants is no pots, no waste. The blockers themselves are sturdy and last. Go for it!