MiracleGro Test

[crucialbunny]

Decided to test the often claimed notion that MiracleGro is a poor medium for our cannabis plants. So I used 5 gal plastic
containers and filled one with MG and perlite and another with my usual homemade living soil. Both are Vanilla Frosting
seeds and both started lush, green and healthy but as soon as flower began the MG plant began to burn from what I am
assuming is the constant release of nitrogen. I don't think there's much of a doubt that you should avoid it at any cost. Just
thought I'd share the results with y'all.

[dirtymike]

It's a little hot for flowers

[Speedygreen]

It looks like a toxic build up. Like salts. Are they dry ? Miracle grow works ok when the media stays damp

[crucialbunny]

It was watered exactly the same as all my other plants. No added nutrients.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Ahhh....memories. I did the same test about 3 years ago. It'll work but the result will be less then spectacular. If you Veg for a month and then flip to flower, the flowers will be really fluffy and stretchy because of the excess nitrogen. If you veg for 2 months to leach out the nitrogen, you'll run into other nutrient deficiencies like calcium. That was a big one for me. You're left with having to amend, but what do you use? More Miracle-Gro fertilizer? They do have a bloom one but even has a lot of nitrogen. I suppose if someone was really dedicated to that particular brand, they could find a work around. It was a fun and knowledgeable experiment, but the headache wasn't worth the end results.

I wish you the best of luck though. I'm curious to see what results you get.

[crucialbunny]

I forgot to mention that it is an outdoor grow. I'm not worried about saving the plant. I just wanted to test whether or not MG was acceptable as a grow medium because at many garden centers there are few other options.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Mine was indoor using some bag seed. The results ended up as compost but hey science!!

[Franklin]

A valuable experiment, thanks for your service

[Allenpro]

Scotts is in a league with Lucifer. Just my opinion

[Allenpro]

Yep, its a tough call on who is worse, them or politicians

[No3odiesShad0w]

The politicians aka paid professional liars, just work for big pharma. They're all in the same boat

[Allenpro]

Very True

[No3odiesShad0w]

Any updates on that miracle grow soil test? Curious how it's going.

[crucialbunny]

Not much else to report really. Super larfy bud development and nothing salvageable from it. The sister plant in living soil produced some nice colas. I would have posted some pics but I had surgery and have been laid up.

[No3odiesShad0w]

No worries Just get well 👍

[Rootsruler]

I had a newb on another site plant his auto seed in a 3 gal bag of MG. It did ok but he ran into the opposite. His soil nutrition got used up and the plant leaves started to crisp up from the deficiencies. He was giving only water. He watered in some Alaska ferts and the plant came back and went on to flower. I think he yielded around an oz and a half.

He also planted outdoors by filling his hole with MG. Plant did great.

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's certainly not impossible. I've done it in the past but the quality of the bud itself was meh. That also could have been to my subpar drying and curing conditions at the time. Maybe one day in the future I'll give it another try.

[BreezyGreens]

MG soil with fertilizer in it won't last a full growing season for veggies. If you have enough space and soil, maybe, but my experience with it is in pots or small raised beds where everything ends up shoved in among everything else. In that scenario, you're going to be fertilizing your veggies after a month if you're lucky, and I'm sure weed is similar. In enough MG dirt in the ground, your plants may be fine, but in pots/small beds, you're going to have to feed them.

With apologies to the growing purists (zero quibbles over the evils of Scotts/Monsanto), I used water soluble MG fertilizers (regular and bloom booster) as well as a squirt-it-on-the-soil cactus/succulent food to make up for underfeeding my weed this past growing season. It was my first time growing, and I did autos in pots outside. The MG fertilizers solved my problem and didn't create any other ones. I kind of made it up as a I went based on how my plants looked. I wish I hadn't underfed them, but all things considered, I did ok for a first time, and I don't regret using what I had on hand.

[Going2fast]

I've run regular MG and it works fine but is only good for about a month of growth in a 5 gallon pot. They use time release ferts in it like osmocote. Problem is it releases while waiting to get bought. Without supplements even MG Organics will not feed a plant in anything under 15 gallons i would think.