Is miracle gro garden soil really as bad as people make it out to be? I am a beginner and i’d say I used miracle gro garden soil for 80% of my fruit and vegetable plants. What should I do?
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Don’t do anything unless you can identify an issue. It might work great for what you did.
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So you’re saying just keep the soil and also should I add organic fertilizer and mulch?
Fertilizer depends on what you are growing and age of plants. Also the Miracle Gro potting soil you used may already have fertilizer in it. Read the label.
It might help to know where you’re at here. Are we talking trees planted in this soil, vegetables, or ?
I won’t pull anything out only to replant in something else unless you can identify an issue. An issue like poor drainage, a tree that looks bad, or ?
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I think the main problem people have growing in miracle grow soil is for annuals. The time release fertilizers cannot be reduced if it’s too much and burning your plants. Cut with native soil it’s not a problem.
I think before miracle grow got bought out by the evil empire (Monsanto) less people had problems with it to be honest….
Also, look out for the moisture control formula. If you live somewhere known for wet weather. I have read they can get too wet; and seen pictures of containers “boiling over” with soil as the moisture beads get over saturated and expand 500%.
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I’m quite convinced that the thousands upon thousands of chamberbitter weeds I now have to deal with every year came from a Miracle-Gro bag…
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I don’t know if this is the case currently or in other locations, but the Miracle-Gro potting soil that I bought last year in Canada was a disaster. None of the seedlings that I started in it grew much past the seed leaf stage; so, I switched to Pro Mix and got much better results. The Miracle-Gro was used as mulch.
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Many commercial greenhouses that produce annuals use a time release formula in their potting soil because it works so well. I usually add it to potting soils that don’t and in the past have used the brand mentioned here when I can’t get to a source of Pro-mix. Most potting soil comes with some fertilizer to take care of the early needs of starts, or used to.
It’s pretty hard to burn plants with a slow release fertilizer and I’m doubting Miracle Grow’s product would do that- it’s expensive fertilizer and that brand of potting soil is probably what most people use to start seedlings that do their nursery shopping at big box stores.
For my vegetables, I only use synthetic fertilizer when I’m first starting them before they go into the ground.
After doing a search it looks like the main complaint about the MG mix is when it contains water holding polymers, which can contribute to root rot. However, those that want to be precise in fertilizing or want to use organic sources have a different beef.
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Like most things in life it depends. Some cheap “slow” release fertilizers can still dump, meaning they can break down and release a lot faster than intended. Some are susceptible to temperature, where they will not release if it is too cold. Then there is the actual formulation where you get to pick how slow is slow.
For my small evil purposes I use Osmocote on my potted plants which while not cheap (compared to the bulk 40+ pound fertilizer bags) it has been a top performer.
OP: the biggest issue with Miracle Gro potting soil is that you are paying a lot for very little.
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Osmocote is not affected by temps as I understand it, as well as other time-release synthetic fertilizers using similar tech. Osmocote originally invented it I believe. I use it for all my starts, but in my nursery I use a much less expensive 90 day coated urea that I buy in bulk- the blue stuff. It seems only to be available at agricultural supply houses while straight urea is more widely distributed, and in 40 pound bags. I use straight urea for trees that need more vigor.
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I definitely avoid the bags of any of those garden soil/potting products that have soaked up rain. That Osmocote slow release fertilizer gets all primed and you could get a quick release of a lot of fertilizer.
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How would that be different than the first time you water it? Water soluble is water soluble, right?
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Aside from maybe changing from ammonium to nitrate already.
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Osmocote takes some time to swell up with water. I have opened bags of MG that have fully swelled prills that could possiby damage seedling roots in my opinion if it has started to release already.
From Osmocote Plus pdf
“The moisture contained in most planting mixes will activate and cause a gradual release of nutrients from controlled release fertilizers. Soil mixes that contain this product should always be used within 2 weeks (1 week in the South) after preparation and then only after heavy irrigation.”
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I have been cutting all of my ProMix and my new potting mix about 50 percent with pine fines and so far everything is doing wonderfully. Im growing tomatoes in 5 gal buckets and have probably several hundred plants/trees/shrubs going now waiting to plant in the fall. Even growing out my mulberries and figs in pots. All of my annuals like Mexican Sunflowers and Zinnas are thriving in it.
I take all of my spent soil from annuals and put it in garlic beds for the most part…and i had a wonderful garlic harvest.
So my take is to buy a quality potting mix and you can double the volume with inexpensive pine fines and have amazing results… which to me is better than anything you can buy at a box store.
I got the idea from my local greenhouse. She adds pine fines to everything to save a few bucks but all of her stuff is beautiful and thriving…
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I’ve done the same. And in big pots for trees I’ve further thinned that out by adding coarse pine bark nuggets. It works good if you get it right. Trouble is both kinds of pine bark vary a lot in size. So no one recipe.
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Third here for promix. That’s my go to favorite.
This may be the problem here locally. There is no such thing as a dry bag of soil in the seattle spring or fall.
@alan , moisture polymers was exactly what I was referring to, too. If your kids or or grandkids have ever played with Orbies, then you know what I’m talking about. Aka diaper beads. They come the size of ground pepper and swell in 48 hours of soaking to the size of marbles. Litterally with enough force to fling the soil out of the pot. There some great u tube videos of this.
I also should have clarified that I meant seedlings and young annual transplants. I don’t think it would ever burn a tree.
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I wasn’t talking about Osmocote, I was talking about potting soils that put a small amount of quick release in the mix. That used to be pretty much standard with some mixes- I don’t know if it is any more.
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The fertilizers are still in the soils for sure. miracle grow even has organic versions.
I usually use a pro mix blend but during COVID I could only get miracle grow potting soil. It worked just fine.
I used the garden soil also. An even better product.
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