I have a 40 lb load of soil from walmart. I tried to put some sappliings into it. some of them had red areas on the stem which I read is a Fungus.
is this soil infested with fungus? should I throw it out?

You got any pics of your plants? whats your soil called?

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it is Garden Basics General purpose potting soil.

I dont have pics - I thrrew out the sapplings because i thougth the soil was no good. I'm a noob, just finding my way, so i view that as a lesson. but before i go onto my second try, i want to be sure the soil is ok, or is garbage.
also the soil had a very strong ammonia smell. is that bad?

I wouldn't say so but from what you've written then just avoid it in future, next time you are looking at soil if you can check on the bag for the ph and if it contains nutes or notalso if its sterile. i'm not sure if you get this soil over there but if you can try get GEM John innes number 1 and 3 thats what i use and the plants love it. From what i've read on other threads just avoid the miracle gro soil there have been loads of complaints about it, when you go to walmart next then have a look at the soil they sell and if your not sure about it or the bag doesn't have much info written on it then take its name and search on google for info, thats what i had to do with my soil and i'm glad i spent that bit of time researching as it really has helped my plants.
You could try the fox farms products there have been loads of good things said about it hope this has helped you in some way,
if not tell me and i'll carry on trying help you.

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i dunno about the ammonia. dosnt sound good to me.

my first usage of soil was easy. i got a 10$ ph tester to make sure i was on par, then i got a bag of regular cheap top-soil (no nutes) and a bag of perlite. that mix worked just fine. i mixed in some wood ashe (and later used horticultural lime when i had it) to keep the ferts from acidifying my soil too much. what your looking for is something that can hold moisture, allow air to the roots (why i add perlite) but has the ability to drain and not muck up (i used a 2in layer of perlite on the very bottom to stop soil from clogging up the drain holes)