June 30th: “No comparison” comparison.

Okay, so I’m really starting to slant heavily in favour of the organic Better World Plant Food. Why? compare these tomato plants: 

In my Miracle Gro bin, I have 4 tomatoes starting to come in:

Meanwhile, in the Better World bin...

In the Better World bin, I have five tomatoes, all of them out-sizing the MiracleGro. 

Meanwhile, in Test Bed 2:

MiracleGro Tomato 11 inches high.  Better World 12 inches high. 

They started out equal 4 days ago. 

Miracle Gro rose has 3 long, new shoots. 

Better World rose is off to a slower start, with a single shoot.

They started out equal 4 days ago.

Seems I may have found a preferred use for the Miracle Gro. 

June 26th: “Instructions? What instructions...?”

One month into my test:

Okay, this will be no surprise to my family or close friends. I rarely bother with instructions. Or directions when I’m driving. I like to “go with the flow.” What’s this got to do with my garden experiment?

       Well, ummmm... this is pretty funny... really... 

        It seems I’ve been UNDER-FEEDING the Better World side of these tests for the whole month. I’ve only been using 1/4 (!!!) of the recommended dosage.

 And yet I’m still getting better results than with the MiracleGro.  

       Now, some of you might rightly ask, “How do we know you didn’t screw up the MiracleGro side too?” A fair question. The answer is, I know I’ve followed the MiracleGro directions carefully, because I’m afraid of handling chemicals, and wanted to be sure I wasn’t harming my plants. I read those instructions carefully. And, MiracleGro comes with a handy measuring spoon.  

       On the Better World side, after the first week I didn't refer back to the instructions.  I, being so forgetful, just added one teaspoon of Better World per litre of water (to make a tea), instead of the recommended four teaspoons. 

      Now, to make up for my bungle, I will start some new test beds today. Those will be posted as Test Bed 2. 

In the meantime, I’d suggest that the results of my test to date is still valid. After all, here I’ve found a very forgiving organic plant food that, even when it’s under-used and misused, gives me results as good, and better, than Miracle Gro. 

See my notes below:

Here's some bean plants. 

Water only /                Miracle Gro  /            Better World tea.

Radishes. 

Water only /             Miracle Gro  /           Better World tea.

I should have transferred these into larger containers 2 weeks ago. Probably too late now, although I will try it. Still, you can see clearly that plants need food. 

And that the Better World Plant Food seems to work, well, better! 

Radishes from the pots above. 

Water only /       Miracle Gro  /          Better World tea.

         

You might find this interesting: the fourth radish, on the far right, was growing in my other test plot (the one containing the fig tree). This plot has the powdered Better World Plant Food mixed directly into the soil. Mixing Better World directly into the soil, or sprinkling it onto the soil around your plants (not mixed as a tea) is one of the options  given in the instructions.... yeah, those instructions..... 

 Above are my tomatoes on MiracleGro. 

Nice thick stems, lots of leaves, and getting some good flowering, at last. 

Above are my tomatoes on Better World Plant Food. The diluted tea version. 

Nice thick, hairy stems. Flowered days ago. AND.... I’m getting fruiting.  

Ha! Who needs instructions....

 Strawberries on water only. Still no fruit !

 Strawberries on MiracleGro. Harvested 3 fruit from this, am waiting for more. 

Seem to be getting new leaf growth.

Strawberries on Better World. 

Harvested five fruits from this plant, and have new fruit on the way! 

Jalapeno peppers are coming in. Here they are on Better World. 

Again, same results as everything else above: some fruit on water, more on MiracleGro, the most with organic BetterWorld Plant Food. 

I like how forgiving the plants are of my neglect. 

I gather plants don’t read instructions either.

June 19th: “... and rounding the first corner, it’s Better World, pulling ahead by a nose...”

Well would you look at that... the organic plant food Better World seems to be pulling ahead (some might say it’s nose to nose) with the chemical plant food MiracleGro.

Have a look at the latest ‘racing stats’:

                        MiracleGro                                                                 Better World 

                         current height     recent gain /since May 25th       current height           recent gain/since May 25th 

• Raspberry           25.0 in                       +2.0/ +9.5                                   20.0 in                      +1.0/ +7.0

• Basil                     18.0                            +2.0/ +8.0                                    16.0                           +1.5/ +7.0

• Tomato               18.0                           +2.0/  +12.0                                  18.0                        +3.0/ +12.0

• Marigold          mutated, tiny blooms                                                       large, full blooms

 At a glance, these two boxes look like a mess of weeds. Not orderly at all. That kinda describes me too. 

The sharp-eyed among you will notice that the tomato plants are booming, pretty much taking over the main body of the box. (MiracleGro in left box, Better World in right box.) Basil is on the left hand side in both boxes. Peeking out at the  back, a raspberry plant (which has yet to flower). 

The marigolds are over-shadowed by the tomato plants, which will soon need to be staked. 

The very observant among you will notice I've moved the boxes 90º. This so they'll get even more sunlight throughout the day.

Here’s the new garden layout.  I can't move the fig plant in the right corner without breaking the box, so it will just have to do with morning sunlight. 

Back to those marigolds...

Here's the largest marigold in the MiracleGro box. 

Note the deformed shape, small size.

 

Here’s the marigolds on Better World organic plant food. 

Bigger. Fuller. Proper shape.

 Water only: tallest plant here is a jalapeno pepper. Still no strawberries. 

 Miracle Gro: eggplant and lettuce seem to be doing well. Only got one tiny strawberry from this plant so far. There are two others ripening now.

 Better World organic plant food: everything seems to be coming along evenly. Already had 3 strawberries from this one plant.

 Plants clearly like to be fed. Beans clearly prefer Better World over plain water or MiracleGro. Grown from seeds. 

 Radishes need food too. Here I'd give a slight advantage to MiracleGro.  Grown from seed. I'll be transplanting these into larger containers this week.

 Here's beans grown from seed with Better World Plant Food mixed directly into the soil. Planted at the same time as the ones in the small pots. No doubt the container size matters. 

Still... look at this growth. 

Here's the same plant 10 days ago:

Bean pot on June 9th.

 More strawberries coming along, planted in soil mixed lightly with Better World.

Dang! The stuff works!! 

Here’s my fig tree.

 I didn’t even know you could grow figs in Canada! My plant already has 7 fruits on it. When I bought it a month ago it had one. Planted in soil mixed lightly with Better World.

So why do I think Better World Plant food is pulling ahead of MiracleGro? Because I counted the tomato blossoms tonight.

MiracleGro: 7 flowers.

Better World: 16 flowers. 

June 17th: This will be a tomato?!

Hard to believe that this little yellow blossom will be a tomato.  

I mean, where does the red come from? 

 My MiracleGro plants have 3 blossoms. My Better World plants have 5 blossoms. 

 My strawberries on plain water still have not borne fruit. But there is a new shoot coming up. Maybe by the end of July?  

 Strawberries on MiracleGro are finally getting some colour. With poor shape. 

 Strawberries on Better World are blooming for the second round! 

 These strawberries on Better World (mixed into the soil) are doing great. 

June 16th: More growth, more pictures,more measurements, less blather.

 Hard to believe I only started this experiment 23 days ago. Just look at this jungle! 

All the plants are filling out nicely.  

One of my loyal followers, too lazy to cross-reference my detailed growth charts over 23 days, has suggested I indicate growth gains since the first planting, not just growth since the last measurement. I’ll confess, this makes some sense. Hence, this altered chart. (I might even just drop the recent gain measurement.)

                             MiracleGro                                                                 Better World 

                         current height     recent gain /since May 25th       current height           recent gain/since May 25th 

• Raspberry           23.0 in                       +1.5/ +7.5                                   19.0 in                      +2.0/ +6.0

• Basil                     16.0                            +1.0/ +6.0                                    14.5                           +1.5/ +4.5

• Tomato               16.0                           +1.5/  +10.0                                  15.0                        +1.0/ +9.0

• Marigold          2 blooms                                                                             8 blooms


If you’re looking for height gains, MiracleGro has a slight advantage. If you’re looking for flowering and fruiting, BetterWorld is superior. 


Exhibit A :

 Marigolds on Scotts MiracleGro

Marigolds on Better World Plant Food.

Exhibit B:

Tomatoes on MiracleGro. 

Note flowering, but limp stem. Two flowers visible (not in photo). 

Tomatoes on Better World .

Note flowering, stronger stem. Three flowers visible (not in photo).

Exhibit C:

 Peppers doing best on plain water.

 Lettuce happy on MiracleGro, but imparts a flavour I don’t care for.

Peppers happy on Better World. Beans very happy on Better World.

If it please the court, another example of beans on Better World.

Exhibit D:

Strawberries on MiracleGro are just starting to show colour. 

I’ve already eaten six berries from the Better World pots.

Exhibit E:

Fig tree on Better World is coming along nicely.

I rest my case. And my typing fingers.