Love/hate soil blocking

Last year I learned about soil blocks. In theory I love everything about it.
Last year I bought a 3/4" blocker and experimented with a soil mixed with shredded cardboard. It actually worked quite well.  It held moisture, and the seeds germinated well.  Not wanting to spend the money I made my own larger soil block maker. It was a pain in the rear, was difficult to keep moist the blocks kept falling apart. It just didn't work. I thought it was a combination of my homemade block maker and my soil mix.
This year I used 50/50 sifted compost and seed starting mix ( primarily coco coir).  Surprisingly though it was fine last years blocks with cardboard held together better. But it's a lot easier not to have to make cardboard shreds into paste.  So this is the love part. Relatively easy. Can start a ton of seeds in one tray and great and fast germination.
I bought a 2" 4 block soil blocker.  I used 50/50 sifted compost and coco coir.  No matter how wet it was I had a hard time filling the blocks it just didn't seem to work unless I finished it off by hand. Even then the tops kept coming off. ( I did dip the blocker in water in-between each set). Then even though I put the 3/4" dibbler the hole didn't seem deep enough. So I'm digging out the hole.  After 5 rows of 4 I stopped.  This is the hate part.  
The small blocks don't feel like more work than the seed cells. The large blocks are so much more work than putting soil in a pot, or cup. I love the thought of no plastic, and not having to store the containers ( because if I'm going to use plastic I want to use it as long as I can) but it's so much more work.  Also in theory the soil blocks take up less space, but they kind of have to be on a perforated tray with a solid tray under for bottom watering. If plants are in a pot/cup it can be on anything that holds water.  The blocks are challenging to label. I made labels for each row.  With the containers I write on the container. I can move it around individually, and still know what it is.
So even though my intent was to only use soil blocks this year, I'm back to transplanting the seedlings into pots.
I'm disappointed in myself because I feel soil blocks really are the way to go.
I work full time, have chickens, gardens, and always more projects then time. On top of all this I've been sick.  So getting it done a crummy way is better than not at all.
I have spent a lot of time watching and reading about how to make and use soil blocks. I'm posting this, because you never know when you get that bit of information or tip that makes the difference. A different soil recipe?   I'm open to any help, advice, or opinions. Thanks

This has been my hesitation with soil blocks. You are relying on the soil material and some compaction itself to form your blocks! People do this... so there must be a correct ratio but it doesn't seem plainly spelled out!

I hope someone has some advice. I want to work towards soil blocks too so lets hope this reply bumps this thread up for someone to comment on.

My second hand conclusion from watching LOTS of videos is that a homestead scale it is easier to make mud balls by hand than use the larger blocker.

R Scott wrote:My second hand conclusion from watching LOTS of videos is that a homestead scale it is easier to make mud balls by hand than use the larger blocker.

This is my impression too. That, or just filling a big sturdy tray with the soil mix, pressing it to compact it down and then cutting it into blocks right in the tray, maybe using a thin piece of plywood, kinda like how i make granola bars. Then the soil blocks don't need to be moved until the seedling has a good set of roots and I could lift it out with a spatula.

I haven't actually done this yet because I didn't have a sturdy enough tray. But my husband picked up some cheap but sturdy boot trays that might work.

I bought a classic four-cell block maker something like 25 years ago and tried it a few times and gave up. I was gardening on a very small scale at the time and it wasn't worth putting in the research to figure it out.

Lately, I've been watching this youtube channel of a grower who uses soil blocks and I thought I'd drop some links. I haven't watched all of his older stuff, but in searching for the right video to post here, I found sort of a progression through time. I'm posting them in reverse chronological order because that puts the most useful info up front. But his newest soil-block tool is the Swift Blocker.

His current situation (skip to 5:30 if all you want is soil blocks):


From three years ago:


And from six years ago when he used the little four-cell devices even on a commercial scale:

Hi Jen,
I am on the love side of soil blocks, but I do things a bit differently than you are describing. I also do a couple things not quite so sustainably (shhh).

I stick with the 2" blocks. I understand the concept of starting with a smaller one and then moving up and then moving up... but in reality, at my scale (120 starts was the most I ever did), I start everything in 2" and most of them stay in that until they are ready to plant. I did pot up my tomatoes a couple years, but one year I started too early, and the other year I didn't have my garden bed ready to put the plants into. However, I have had tomato plants about 6" tall in the 2" soil blocks and then transplanted them outside just fine.

Most of the problems I hear with soil blocks is relate to the recipe or amount of water. I know there is a lot of controversy around the use of peat moss. But using it or something like it, I think is very important to making this technique work. I use Eliot Coleman's recipe. 3 parts peat moss, 1 part perlite, 3 parts compost. He also adds in some amendments that I do not always add. I also would use Johnny's Selected Seeds  512 mix... but I wouldn't want to ship that. Their mix though, I can just add water and go.

The other not very sustainable thing I do is use those plastic 1020 trays. I put the blocks in, in rows, and for watering, I just pour water in the bottom and they soak it up.

I might suggest trying it exactly as he has the recipe. See how it works, and then experiment and see if you can find other types of ingredients that work as well. That way you can compare more easily.

Oh, here is a really good one, made more recently about soil block benefits... not so much how to make them.

I find it interesting that he said a soil block started lettuce would be 3 days ahead of one started in a tray.

I have a question... How do soil blocks do against fungus gnats? I often have to battle them when I start seeds inside. Soil blocks seem like they would provide even more surface areas for the gnats to get into the soil.

How do soil blocks do against fungus gnats?

I have no idea how they would do. From a 10 second read on a popular search engine, it seems like they are attracted to things still in the decomposition stage? Perhaps compost that is farther along would be less appealing whether soil block or otherwise?