I go against all the purists and use Earthboxs with MG potting soil. I used to be totally hydro and after trying the Earthboxes and MG potting soil outside with tomatoes (incredible!), I decided to do the same with my herb. I will never go back, its the easiest, fastest grow ever, so while others may slam you for thinking it, give it a try, you'll be pleased.
Its total shit and will make your flowers taste and smell like shit. Sounds tasty, doesn't it? Seriously. Use something better.
You could dig up some soil from your backyard and have a successful grow. But the more you put into your grow, the more you will get out of it.
I have done hydro with various nutes and Earthboxes with MG potting mix - no one could tell the difference in the smoke test. While its easy to imagine chemicals and nasties - like wine tasting, if you double blind taste, removing emotion and preconceived notions, you will be quite surprised.
Really? Do two grows, one using nasty chemical nutes (pollutants in a bottle) and a 100% organic grow. I can tell you which one was the chemical grow just by sniffing the bag. Anyone with a nose could tell the difference. My only "preconceived notion" is that chemicals for growing are shit. Period
Miracle Gro soil (and many of their other products) contains time-released ferts, which you don't want. First, they are cheap chemical ferts, which as others have said can leave a bad taste in your weed but more importantly are more challenging for the plant to uptake in the first place. Second, the ferts are too strong, especially for young MJ sprouts and can kill them. Third, you have no control over the balance of those ferts, you have to accept everything and anything they put in there. Considering that MJ has different needs for veg and flower stages it's impossible for a soil pre-mixed with ferts designed to last for months to be appropriate for MJ throughout the grow. But because the ferts are embedded in the soil you can't get rid of them. If you want to use cheap chemical ferts then Miracle Gro is no better or worse than any other cheap chemical ferts, but at least you want control over how much and when you give it to them. With time-released ferts built into the soil you give up that control. Pick something else.
What toasty said is absolutely right, when I was new too growing I thought osmocote would be awesome to use it's little beads of nutessame as miracle grow has in it...I still have what was left in the bottle from that year I will never use tine released nutes with mj
Not wanting to come across as a jerk, but i have done both types of grows on more than a few occasions and i stand by my observations. Reading what you wrote implies to me that you are so closed minded that you won't even entertain the thought of trying the experiment yourself. I'm here to exchange ideas and thoughts and am open to what others have found, but i also like to test the ideas myself. I'll see if i can round up some pictures of a grow, but unfortunately a taste doesn't come through a picture ;-)
In my experience, I planted seedling with miracle gro and it just absolutely ruined them. I transplanted them to FFOF and LW and they are doing GREAT ever since. If you were to use MG soil I would say wait until it is plenty grown so it could handle it maybe. If you are down to experiment go with the MG, if you want to make sure your plants come up very well then go with a proven thing. Best of luck to you man!
If you have done a side by side comparison using miracle grow and fully organic and you couldn't tell the difference, then you are doing something wrong.
No trying to argue my man, and no need for either of us to go on the defensive. Trust me, I did many (many) chemical grows for years, mostly outdoors and a few indoors before I made the switch to 100% organic. As Bullistic has pointed out, there is zero comparison between the end product of a chemical grow and the clean burn, taste and aromas of organic weed. And just FYI, I'm probably one of the most open minded persons you've ever come across on the Internet. But I also have to stand by my opinions and observations. And IMHO nothing comes close to the clean, top shelf product that is organic weed. Furthermore, if you have indeed done organic growing as you've claimed, I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out why in the world you would go back to growing chemically when organics (i.e. real organics, not dubiously organic bottled stuff) is 100 times cheaper, better for you and your plants and produces the best flavors and aromas. Why would you go back to having to worry and mess with PH, PPM and flushing? Just trying to make sense of this.
Due to the mixed answers I'm trying both if i lose a plant... - 1 plant, +experience and personal knowledge. Thank you for all answers and like one member said this thread is for an open minded discussion along with any personal experience or knowledge... Not to argue