You Grow Girl™

Posted: 19-05-05 20:04

I have a friend who is encouraging me to use Miracle Gro on my vegetable and herb garden. He swears by it but I'm not sure? Can someone tell me the pros and cons of using this and is really okay to eat the vegetables that come from plant treated with Miracle Gro?

Posted: 19-05-05 20:14

I've wondered about this myself. So far I've only used it on flowers (once) and did notice some nice blooms afterward.

Cassandra

Posted: 19-05-05 22:00

don't really know about eating mg treated veggies, but i can give you my take on using it. now, take into consideration that this is my own personal opinion, and that what you use and how you use it in your garden is a decision that only you can make.
i feel like miracle gro could potentially start one down a slippery slope to chemical dependency. the gateway drug of the garden if you will. you may start off using here and there, and things seem great. brighter, lusher, smiling garden. but then, when things get a little rocky (for example your stunningly beautiful tomato plants are inundated with bugs) it is not a far stretch to use a little pesticide. just a tiny bit, cause you are gonna eat from that plant after all. and before you know it, things snowball out of control, and you are cultivating a plot of toxins.
silly, yes. but it just feels like a matter of balance to me. feed your soil good natural organic matter and your plants will be healthier (not just look healthier) and will be more resistent to pests and diseases. miracle gro does nothing to improve your soil. if you add compost or mulch of some kind, you are putting good stuff into the ground and attracting worms who will attract birds who will do a little aerating and fertilizing of their own.

cue the elton john lion music as i jump down off my soapbox (biodegradable of course), and say that i actually happen to use mg seed starting mix and potting soil to start my plants as it's a bit harder to treat a tiny little container as a healthy functioning ecosystem. plus, sometimes you just wanna throw a can of ravioli on the stove as opposed to making pasta from scratch.

Material Safety Data Sheet:
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=19026082

Posted: 20-05-05 7:51

Is the guy on the Miracle Gro potting soil commercial as annoying to anyone else as me? It's creepy the way he caresses his dirt!

Posted: 20-05-05 8:15

My dad used Miracle Grow on all the plants when I was growing up. Granted, I'm only 28, but I don't have a second head or otherwise ill effects from it. If it does concern you, have you considered making compost tea, or buying an organic fertilizer? While the teal green Miracle Grow water is very pretty, I've chosen to switch to less colorful methods Wink

Posted: 20-05-05 12:38

I second everything grrltrouble said. I refuse to use any sort of miracle gro product (and you'll find a lot of people here at YGG that feel the same way).

The thing with miracle gro, and similar products that just pump the soil with really strong and very short term fertilizers and chemicals, the plants do for a dependancy on it.

If you start with something that's a more long-term and natural fertilizer (fish, crab, etc.) then your plants grow healthy and strong by themselves. The key is to get good strong soil. Build up the soil and you won't have to worry about having to make sure to fertilize on the dot every two weeks.

Posted: 20-05-05 16:40

This isn't all that relevent to your question, but I just had to mention that MiracleGro brand *seeds* are *terrible*.

I have also read that such a strong influx of fertilizer does make for good blooms, but weakens the plant overall.

Ancient Joined: 30 Jul 2004 Posts: 1023 Location: Illinois

I do use MG potting soil, but not much of it. I like to mix it up with just cheap old regular potting soil, sand, dirt from the yard. The dirt I should be getting soon (im so not holding my breathe for it). IF SO doesn't bring it to me soon, he's gonna find a huge hold behind the garage, where I have been getting outside not store boughten dirt* from, lol.

It does pump up my annuals, which I feel that since they will only last a season can't be doing much harm

Mandy

* What my grandma always says Smile

Posted: 21-05-05 20:28

I use miracle gro.
I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I make sure I use the one especially for veggies, and I only use it on saturday. In other words, weekly. I have been giving my dad radishes that have been watered with this food, but he is suffering no ill effects. Ironically, there is a little cold going around the family, and my dad is the only one besides the dog who doesn't seem to be under the weather.

Posted: 21-05-05 22:55

Wow, that last post was quite an endorsement for Miracle Gro. Do you know if the dog has been eating radishes too? From what I've read here and what I've heard from some 'sort of' gardeners around me, I am going to stick with compost and compost tea for now. If things aren't looking so hot in a month or so I will make the switch. I think I want to see if I can do it myself before I bring in a ringer. Thanks for the input

Posted: 22-05-05 14:10

I'd suspect it's the radishes rather than the Miracle Gro that are keeping him from being sick...

Who knows if it's harmful or helpful to plants or people. I suspect that Miracle Gro was just designed to appeal to suburban types who like to use their gardens as a pissing contest. The person with the bigger flowers and the more uniformly green lawn (and maybe the bigger SUV in the driveway) wins.

Posted: 22-05-05 16:08

ha! my hosta bigger than your hosta. hulk smash!

seriously though, when did fertilization become synonymous with a brand? bah.

from my experience helping my mom garden as a young'un, she never used that stuff and always swore by manure and compost. and she had the best vegetables ever. (man, do I ever have a great story about sheep poo!) I agree with what a lot of people have been saying, the organic matter matters.

also, I reckon that too much Miracle Gro would encourage more vegetative growth. Bad if you're trying to grow tomatoes or such. But hey, good if all you want is bushy tomato leaves.

But what can I say, I'm just trying to keep the corporations outta my garden as much as I can, so my opinion is probably pretty biased.

Posted: 22-05-05 22:51

Well, I was driving home last night and was just about home when, whooie there stood a big black cow in the middle of the road, and on all sides of the road were cows. There must have been 20 of them. They had escaped through the fence and decided to have a shit fest on the nearest property they could get their hooves on. WEll well well. I had a good laugh.

I gave the old farmer a call last night but there be no answer. So I called again this morning and he said they are all back in, but the neighbour isn't happy they pooped all over his lawn.
He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted any?

This has nothing to do with fertilizer.

Posted: 23-05-05 11:24

Green Willa pretty much hit the nail on the head - Miracle Gro is such a strong influx of chemicals and fertilization that your plants can VERY easily become dependant on it and if you take it away they'll suffer.

It's a quick fix solution, and is the same thing with any high-feed high-chemical fertilizers.

You know that Miracle Gro commercial where they compare the one huge marigold to the little sickly one and say the big one was fed with Miracle Gro? I've always suspected they fed both with miracle gro then just cut off one of the plants to make it die back and look so sparse, because that's the effect you'll get if you stop fertilizing with their products (I did a little home experiment once, that exact thing happened).

Build up the soil with good old compost, manure, and even a bit of bat guano or crab meal or fish fertilizer (although I stay away from the latter just because it smells). Sea weed/kelp fertilizer does well too. It's so much better for your ecosystem and the plants if you build up the soil with hearty natural fertilizers that will last a LONG time, rather than making them form a dependancy. I work up the soil in my gardens once at the beginning of the season, then I MAY give them a bit more fertilizer at the mid-season, and that's it, and I always get TONS of blooms, foliage and fruit.

For me it's so much more satisfying knowing that I've built a good strong mini-ecosystem rather than am just helping something eek by for the season.

Posted: 23-05-05 12:19

Dee wrote:

... the neighbour isn't happy they pooped all over his lawn.
He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted any?

hey dee, don't go taking any shit from your neighbour! ;)

Posted: 23-05-05 12:24

Quant, that is an awfully harsh way of putting it. I really don't think it's necessary to use such rude language. Wink

Posted: 23-05-05 12:37

No shit

Posted: 23-05-05 12:51

Oh I love you ladies. Laughing

Posted: 23-05-05 13:31

Assertagirl wrote:

Oh I love you ladies. Laughing

Me too!

Posted: 23-05-05 16:29

mmm... good stuff.
back to the miracle-gro:

i use it. i feel worse and worse about it. I'm working on building up my own private eden of perfect soil with nature (a la Kelly's version), but it takes a while. I'm just trying to feed my plants in the meantime.

as far as getting too much vegetative growth from it - not gonna happen.
it's a 1-2-1 ratio.

dumbasses. (sorry - i couldn't resist).
Embarassed