Organic version of "Miracle grow"?
 

Does anyone have any suggestions for an organic version for Miracle Grow? This will be my second year trying to go organic in my garden. Last year I had a hard time keeping my plants fed correctly. Thanks for your help!

Tomato Tone is popular. It needs to be mixed into the soil or media.

I use fish emulsion and kelp.
For my seedlings I just use pond water from our large fish pond.

So what parts of MG are "not organic"?

Fish and kelp week after potting up, half strength. TomatoTone in the planting hole. Not so popular here but osmocote as a side dressing a month in after planting if i see some drought mixed with random heavy storms....a slow release fert i use sparingly just because i bought it for some reason.
And if work gets busy and i have limited time to tend the garden, i feel i've got some food in there.

Osmokote is not officially labeled 'Organic' but it seems fine. I use it since i have it. Though not necessary with FishKelp and TTone.

I'm going to try Alaska Fish Fertilizer this year [URL]http://www.homedepot.com/p/Alaska-1-Gal-5-1-1-Fish-Fertilizer-100099249/100211859[/URL]

Alaska Fish Fertilizer has an analysis of 5-1-1. So that is basically a nitrogen source.
If you soil already has sufficient amount of P and K, then Alaska FF is a good choice.

Gardeneer

I got tired of smelling like dead fish.

Miracle Grow is a chemical salt, which is never going to be organic. I use it and Osmocote both, although I use the MG very lightly. All of my plants in 4" pots get Osmocote, and they just take off after that.

For seedlings I also use a product from kelp4less.com called "extreme blend." It is kelp, fulvic, humic, and amino acids. It is not certified organic, but I think it represents a different approach to fertilization. It has a small amount of nitrogen, but mostly works as an uptake accelerator and natural growth hormone.

Miracle Grow's popularity also comes from the minor elements it contains, which also act as uptake accelerators. MG is not a complete fertilizer, but does contain several minor elements to make it work better.

[QUOTE=Cole_Robbie;555229]I got tired of smelling like dead fish.

Miracle Grow is a chemical salt, which is never going to be organic. I use it and Osmocote both, although I use the MG very lightly. All of my plants in 4" pots get Osmocote, and they just take off after that.

For seedlings I also use a product from kelp4less.com called "extreme blend." It is kelp, fulvic, humic, and amino acids. It is not certified organic, but I think it represents a different approach to fertilization. It has a small amount of nitrogen, but mostly works as an uptake accelerator and natural growth hormone.

Miracle Grow's popularity also comes from the minor elements it contains, which also act as uptake accelerators. MG is not a complete fertilizer, but does contain several minor elements to make it work better.[/QUOTE]

I got extreme blend as well. How do you apply it? Thanks!

[QUOTE]Miracle Grow is a chemical salt, which is never going to be organic.[/QUOTE]

Meaning what? That "organic" stuff is not composed of chemicals?


Or does it have more to do with where the chemicals came from?

Here we go again...

[QUOTE=dmforcier;555248]does it have more to do with where the chemicals came from?[/QUOTE]

Yes. Inorganic fertilizers are manufactured, aka synthetic.

Regarding the extreme blend, I mix about a tablespoon to about four gallons of water, sprinkle in a little MG, mix well, and dunk my seeding trays in that.

My only experience with MG is that it works. I've never used it but a friend and neighbor did for a few years being her fiancé worked on a nearby dairy farm and with no pennies got it for free...she was so competitive, i am not at all. Here garden was feets ahead of mine....toms and peas and salads...big and no flavor. With three seasons of pot-lucks and garden parties her produce and salads were big and watery. Grew fast and gorgeous but had no flavor. Same exact seeds from the same packets we shared were full of strings in the early peas....mine were a bit smaller but intensely more flavorful. Not stringing. They moved south so no longer neighbors...

Noted by everyone. The flavor comparison. She produced more and faster.
Maybe an early boost, then slow it down.
No need for it here.

She hated me. :))

I like that fish/seaweed smell. Smells 'important'. :twisted:

For liquid ferts, I use fish emulsion plus blackstrap molasses to supply some K and minerals. Strangely the blackstrap removes the 'important' smell. :P But... I'm okay with that. :twisted: I mostly use it for house peppers and don't want them to smell too important. :lol:

I also use bone meal for a lot of things. I put a little in every time I pot my tomatoes up, because I don't want to mess with liquid ferts especially trying not to overwater the seedlings when it'[s kind of cool. Many folks here will say that high phosphorus isn't good but it seems to work great for me as a starter fert with nothing else but a bit of compost.

I also dig in a whole cup of bone meal in the planting hole for each tomato to supply some N and plenty of P. and I use chopped or crumbled kelp as a slow release source of potassium. Wood ashes (leached) is another natural potassium source, or blackstrap molasses whether liquid or in dry flakes. And when I had some, I used dried chicken manure product dug into the soil before planting as well - harvest was great, I'll do it again.

None of these generic organic ferts are 'dialed in' it's more winging it, but if that bothers you there are many brand name organic ferts available these days with a guaranteed NPK balance, easy to use.

[QUOTE=ChiliPeppa;555250]Here we go again...[/QUOTE]

This made me laugh out loud.

P.S. I like both schools.

I chuckled as well...
I get both schools and do what i do.

Well, it appears I have opened a can of worms! Lol! I appreciate all the responses. Before planting I added alpaca manure, crushed crab shell, peletized lime, and an organic slow release fertilizer. I will give a few of these a try, as well as some MG and see what does best. :)

If you are willing to try chemical fertilizerss, I would suggest looking into the Masterblend (morgan county seeds) with some Calcium Nitrate. If you search for AKMark posts you'll see the results of that combo.

I'll have to try the wood ashes,have an unlimited supply of them. I forgot to mention that I use a lot of manures in the garden,mixed with bedding. Wood shavings and old hay with goat,chicken and horse manures. ( aged,of course). I also have a worm container,am starting to make worm compost tea.
Leaves,lots of leaves.

No can of worms here that i have witnessed gvillemom .
Opinions, yes, but not 'jerky' as we call it other places. Some seem to react strongly to 'organic' products and their claims.
Organic practices in your personal garden is different. Building healthy soil without needing to purchase 'products' that claim to give you that healthy soil at great expense without education on your own to build it yourself. A balanced healthy soil is not purchased.

Keep in mind and I dont know why myself that there are a lot of products that dont have the OMRI stamp/seal on them but they are called/listed as organic.
Can someone tell me why Plant Tone and other tones dont have the OMRI seal on it.
Do you have to join a club or what?:lol:
Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;555385]Keep in mind and I dont know why myself that there are a lot of products that dont have the OMRI stamp/seal on them but they are called/listed as organic.
Can someone tell me why Plant Tone and other tones dont have the OMRI seal on it.
Do you have to join a club or what?:lol:
Worth[/QUOTE]

Exactly.
You have to pay Omri to review your stuff and get the nod.
And guess if each tone has to be payed for and reviewed separately even though most have the same exact ingredients, just different ratios?
Espoma is smart though. why pay when you can say "for organic gardening" on the label. You now have that audience to sell to. Might lose .0000001% of potential sales for the robot that needs the comfort of the magic seal, but who cares?

It can also take years, from what I understand. So the very newest products will not be certified.

Word, Worth. We just want heathy plants and soil. I did the five years stoic hang-in-there-my-soil-is-on-the right-track-to-be-non-ammenended-kook-zen...let-it-live-and-learn....
Best thing i ever did. Nice and zen, birds and bees an snakes and happy balance.

It needs a bit of kick-in-the-pants now. So i give it some help. A bit of juice. Not that i failed with me own stuff but i saw a bit of decline....

If i needed to survive as a family on my harvest without a supplemented grocery...ahem...i could do it having the experience and knowledge i have now.

This sounds like the same scam like thing they have with the NFPA National Fire Protection Association.
Not to say it is bad but they are always changing the codes, mind you these codes aren't law and are adopted by municipalities.
But these code changes cost a ton of money for the consumer and owners of property.
Guess who is on the board, people that make money off the codes and products.:lol:
One of the latest ones is tamper/child proof wall outlets.

Worth

If the fertilizer company wants their product certified organic they have to pay to have it certified same as farmers pay to get certification, do a bunch of paperwork for it, and get inspected.

Lots of uncertified products are listed as okay for use by organic certified farmers. I recently read up on some of this listing because my friend has got her farm certified, so I wanted to make sure any seedlings she got from me are up to the code.
So for example, I found out that any brand of bone meal sold in Canada meets the organic standards, as they are the same as general standards for the product in Canada. But blood meal is a different story, they say it's 'unclear' whether the product is sterilized during the process. So you can't use blood meal for organic certified farming unless you went to the trouble of confirming that the producer actually did sterilize the product.
For the local compost we use, she had to get them to sign a statement of the materials that were used to make it.
And so on, this is part of the 'paperwork' and the real costs of getting certified organic... extra work!:?:

[QUOTE=gvillemom;555182]Does anyone have any suggestions for an organic version for Miracle Grow? This will be my second year trying to go organic in my garden. Last year I had a hard time keeping my plants fed correctly. Thanks for your help![/QUOTE]

Miracle Grow does have an organic version called "Organic Choice" Its a 7-1-2 mix.

Beasl004 thank you!! I have never seen that. Is it something I could buy at Lowes?

I think Home Depot had it but my wife bought it at Walmart. I haven't seen the granule version lately but have seen the liquid.

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