What's wrong with MG?

[RoseSD]

In many posts I see everyone trashing Miracle Growth barks like this one. I would like to learn why so many dislike it? It looks just like regular barks to me?

Thank you!

[tmoney]

hello rose,

well, i did post a tiny little rant against miracle gro recently, but i haven’t seen much other negative on here about it. but for me, it’s just the whole product line, really!

years ago i had some regular miracle gro potting soil that i got and in one of the large bags there was a ton of insects. but worse was the mold that grew in and on all of the plants i used it for. then, whatever the mold was it seemed like it stayed and spread....i had it in my plants for years after that. when i switched to other soils, the plants just really seemed to do better.

then, around last christmas we decided to try and repot the 2 orchids we had at the time, and not knowing where to get orchid bark we went to the corner plant shop and they had miracle gro orchid bark. in hindsight it was pretty clear that the bark was a mix of some bark chips, but mostly tiny stands of bark, some very small, tiny chips, and a lot of dust....like 1/4 of the contents was organic dust material. the phal we put in it declined quite quickly and then died, and a noid mini cattleya we have was near death and so we decided to learn more. perhaps we got a bad batch, or maybe you are supposed to sieve it to remove the usable material....either way i personally got burned twice by miracle gro. when we learned a little more and bought actual orchid media from an orchid distributor, the catt has come back to life and we haven’t had any losses due to media since then. i just really feel that miracle gro sells very low quality product for the non discerning customer. so it’s probably fine for the people who don’t really care if their plant lives or dies.

this is all just my personal experience or opinion, mind you!

[Shadeflower]

Roses,
Miracle grow is what all supermarkets stock here. It's the cheapest of the cheap.

That means dirt cheap to buy and the dirt cheapest ingredients.

They contain urea which is toxic to orchids in large amounts and it contains ammonia too which is not the best form either.

Ideally you want nitric Nitrogen.

Because the ingredients are sourced cheap usually there are trace amounts of hard metals in their products. Not ideal for sensitive plants.

The main reason I dislike products called miracle grow thugh is because of false advertising. Why is it called miracle grow and not toxic sludge gunk?

Anyone can sell toxic sludge gunk and brand it the next miracle but to come up with a miracle formula and give it a generic name impresses me more.

That's talking about their fertilizers.. The bark honestly I have never used but if it looks like the picture at the front (which is usally a better representation of what's actually in the bag) that is essentially just dust and dirt....

You need large chunky pieces of sterile bark, not what the horse just dragged in.

It's a matter of quality. I would not be surprised if the mircale grow dust would start moulding within weeks of getting it wet.

Whereas if you get proper bark it will last 5 times longer too.

It would be the equivelent of someone going to McDonalds and saying right I've just had a steak in some buns, why would I go to a 5 star restaurant instead?

[fishmom]

I have used MG fertilizer in my garden off and on for many years, and it is fine. But the orchid bark which I purchased some years ago had a lot of fine, fibrous material and some dirt-resembling material. It would not support air spaces around the roots, so I did not use it for orchids.

[JScott]

Miracle Gro bark is not pH buffered like many of the finer barks. It is also impossible to keep moist enough. The bark doesn't absorb the water, actually repels it, and so even in standard household conditions you'll probably have to water every day. Forget about putting your plants outside for the summer. It would be impossible to water that MG bark enough to keep your plants hydrated. The sizes of bark chips are very inconsistent as well, even in the same bag. At least, that was my experience with Miracle Gro.

[Roberta]

Rose,
Try ordering some Orchiata (you can get small quantities from rePotMe) and you will see the difference. If you don't have current source of good bark, you can't make a good comparison. If you decide that you like it you can get larger bags of Kiwi Bark (at least as good, likely even better) from Sunset Valley Orchids (which I know is pretty close to where you live) After you see the good stuff you'll know what people are talking about.

[Jeff214]

I got some Kiwi Bark from SVO today. Apparently they've had supply chain issues (like with everything else these days) but they finally got a new shipment so... get it while it's hot

[RoseSD]

Well I hate to waste things. I think I will soak them overnight to rid of "bad things" and repot cym with them.

---------- Post added at 06:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

Roses,
Miracle grow is what all supermarkets stock here. It's the cheapest of the cheap.

That means dirt cheap to buy and the dirt cheapest ingredients.

They contain urea which is toxic to orchids in large amounts and it contains ammonia too which is not the best form either.

Ideally you want nitric Nitrogen.

Because the ingredients are sourced cheap usually there are trace amounts of hard metals in their products. Not ideal for sensitive plants.

The main reason I dislike products called miracle grow thugh is because of false advertising. Why is it called miracle grow and not toxic sludge gunk?

Anyone can sell toxic sludge gunk and brand it the next miracle but to come up with a miracle formula and give it a generic name impresses me more.

That's talking about their fertilizers.. The bark honestly I have never used but if it looks like the picture at the front (which is usally a better representation of what's actually in the bag) that is essentially just dust and dirt....

You need large chunky pieces of sterile bark, not what the horse just dragged in.

It's a matter of quality. I would not be surprised if the mircale grow dust would start moulding within weeks of getting it wet.

Whereas if you get proper bark it will last 5 times longer too.

It would be the equivelent of someone going to McDonalds and saying right I've just had a steak in some buns, why would I go to a 5 star restaurant instead?

Your description cracked me up though! 😂

[Roberta]

Great idea, Cyms aren't fussy (and like to stay on the wet side). And they will use up your supply very quickly. I use cheap (fairly generic) seedling bark mixed with perlite on my Cyms (that do fine with it) and save the good (much more expensive) stuff for the Catts and other things that need to drain and dry out better (and also don't use up immense volumes of medium like the Cyms do)

[BobcatJohnson]

I purchased 1 bag of MG orchid mix coarse grade once. Never potted a single orchid in it. The bag I got, which I don't know if it's typical, was more fine material than coarse. It was like sandy soil mixed with a few large chunks of bark. Makes great potting mix for my other houseplants, but is nowhere near airy enough for my other orchids.