by Rocketboy9

Hello again my fellow cultivators, I hope everyone’s day went as planned.  Today I’m going to talk about soil again, more specifically bad soil.

When I allegedly grew cannabis in Texas I made a lot of mistakes and growing Miracle-Gro marijuana was one of the bigger ones.  Today, I never use Miracle-Gro in any of my gardens, cannabis or otherwise and encourage everyone I talk to about soil, NOT to use it.  Putting aside the fact that it’s a Monsanto product and that the fertilizer that’s used is petroleum based.  It’s just not a good soil to grow marijuana in.  I understand that some of the higher quality soil mixes won’t be available to some growers because you live in a prohibition state or a small town or both.   In those situations Miracle-Gro may be the only thing available to you, and I’ll give you the best advice that I know of for growing with it.  Before I do that I’m going to tell why I don’t grow Miracle-Gro marijuana.  

I used Miracle-Gro once and one of the problems that I had was that I couldn’t add the nutrients, beneficial microbes and fungi that I wanted to without severely burning the plant.  This has to do with the time release fertilizer pellets that are in it.  I had no idea how much fertilizer was being released or how often, so I couldn’t calculate a safe amount of nutrients to add.

The other problem with Miracle-Gro marijuana is the taste.  I’ve tried different strains that were grown with it and they all have a harsh chemical after taste that just ruins the flavor of the flower.  I have two theories about why this happens.   These are my unscientific observations and opinions, take it or leave it.  Definitely do your own research if this is the mix you’re going to use, we all have google.

• During the last 2 weeks of flowering, just before harvest, the grower will stop feeding the plant nutrients and will just give it water. We do this so we can flush the residual nutrients left in the soil or substrate out, so we can produce a great quality, natural tasting cannabis.  The Miracle-Gro seems to get in the way of the flushing and it will feed that plant petroleum based fertilizer up to the day you harvest.
• Another reason for this taste could be the fact that Miracle-Gro isn’t formulated for plants that are meant to be volatilized (tuned into a vapor) or burned like marijuana. It was formulated for flowering and fruiting plants.

Now if you have to use Miracle-Gro, don’t use it for seedlings or young clones.  This soil is too hot for those delicate plant stages.  While in veg and all the way to harvest, don’t give them anything but water.  If your feeling adventurous you can give them beneficial microbes starting the second week of flowering, but keep an eye out for burn.

That’s it, that’s all the advice I can give about Miracle-Gro marijuana.  I’m all for simplicity and automation as long as the quality doesn’t suffer.