API POND AQUATIC PLANT MEDIA Potting Soil For Pond Plants 25-Pound Bag

I never thought I would write a review on pond plant soil, but I am. I obviously have no life. I wish I had used this soil before. I usually bought standard pond soil which was incredibly expensive and messy. Also, had to buy planters with slits so roots could have water flow. With this product, plants have water flow even with regular pots. In fact, instructions on bag suggest sealing any opening. This soil is like gravel. Reminds me of clay cat litter. It isn't messy and won't get under your fingernails. I found out when I rubbed hands together and shook, they were totally clean. It's also a great exfoliator. My nasty dry hands are so smooth now. Although picture shows a 10lb bag, you will get 25lbs. I did anyway. The bag of soil is larger than you can imagine. I assumed I would get some lame compressed pond soil in a small bag as usual. Not so. The bag I got was big. Really big. My plants seem really happy after using this soil. I will update if they die or start looking ill

30 years ago when I started gardening the nursery sold ceramic pellets that looked just like aquatic pond medium. I have heavy clay soil and these pellets were miracle workers for loosening the soil to increase the oxygen potential at plant roots. I noticed that what I planted in the treated soil grew to twice the height of plants in other areas. And it never breaks down--30 years later that original bed is still growing tall plants. I thought nurseries had stopped carrying the product but noticed the API product. It was made from the same "ingredient" of my much loved soil amendment. I have been happily using it ever since and recommend it to my gardening friends.

I have a love/hate thing going with the product. It works as a planting medium that won't float out of the pot and the plants seem to like it. But it's very tiny in size and any time any of the planters tip or spill you'll get this stuff all over the bottom of the pond and it's massively hard to get up. That's an issue if you use a pond vacuum to clean your pond. I use a ClearVac and, no joke, one piece of this is enough to hold open one of the valves and stop the suction. As there are whole planters that have tipped over and spilled, I have millions of pieces of it on the bottom.

I bought a half dozen of these bags online at a great price. The mixture is soil free and after hydrating the dust settles and gives a nice small pebble media that is easy to plant water plants with and will not harm aquatic creatures with sharp edges. Much easier and neater than using clay soil although you'll want to add fertilizer tablets for nutrition. The media is heavy enough to anchor most plants but make sure you don't have pumps near by as it may suck it up. Use in planting tubs for planting water plants to keep contained.

I bought this because I was having difficulty finding a local dealer for pond soil. The plants appear to be doing okay but I've had problem keeping the material in the planting container. The spigot for filling the pond was too close to one of the container so the first time I tried to add water to the pond the material was pushed out of the container onto the pond bottom. Redirecting the spigot and moving the container solved the problem.

This is my second purchase. This stuff is awesome. We re-potted last season and the plants tripled! We are re-potting again this season! Word...if your pots have holes in the bottom lay non-metal screening in the bottom just high enough to cover your drainage holes. This will keep the planting medium from running out of the holes while it is dry. I cut up an old screen door screen.. plastic..perfect! Plus the roots can pop right thru the screen as it growns. For taller plants, I put a brick in the bottom of the pot to keep them from tipping over.

Great product, does exactly what it says and plants love it! If your filter / powerhead intake is on the bottom of your tank / pond, you will need to use common sense and redesign your system as this material is small and will be sucked in. It will also go down the drain of your kitchen sink if you decide to pour it in ( I know, but you will be surprised at the lack of common sense some people display).

Bought this for my 1300 gallon water garden/koi pond. Easy to use, not messy (as like the aquatic soil I bought before with beneficial bacteria mixed in). When you first lower in the pot with this planting media, a cloud of whitish gray dust will come up and quickly disappear. Will not cloud water. I will definitely buy again next year.

Love these stuff as it is clean and now I do not need any soil in my pots, use this and put pebbles on top to grow my Lilies

Good Quality. thank you.

Cloudy for quite awhile, its ok but not good for plants.

Lots of dust even after rinsing.

I wanted plating soil