The reason the Miracle Gro did so much better than Tomorite is due to the NPK values. Miracle Gro is a 12-4-8 while Tomorite is a 4-3-8. Plants in general use nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at a roughly 3:1:2 ratio, which Miracle Gro provides but Tomorite does not. In addition, phosphorus and potassium are almost never deficient in soil. Adding more phosphorus and potassium to soil that already has sufficient levels does absolutely NOTHING to your plant. However, nitrogen, because it's so water soluble, is almost always deficient on some level. Giving more nitrogen here is a good thing and will actually make your plant grow faster, bigger, and produce more. Contrary to popular belief, giving more phosphorus and potassium is not going to make your plants bloom more or produce more fruit. That is a humongous myth that companies have been using as a marketing strategy to sell more products. Therefore, any fertilizer "formulated" for a specific plant, like "tomato fertilizer" is absolutely useless and honestly, a scam. An all purpose fertilizer will outperform any specialized fertilizer out there.
I think that’s it, more emphasis should be made on enabling the uptake of existing nutrients through the likes of mycorrhizae, rather than adding more unnecessarily.
@@atrio1136 A 12-4-8 would not be too much if used correctly. While it's true that excessive nitrogen can cause excessive leafy growth and less flowering, that's indicative of overfertilizing, not a flaw with the fertilizer itself.
@@andychen7390OK. I always thought they need high nitrogen in vegetation and low nitrogen in flower, because high nitrogen can reduce the flowering ability. Today i bought organic tomato plant food which has added magnesium. The NPK is 3-3-3. I want to try that for flowering and i've been using seaweed plant food for vegetation stage. The seaweed seems great, my plant improved greatly after its first feed.
I watched your videos from the start but only just watched this one. I love the concept and do similar myself with chilli/pepper plants. Last year I tried 6 plants, two different soil types, John Innes No3 and a peat based multi purpose compost(3 plants each in two soil groups) and then gave one from each group water, one from each group tomorite and the other two plants had miracle gro slow release mixed into them. The different soil types appeared to make no real difference. Both water only plants stunted and yellowed and got no crop. Tomorite and miracle gro slow release were pretty equal, but again surprisingly for me the high nitrogen miracle gro won. Less convincingly than with your tomatoes but still won none the less. Is a high potassium feed for better cropping a myth...? Very interesting. If I was to suggest something for your experiment maybe try a plant fed on miracle gro untill it starts to flower and then switch to tomorite during fruit development and compare it to plants fed one type fertilizer it's whole life. Also maybe an organic effort with chicken manure &/or blood and bone meal mixed into the soil and a weekly feed of seaweed extract (like Maxicrop). The old Epsom salt stories could also be checked out. Some people think it's amazing others think it's over rated. Only one way to find out.... 💪
Hey thanks for this, it's great to know you do similar things too! I'm setting up for this year in the next couple of weeks, I've got the tomato food and miracle gro again but also got seaweed, bonemeal and a few others so you've predicted that really well haha!
epsom salt is amazing! its good for magnesium and sulfur. if ur plant is over all light green or green veins and yellowing leaves at the bottom, hit it with epsom salt 1 teaspoon per gallon of water put half gallon per square foot soil, if u using potting mix water until it comes out the bottom.
I'm hearing the chemical Miracle Grow Soluble variety (Blue stuff) is bad for your soil as it's too high in Nitreogen. Must admit I've been using it for a couple of years but will phase it out with organic alternatives this year.
I’ll have to have a look into that too, thanks! I’m trying to use mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria to reduce fertilisers so if that goes well I’ll be able to use a lot less
Hello! :) what temperature should it not go lower than? Great watching this experiment. Thank you, it helped me. It’s very necessary to use some of that miracle gro. Wow! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Really tomatoes want to be above 15c so they start to die off as autumn rolls in. Its great to hear it helped and I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'll definitely be doing this again next year, I'm still sure the tomato food should have won haha.
Ok you can’t fertilize the plants in the same bag of soil. If they where in three different bags, this would work but they will all share the water or fertilizer that is watered into the bag. Their roots reach.
Yep, that was a problem that I did come across, although the results did suggest otherwise. I honestly didnt expect to still be doing this or have such good reception at the time of making the first video, so didn't really have the resources or space to do it any other way. Don't worry though, I'm putting it right next year and they'll all be separate!
95% chemical fertilizer use the same ingredients as miracle grow and most of the chemicals are used in food products like monopotassium phosphate and potassium chloride in sports drinks.
Fantastic 🌸 thanks so much … I’m def sold on the miracle grow after my own results this year :)
That's great, I hope mine last longer next year!
Great content, I’ve followed from the start, and it’s been thoroughly enjoyable & very educational - stay safe 👍
Hi Andrew! Thanks for that, I replied to your email back in August (if you didn't see it) and I really appreciated that!
@@GrowIt 👍
Very interesting, thank you for doing the experiment I will be trying it. Thanks again ☺
Thanks Roslyn! I can't wait to do this again next year, I've got loads of ideas to test already!
The reason the Miracle Gro did so much better than Tomorite is due to the NPK values. Miracle Gro is a 12-4-8 while Tomorite is a 4-3-8. Plants in general use nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at a roughly 3:1:2 ratio, which Miracle Gro provides but Tomorite does not. In addition, phosphorus and potassium are almost never deficient in soil. Adding more phosphorus and potassium to soil that already has sufficient levels does absolutely NOTHING to your plant. However, nitrogen, because it's so water soluble, is almost always deficient on some level. Giving more nitrogen here is a good thing and will actually make your plant grow faster, bigger, and produce more. Contrary to popular belief, giving more phosphorus and potassium is not going to make your plants bloom more or produce more fruit. That is a humongous myth that companies have been using as a marketing strategy to sell more products. Therefore, any fertilizer "formulated" for a specific plant, like "tomato fertilizer" is absolutely useless and honestly, a scam. An all purpose fertilizer will outperform any specialized fertilizer out there.
Underrated comment
I think that’s it, more emphasis should be made on enabling the uptake of existing nutrients through the likes of mycorrhizae, rather than adding more unnecessarily.
Don't plants need less nitrogen in the flowering stage? So wouldn't 12-4-8 be too much?
@@atrio1136 A 12-4-8 would not be too much if used correctly. While it's true that excessive nitrogen can cause excessive leafy growth and less flowering, that's indicative of overfertilizing, not a flaw with the fertilizer itself.
@@andychen7390OK. I always thought they need high nitrogen in vegetation and low nitrogen in flower, because high nitrogen can reduce the flowering ability.
Today i bought organic tomato plant food which has added magnesium. The NPK is 3-3-3. I want to try that for flowering and i've been using seaweed plant food for vegetation stage. The seaweed seems great, my plant improved greatly after its first feed.
I watched your videos from the start but only just watched this one.
I love the concept and do similar myself with chilli/pepper plants. Last year I tried 6 plants, two different soil types, John Innes No3 and a peat based multi purpose compost(3 plants each in two soil groups) and then gave one from each group water, one from each group tomorite and the other two plants had miracle gro slow release mixed into them.
The different soil types appeared to make no real difference. Both water only plants stunted and yellowed and got no crop. Tomorite and miracle gro slow release were pretty equal, but again surprisingly for me the high nitrogen miracle gro won. Less convincingly than with your tomatoes but still won none the less.
Is a high potassium feed for better cropping a myth...?
Very interesting.
If I was to suggest something for your experiment maybe try a plant fed on miracle gro untill it starts to flower and then switch to tomorite during fruit development and compare it to plants fed one type fertilizer it's whole life.
Also maybe an organic effort with chicken manure &/or blood and bone meal mixed into the soil and a weekly feed of seaweed extract (like Maxicrop).
The old Epsom salt stories could also be checked out. Some people think it's amazing others think it's over rated.
Only one way to find out.... 💪
Hey thanks for this, it's great to know you do similar things too! I'm setting up for this year in the next couple of weeks, I've got the tomato food and miracle gro again but also got seaweed, bonemeal and a few others so you've predicted that really well haha!
@@GrowIt Looking forward to seeing your new content. You're my favourite gardening channel. Keep it up mate 👍
@@danieltallon85 Cheers I'm glad you enjoy it!
epsom salt is amazing! its good for magnesium and sulfur. if ur plant is over all light green or green veins and yellowing leaves at the bottom, hit it with epsom salt 1 teaspoon per gallon of water put half gallon per square foot soil, if u using potting mix water until it comes out the bottom.
Epic end to the chapter look forward to following you next season all the best mate
Thanks Matthew and thanks for all of your support this year!
@@GrowIt no worries your most welcome really do think your on to something special hope by next your full or followers that think the same
Thanks Matthew! I hope so too, really enjoyed doing it up to now!
@@GrowIt :)
I'm hearing the chemical Miracle Grow Soluble variety (Blue stuff) is bad for your soil as it's too high in Nitreogen. Must admit I've been using it for a couple of years but will phase it out with organic alternatives this year.
I’ll have to have a look into that too, thanks! I’m trying to use mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria to reduce fertilisers so if that goes well I’ll be able to use a lot less
keep us posted on that release please
Hello! :) what temperature should it not go lower than? Great watching this experiment. Thank you, it helped me. It’s very necessary to use some of that miracle gro. Wow! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Really tomatoes want to be above 15c so they start to die off as autumn rolls in. Its great to hear it helped and I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'll definitely be doing this again next year, I'm still sure the tomato food should have won haha.
@@GrowIt still not convinced huh? Haha always next year
@@jessicaestrada239 Not yet, if it does the best next year I'll be amazed haha!
Tomorite is brilliant for the old canna bus 😉
Funnily enough, I use products designed for growing the devil's lettuce to grow regular lettucs haha!
Ok you can’t fertilize the plants in the same bag of soil. If they where in three different bags, this would work but they will all share the water or fertilizer that is watered into the bag. Their roots reach.
Yep, that was a problem that I did come across, although the results did suggest otherwise. I honestly didnt expect to still be doing this or have such good reception at the time of making the first video, so didn't really have the resources or space to do it any other way. Don't worry though, I'm putting it right next year and they'll all be separate!
Don't forget the Epsom salts and trace elements.
Nettle feed till June THEN comfrey till sept just a thought 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Great idea that Graham! I'm really looking forward to it!
Amazing video to learn 👏👌🙌
Thanks for watching, I hope it helped! I'm looking forward to trying this again this year!
Me likeie do more and do baby bio and maby sme generic brand
Everybody uses miracle gro because it’s cheap!
95% chemical fertilizer use the same ingredients as miracle grow and most of the chemicals are used in food products like monopotassium phosphate and potassium chloride in sports drinks.