Tried Miracle grow..Poor plants never again!!!what is a good line newt's soil grow..

eugene b said:

I grow in soil at the moment and have gone through a few grow's now using various nutrient's miracle grow...not a fan i have also used tomato feed as this is mild and easy to us on my plants and at least im getting some nutrients to my plants..any suggestions on a good nutrient program would be appreciated...Thx

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What I use (Grow More Sea Grow, plus organic supplements) is in my sig.

Also, I'm growing a plant right now with MiracleGro Tomato. It seems to be going very well. I think I do a little better with my Grow More Sea Grow nutrients, but I would definitely grow with this again. (It's too soon to give a testimonial. It's barely into flower now. I haven't seen and tasted the finished product yet. But, so far, it seems good to me.).

poor plants were your fault.
i grew with miracle grow for years..still do. an unhealthy plant shouldnt be blamed on mg. what kind did yiu get?

some of my best plants, taste yield.. to this day were entirely mg. soil/ perl, bloom booster.
and to be clear ive grown with many methods. completely organic, in inert mediums. fancy products too

qwizoking said:

poor plants were your fault.
i grew with miracle grow for years..still do

some of my best plants to this day were entirely mg. soil/ perl, bloom booster.
and to be clear ive grown with many methods. completely organic, in inert mediums. fancy products too

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i agree less is more being the lesson learnt i used the mg soil and when i used newts too they burned my plants so i stopped using them my friend uses mg successfully too its just not for me after trying it on a few grows..

I think the question is, How would you like to grow? Synthetic, Organic, Veaganic, there are so many options. If you are into organics check out the Organics section here on RIU, lots of good info. For a synthetic I always suggest the dyna-grow. Its cheap and it works.

qwizoking said:

poor plants were your fault.
i grew with miracle grow for years..still do. an unhealthy plant shouldnt be blamed on mg. what kind did yiu get?

some of my best plants, taste yield.. to this day were entirely mg. soil/ perl, bloom booster.
and to be clear ive grown with many methods. completely organic, in inert mediums. fancy products too

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i used mg from the local homebase store

i took a couple older posts, i know a little long..dont really feel like typing at length..hopefully makes sense. its just what ive had success with. use whatever brand you like.



I like the organic and the african violet...50:50 dirt to perlite works great, But the ph is a bit high with the water I use, which is just over 7...i use their bloom booster in veg and flower. It has a good ratio of nutesthroughout the stages of maturity...and all the micro nutes expensive brands have....except magnesium..but my sativas are sensitive and hungry for certain things in different ratios than indica..

Well the av has a lot of n so I like to start with that and then add the bloom booster as it fades, learn to read the plant... the AV can burn sensitive seeslings. this can be worked around though . but so I started using the organic at the same ratio..the organic lacks the lime and I don't have to lower the ph, as well.. I try out a lot of things.. I still use the av and I use the organic..I haven't decided which to drop :/ (i dropped the organic) im somewhat indecisive.....in any case I do the 50:50 ratio....i did use this outdoors as well, I'm a pretty new indoor grower, when i joined... but I hate the seed starting mix with a passion...throwing that out there..

you can run mg with perlite and add some bone meal and mag, i also mix in the rootball of last crop...acts like coco......
I didn't want to give a premature answer... I have determined that the seed starter mix I have purchased ( being partial to mg, i wasnt sure if it was a bad batch) is pure silt. Blow in the bag and you got a smoke bomb. This has been my experience.. it seems to cause watering issues clumping creating dry spots and impermeable poop.. my troubles haven't been so much nute related as just the quality of the soil

I find this contrast between the "woody" African violet soil and the silty seed starter to be the issue
and i like it better than mg organic


I really like miracle grow bloom booster boxed nutes with the addition of Epson salt for more mag and sulphur on my hungry sativas. I like a little bit of molasses to supply the possibly unavailable iron or other metals also, the metals especially insoluble in an alkaline soil as described..proper organic grows have more in them, now you see c/n ratios, amount of organic matter and humus. Plus composting and making nutes useable. Composting sucks n while its working. Must cure first..providing fuel for bacteria and crap. And you will begin to dive into sustainable gardening, preventing soil compaction and reusing your soil....

I used this for ever. Super cheap. Works great.
Per gallon of water feeding every watering....just under half tsp miracle grow bloom booster, pinch to 1/8tsp or just under Epson salt and a bit of molasses 1/4tsp (every other watering)
The molasses is great helping metals that might not be absorbed to easily in my alkaline soil become soluble
It also gives me some extra potassium, some of my plants are k hungry and I mainly give them the molasses every water(drop the Epson on those, extra molasses takes care of it)
I have a myriad of grows going on all different mixes and mediums .. I use that fertilizer mix for all but the true organic..


The soil is just as important as nutes
I get great results using mg African violet soil mixed equal parts with mg perlite but some extra organic matter will do wonders. When pushing your plants youll like the extra moisture and less fluctuations. great as a base and what i ended up keeping ..the organic miracle grow does not have time released nute balls if that's aconcern for you and is a nice substitute.....

I hope i didnt complicate the mix and recipe too much. its easy

eugene b said:

i used the mg soil

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I wouldn't use MiracleGro's soils. The only one which looks acceptable to me is the Organic Choice. It's not too hot with nutrients built in. Even then, I would add 30-50% perlite. But, you have to be careful of MiracleGro's perlite product because they put nutrients in that too(!). I would either use a different perlite, or rinse MG's perlite product a few times before using.

The other soils are too hot, or use vermiculite to retain moisture. I'm averse to vermiculite. I wouldn't use it unless my soil dried too fast or unevenly. I think it's common to use it with HID lighting because the radiant heat dries the soil.

az2000 said:

I wouldn't use MiracleGro's soils. The only one which looks acceptable to me is the Organic Choice. It's not too hot with nutrients built in. Even then, I would add 30-50% perlite. But, you have to be careful of MiracleGro's perlite product because they put nutrients in that too(!). I would either use a different perlite, or rinse MG's perlite product a few times before using.

The other soils are too hot, or use vermiculite to retain moisture. I'm averse to vermiculite. I wouldn't use it unless my soil dried too fast or unevenly. I think it's common to use it with HID lighting because the radiant heat dries the soil.

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thanks man thats good info..the mg soil was too loaded with nutrients and burned my plants!!!

eugene b said:

thanks man thats good info..the mg soil was too loaded with nutrients and burned my plants!!!

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I posted after seeing quiz's post. The orchid soil sounds interesting because I like a rough-textured soil like he describes. It looks like it would be too hot. But, he's used it. It must be safe. If it were me, I would mix it with the seedling mix and perlite to get a loamy soil. That would reduce the built-in nutrients.

I basically do that with Kellogg Patio Plus. I add 20% of that to 60% Pro-Mix HP (and 20% perlite). That gives me a rugged mixed consistency in the texture of the soil, and a very light/airy soil.

Anyway, I didn't intend to contradict his suggestion to me.

One soil I want to try is Kellogg's Cactus and Palm potting mix. I've always wondered if that would be good because it's high-drainage. Recently I saw a bag torn open at the store. I held a handful and it seemed really good. It was sandy, something I feel is missing in my peat/bark/perlite soil. I don't know if I'd use C&P by itself. But, it looked like it would make a good base. I would probaby add some peat and perlite. (I think it already had the bark in it. So, no need to add Patio Plus.

As far as you question about nutrients. You don't need anything fancy. There are a lot of "themed lineups." You don't need that. Just a single product like Grow More Sea Grow (All Purpose, a 1-1-1 ratio) would work well. I like it because it has organic sources of nutrients. It costs about $1 per plant, per grow.

Some people use Jack's Classic. It's a similar price.

qwizoking said:

poor plants were your fault.
i grew with miracle grow for years..still do. an unhealthy plant shouldnt be blamed on mg. what kind did yiu get?

some of my best plants, taste yield.. to this day were entirely mg. soil/ perl, bloom booster.
and to be clear ive grown with many methods. completely organic, in inert mediums. fancy products too

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Not my first choice but the Blue Juice was the ONLY fertilizer we could get in the 60's and 70's period. Except for orchid products that an old lady suggested and they work well. But I have grown a lot of pot with plain old MG crystals.

lol

eugene b said:

i stopped using them ... its just not for me after trying it on a few grows..

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Check this out. This is MiracleGro Tomato, two weeks after 12/12:



That's squeezed into a 2x2 area, but plenty of headroom in a 4' tall space. (She's a fat girl.).

I would encourage you to try it again. Just follow what I did, it looks like it will work (unless somethings about to go wrong in flower.).

I was having some N-toxicity because I was looking for where burnt tips occur (so people would know what the limit is). I was feeding 3.6 to 3.8g/gal. I was beginning to back it off at the same time 12/12 started, but was afraid to introduce a variable going into flower (in case there were deficiencies). Then @DarkWizard021 said he grew with MG Tomato previously (and is starting again), and that he fed 3.0g/gal.

All that new (12/12, stretch) growth was in the 3.5 down to 3.0g/gal range.

I hate to be the MiracleGro shill. But, seriously, if you had troubles with it, I think it would be better to try it again following what I'm doing, get some skills playing with that, then adopt something else.

My concern is, if you do some boutique, multi-bottle "lineup," you're still going to face the "dialing it in" challenge. Having just one product seems easier to me.

(I would do my soil too. I think that's a large part of it also.).

I was told by a seasoned grower that MG works fine. But as soon as you feed MG, your microbial life is killed. In other words, once one decides to use MG, stick to it. Adding microbial stuff is a waste of time and money if using MG also.

I add a pinch (1/16th tsp) sugar to every gallon to compensate for synthetic nutrients. If I weren't intentionally trying to be minimalist (experimenting with how it would work for a new grower who might want to try growing without a lot of complexity), I would add Botanicare Liquid Karma (fulvic acid) to compensate even more.

A good cheap fertilizer is max sea. Makes some nice plants.

az2000 said:

Check this out. This is MiracleGro Tomato, two weeks after 12/12:

View attachment 3586163

That's squeezed into a 2x2 area, but plenty of headroom in a 4' tall space. (She's a fat girl.).

I would encourage you to try it again. Just follow what I did, it looks like it will work (unless somethings about to go wrong in flower.).

I was having some N-toxicity because I was looking for where burnt tips occur (so people would know what the limit is). I was feeding 3.6 to 3.8g/gal. I was beginning to back it off at the same time 12/12 started, but was afraid to introduce a variable going into flower (in case there were deficiencies). Then @DarkWizard021 said he grew with MG Tomato previously (and is starting again), and that he fed 3.0g/gal.

All that new (12/12, stretch) growth was in the 3.5 down to 3.0g/gal range.

I hate to be the MiracleGro shill. But, seriously, if you had troubles with it, I think it would be better to try it again following what I'm doing, get some skills playing with that, then adopt something else.

My concern is, if you do some boutique, multi-bottle "lineup," you're still going to face the "dialing it in" challenge. Having just one product seems easier to me.

(I would do my soil too. I think that's a large part of it also.).

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Thanks for the heads up on your grow appreciated, i get where your coming from on the using one nutrient and not many aspect...ill get a normal homebase soil like a 6 weeks nutrient included job and try out the miracle grow tomato like you have been using...i was using the mg cristal before... the tomato might run a little less hot...thanks for your considered responce az2000.

az2000 said:

Check this out. This is MiracleGro Tomato, two weeks after 12/12:

View attachment 3586163

That's squeezed into a 2x2 area, but plenty of headroom in a 4' tall space. (She's a fat girl.).

I would encourage you to try it again. Just follow what I did, it looks like it will work (unless somethings about to go wrong in flower.).

I was having some N-toxicity because I was looking for where burnt tips occur (so people would know what the limit is). I was feeding 3.6 to 3.8g/gal. I was beginning to back it off at the same time 12/12 started, but was afraid to introduce a variable going into flower (in case there were deficiencies). Then @DarkWizard021 said he grew with MG Tomato previously (and is starting again), and that he fed 3.0g/gal.

All that new (12/12, stretch) growth was in the 3.5 down to 3.0g/gal range.

I hate to be the MiracleGro shill. But, seriously, if you had troubles with it, I think it would be better to try it again following what I'm doing, get some skills playing with that, then adopt something else.

My concern is, if you do some boutique, multi-bottle "lineup," you're still going to face the "dialing it in" challenge. Having just one product seems easier to me.

(I would do my soil too. I think that's a large part of it also.).

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bye the way lovely looking plant mate....she is a fatty lol...

eugene b said:

i'll get a normal homebase soil like a 6 weeks nutrient included job

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I would avoid soils with nutrients built-in unless you are trying to grow with water only (a composted soil, feed occasional organic teas, etc.). If you use a soil like that, you're not really feeding MG Tomato and will have trouble knowing what the plant is receiving, if it's too hot, when it's time to feed, how much to feed.

I think that's a source of many problems for new growers.

The soil I use is in my sig. I use Kellogg's Patio Plus, but only 20% mixed with 60% Pro-Mix HP (soilless peat) and 20% perlite. It's very light, airy. (You can replace the Pro-Mix HP with 60% ordinary peat and 40% perlite and twice the dolomite I use because I speculate the ordinary peat would have less dolomite.).

A water-only grow may be good. I'd like to try one (the one I'd like to try is in footnote #1 in my sig). But, I don't see an "in between" way to grow. Either minimal nutrients in the soil (and be in control of what your plant receives, when). Or, a fully amended soil. I don't understand what the benefit is of 6-weeks worth of nutrients in the soil. It seems like it would get in the way (depending on whether the nutrients in the soil are hot or composted/living, in which case MG's not the right stuff to feed a living soil.).

I'm just saying: using a soil with unknown nutrients in it is a variable. If you want to give MG (or any fertilizer) a chance, I would reduce variables like that. (If you want to do water-only, then don't use MG. Get a quality, composted soil and feed teas. The organic forum would be a better source of info about how to do that. I'm not too familiar with it.).

Dude. My advice would be to do some reading up on hempy bucket. And lucasformula.com. It's like the growing method for stupid poor people. AND I SHOULD KNOW! I've been using that method for years.