Measuring the Miracle in Miracle Plant Foods

This gardening season I tested the marketing claims made by three different companies in side-by-side trials.

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Every time of year I get gratuitous samples of garden product to use and evaluate in my vegetable garden . This year I was able to try three unlike plantfertilizers , food or vitaliser in a grow trial to see if they survive up to their merchandising claims .

The three products included the newNatural Start Tomato Vegetable & Herb Food from Greenview , HB-101 All - Purpose Plant Vitalizer from Flora USA , Inc. , andMiracle - Gro from Scotts Products .

I used the three products in my container garden with three white eggplants I bug out from semen . I planted all three containers the week of June 6 . Two containers are superposable in size and are placed side - by - side . The third container is smaller and placed in a dissimilar part of the garden , but all have about the same amount of sun , water and care . I followed the print pedagogy for applying each intersection .

At the end of July I was surprised to see one plant was significantly out front of the others . The HB-101 plant energiser sampling resulted in a tall , fuller plant that flower and set yield sooner than the plants fed with the other products .

Product point

instinctive Start Tomato Vegetable & Herb Foodis a 10 - 7 - 7 blend of rude , constitutive and inorganic nutrient and beneficial microbe that increase filth fertility . The merchandising materials say to “ expect olympian gardening upshot . ” I incorporated Natural Start into the soil at transplantation and side dressed the plant at 6 weeks .

HB-101 is an organic , all - purpose plantvitalizerderived from extracts of cedarwood , pine tree , cypress tree and plantain grass that increases the population of microbes in the grime . The merchandising materials assure a “ miracle at bottom ” for “ healthier , big , and strong plant with more flush and fruit hardening . ” I diluted the concentrated liquid according to the command , used it as a foliar nebulizer and watered with it weekly .

Miracle - Gro is a water - soluble , synthetic fertilizer . The marketing materials say the all - function plant solid food “ grow bigger , more beautiful plants ( versus unfed plants ) . ” I mixed the plant food into H2O and eat the mad apple every 14 days .

plant life Results

At the end of July I decided to evaluate the first 6 week of the mature season :

The works feed with Natural Start and Miracle - Gro were near the same height , raise about the same turn of leaves , and had the same identification number of eggplant blossoms .

The plant feed with HB-101 was marvelous and fuller . This plant has doubly as many eggplant blossom as the other plants , and the blossom are starting to correct fruit .

While it ’s difficult to evaluate subjective marketing claims , likeexceptionalormiraculousresults , it ’s easy to liken plant size and performance . In my small garden trial , HB-101 did grow a works that is healthier , big , and strong with more flowers and fruit set .

I ’ll continue my growing experiment through the end of the season to keep track of the number of eggplants I harvest from each flora .

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This season I tested three different products and their marketing claims in my container garden.Photo/Illustration: Jodi Torpey

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