LadbrookeAuthentic Soil Block Maker Micro 20 Hand Held, Made in England

This soil blocker is the prefect size for starting lettuce and herbs! It works well and is very sturdy. Whether you're just getting into gardening or a seasoned pro, this soil blocker is a game changer.

This is a seedling game changer!!works amazingly

I had never used a soil block before. This product is very well made and easy to use.Do not use potting mix for it has to many larger chunks. If you do sift it first and mix with good compost and worm casting and moisten well with warm water. Also when loading the soil blocker load it tight and thick so the seedlings will have something for the roots to grasp to. I made over 1300 square blocks and it only filled 3 of my 4’ shelves. After the seeds pop and about 1/2 have sprouted move them off the heat mats to the grow lights. Water EVERY morning, they are so small they dry out in 24 hours. On occasion I have sprayed with water the top of the block where the seed is to keep them moist until sprouting when on the heat mat.

beginner gardener, new to soil blocking. not new to using tools! this is a tool that's a good design overall, pretty self explanatory, and simple enough to use. i've started 1000 seeds using this blocker this season. tiny seeds like gomphrena or lisianthus, to zinnias and carrots... all my carrots even germinated and transplanted well; i live in montana and frost kept putting off my transplanting! i was absolutely bewildered that everything could survive for so long in a tiny micro soil block. amazing.specific tool experiences: one side of the handle popped out of the plastic base, somewhere around the 20th block set made. quite frustrating because of course it only breaks when you're in the middle of the mud. after thorough cleaning and the application of some two part epoxy, it works well again, and held up through the remainder of the season.the base and cube form is made of plastic. it would be such a massive design improvement if it were metal. the plastic assembly has some very weak points that i feel don't have enough material and will crack over time even with careful use. therefore (and in consideration of the cost of the item) i don't believe it can be considered a very long term investment. also, each cube edge has a bit of a lip of plastic from the manufacturing process, which can cause issue if larger bits of twig or bark get caught on the lip. i shaved the edge off the worst ones with a hobby knife and it seems to have helped as the blocks release better now. do follow their advice and use a very fine soil blend to avoid stuck and crumbling blocks.my last suggestion and a caption to my photo added: get some "friendly plastic" (moldable boil and set pellets) and smash some around the metal handle if you're going to do more than a few sets of blocks. it really makes a world of difference having a bigger ergonomic handle.overall i certainly wouldn't call it a piece of junk as i've seen in some of the other product reviews, but it is a tool that does require a bit of patience to use. after consideration now that the growing season is over, i've updated my review to 4 rather than 3 stars. if you need a micro blocker, you will be happy enough with it. i would love to see this being manufactured with a sheet metal base instead of plastic, because then it would be worth 5 stars.

I LOVE this thing. It’s easy to use, it moves well, it seems to be made really well. These plug into the 2” blocker when you up pot your seedlings. My seeds germinated and grew so much better with the 3/4 blocks. 10/10

My first try soil blocking. Made own non- peat soil mix (2 vermiculite, 2 coco coir, 3 worm castings) which worked fine, though the worm castings were a little sticky and I had to rinse the blocker each time for all the blocks to push out clean. The blocker looks reasonably durable, but I can see how some people have had the metal handle separate from the plastic grid-- though there are YouTube videos of farmers who have made thousands of blocks with these. This is much easier than cell plug trays. The three quarter inch size is tiny, but I'm growing tiny wildflower seeds, which I expect won't need potting up for a month, so this makes efficient use of my very limited window/ grow light space. It feels expensive at $36, but I'm not buying plastic plug trays, which are about $10 each at home depot, so I'm already ahead first season. I was curious about the all- metal Swift Blocker nano for $89, but I'd say this is better value. This is also easier than packing a flat tray with soil, seeding it, and picking seedlings out with a spoon to pot up, so I'm excited about the concept.

This blocker is handy, yes but for the price is not near the quality I would expect. I felt like I was playing with a kids play dough thing that squeezes out spaghetti 'dough' noodles and such. My media was finely screened, well prepared and this went all but 3 block sets before it became where it needed to be fixed.The pressing platform as a whole became loose and unalligned. The individual pressing feet are not entirely uniform and bend easily. This creates a hang up not allowing me to depress the handle as well as getting stuck after finagaling it around to get it to depress.I much dislike complaining but in all honesty- my all plastic kid set playdough shape maker thing made it 10x longer than this and that says a LOT.A 30$ tool meant to ease the beginning aspect of seed starting... (jiffy) peat pod refills are a decent deal after you consider the price of purchasing the fine mixing materials to use with this. Dissatisfied, disappointed and bummed. My DIY homemade chicken syringe injector worked better :/(cut end off of large syringe tube. dirt in.press.boom.done)

Very small. The small dent on top of the tiny cubes is not large enough to put even the tiniest seed. I made many cubes, but couldn't use them. The small cubes move when you try to make room for your seeds, impractical. I kept it because I have a bigger cuber that I can insert these small cubes in, but couldn't plant anything in these small cubes.