Not all commercial bagged soils are created equally and IME, you pay for what you get :-) So I would be very unlikely to purchase any soil from Lowes or Home Depot or similar outlet and instead get a quality soil from a nursery, garden center or bulk supplier.

Can you provide additional info? Was this soil used for an inground garden or for raised beds? Brand name? List of ingredients?

Although I guess it is possible, I know of no bagged soils that include uncomposted manures. I'd guess the smell you are detecting is from anaerobic conditions - plastic bagged soil sitting out in wet weather = anaerobic conditions.

I recently transplanted my small container Tomato plants into slightly larger containers with the same mix- PNW’s OWN Organics Raised Bed Mix. In a single week they are not looking great. Next step was to transfer them to large Pots With the same mix. After a closer look it appears to me that the mix is insufficiently decomposed and is a poor choice for container mix. I will only use it as a surface mulch.

use it as a top dressing or compost.. which it is ...

mulch is a different thing.. with different purposes .. usually weed suppression and water management ...

when you use the words properly .. all of a sudden it can all start making sense ... and trust me.. it only took me a decade to understand.. lol ...

btw gal .. some bigbox do carry bales of promix and the ilk .. proper engineered medias ... but i agree on parking lot bags of crap .. literally in this case.. being marketed as potting media ...

a good media is a water management system.. designed to hold what a given plant needs.. and shedding excess .. and you chose the media appropriate to the plant.. e.g. you dont use a cactus mix on water loving plants .. and vice versa ...

never forget. .the most important thing in a pot.. is the media.. not the plant ..

ken

ps: its all marketing mumbo jumbo ... aka.. BS .. again ... in this case.. literally .. lol ...

Everthing I planted with this is not doing good at all. Powdery mildew, which I've never had that problem before. Veggies are yellow a

nd weak looking. I used about 8 bags of it and my flowers and veggies are horrible. Never again. I bought it because well I live in Wa and I thought it would be good per the name. I'm dumb...

Sorry, but you can't blame the powdery mildew on the soil mix. One has nothing to do with the other.

The stuff is a product of Swanson's Bark and Wood Products in Longview and supposedly uses "recycled organics"....which I assume is primarily composted yard waste. How well it has been composted may have an impact and also whatever other ingredients are involved. Does the label spell out the contents at all?

I don't have the bags. They're gone. I've never had any problems until I used this kind this year. It's a real bummer. I'm not an expert, just a little backyard gardener that enjoys growing veggies and flowers. I changed to this soil and my plants have never been so unhealthy.

Powdery mildew, in my experience, is a weather and watering dependent issue. Around here, it usually occurs in July-August when the leaves (usually phlox in our yard) get wet, either from splashing or watering, especially when touched or bumped when wet.

It could be the weird weather this year more than the soil you used. It's been unusally hot out there, right? It hits here in the heat of the summer ...

Powdery mildew development is actually impeded by water so splashing or wetting the leaves can help to prevent the issue, not encourage it. It is very much temperature and humidity related, so mid to late season when soils are dry but humidity high - especially at night - tends to be the ideal incubation environment.

Huh, guess I was going on what I've noticed but know little about its actual growth triggers. Good to know!

Its a shame you choose quantity over quality! I planted my garden in PNW raised bed soil and my garden turned yellow and died. I

will never use PNW again, very disappointed in it!!