Seed-Starting & Transplanting

How to Use the Johnny's 72-Cell Soil Blocker

With the mechanical advantage of our patent-pending design, it is now possible to produce full 72 block trays in less than two minutes each.

  1. To get started, set the 72-cell grid on a 1020 tray. Fill the cells with soil. Thump the tray once to settle the soil. Refill cells.
  2. With the cells evenly loaded with soil, set the tray on the tray support of the soil blocker. Slide the tray to the back of the soil blocker, then pull the handles forward to compress a full tray of soil blocks in one gradual motion.
  3. When the handles reach their limit, the tray of 72 soil blocks will be fully compressed and ejected from the grid. Lift the handles gradually to raise the plungers through the grid and remove the tray.
  4. The 72-cell tray is ready for seeding.

Adjusting the compression level.

The level of compression applied to the soil blocks can be increased or decreased by adjusting the height of the tray support.

  • Increase Soil Compression

    To increase soil compression, in a counter clockwise direction, loosen and raise the four nuts above the tray support and set the four nuts at even heights.

    Then adjust the four nuts below the tray support up to secure the tray support at a new higher height. Trial a tray of soil blocks to ensure proper compression before securing nuts against tray support tightly.

  • Decrease Soil Compression

    To decrease soil compression, in a clockwise direction, lower the four nuts evenly below the tray. The support tray will drop and rest at a new lower height. Then adjust the four nuts above the tray support to secure the tray support.

Trial a tray of soil blocks to test compression level before securing the nuts against the tray support tightly.

Learn more about the 72-Cell Commercial Soil Blocker