I was mixing up some soil the other day and, I don't know where it came from (probably my wife's gardening supplies), but there was a bag of Miracle Grow perlite in with my other normal, unenhanced perlite. I had just finished mixing in the MG perlite when I noticed the brand on the bag. It was already mixed pretty good, and I didn't want to throw away all my soil. So now about a third of the perlite in my soil is the MG variety. I've been growing 100% organic for the past couple of years, so this really bummed me out. I don't even know what's in MG perlite, other than the bag says is has MG in it. I know it's not the end of the world, but I go out of my way to make sure everything I use is natural and chemical free. How bad is this from an organic growing perspective? Are there a lot of chemicals in this stuff that last for months? Or will it flush out in a few weeks, before flowering? Will it have a detrimental effect on the microbes and/or other essential components of an organic grow? Can I no longer consider this an organic grow?
As far as I know perlite is perlite...no matter the brand. You have to look on the bag and read to see if there is more in it than just perlite.....if so it should tell you exactly what's in it.
Yea perlite is perlite. There is no harm using MG. I use it myself for my hempys. Well MG and Scotts'. I am looking at a bag of MG right now and its nothing extra in it.
No, it's not. Here is a picture of the bag. It clearly says it contains MG plant food. I've always made it a point NOT to buy this stuff in the past. Don't know where it could have come from or how it got in with my other supplies.
Leave it up to MG to fuck up something as simple as perlite... Since ya already got it mixed up... Ya got 2 choices... Use it or dump it. If ya decide to use it, you'll have to settle for the MG chem ferts while ya veg... until they are all used up that is... Then you can flower them out organic. Maybe some extra flushing would help leech that shit out...
That sure ain't the MG perlite I get around here. I am guessing and I mean guessing but I would venture to say that there wouldn't be enough in it to hurt. If it was me I would use it.
That's all I bought and I really don't think it hurt anything. The pre-added nute's couldn't have lasted that long. I'm happy with the result's I'm getting
When I was hunting for soil amendments, the stuff I needed was only available by MG brand, and all of it had ferts which I didn't want. Pisses me off. I bet whom ever's responsible puts fertilizer in everthing they own, especially up their ass. :idgaf: And I needed the perlite, only kind in town was MG brand with ferts in it. I wonder if you can flush/simmer the perlite by itself to give it a head start in leeching...
No doubt. Why? That's all I wanna know....why? I'm gonna go with Snick here. Who knows what kind of ferts they have in there...could be something that works as a time release...who knows. I do know that it's not organic...I myself wouldn't use it. I like to be able to control everything and that stuff right there leaves too many unknows to deal with in the future.
Interesting indeed! This thread is quite the interesting one at that. MG usually is NOT the BEST for MJ growing in general, hense all the time release stuff n all that caper.lol. But, in this occasion as HERB n SNIK said, the MG foog (Liquid Food it says) will probablt NOT be a Time Release, but then again, im no expert on this at all as ive never saw it before now. But iff LIquid Food is Inserted into the perlite, then a Good bit of Flushing Now n then will MOST LIKELY lessen the amount of w.e is in there, or RID the stuff from it. I Cany be sure, but it all seems logical to do so especially on this occasion!!! And as saids before, USE w.e ya got, and Hope ya CAN grow well enough (WITHTHIS STUFF) and hope your skills are enough to overcome this Estranged Perlite that not many have witnessed before either! So....all up 2 you my good friend, But Who's to say it wont be any good, you'l never know u till its tried, but to keep it more to the ORGANIC point of view, FLUSH all the perlite FIRST then, thats the ONLY thing i can thik of Doing, But iff its In with your added mix of the ORGANIC SOIL< then lets Just hope foer the BEST on this one....:sign13: :thumbsup: Keep it Up n Im Sure we'l all be tuned in to this one too! Peace my good fellow grower, Your Fellow GK'er, UBB........... otleaf: Its ONLY worth a TRY sinse youve gotten thus far through your MIX and Readying your grow op! Go for it man, n we'l all be here to HELP, iff POssible!!!
reply how about flushing your soil without the plants in them? I know they the runoff is going to lessen the quality of your soil, but if you are that worried about it...i'm sure the first 10 waterings is what dissolves those ferts the most....start watering your soil now...and maybew the ferts won't be there in near as much concentration as it would have been.... If you are worried about it, just start over with new soil...in 5 years, you'll probably say, "yeah, it was worth it."
I have a feeling you will be ok, the web site shows that shit as .04-.01-.06, not that much fert to hurt anything, more so if you mixed it with regular perlite.
I tried that, don't know if it worked. I got the wrong kind in advertantly once and I did try filling the bag with water and letting drain on it's own about 2 dozen times, I just had it out by the hose and filled the bag a couple of times a day. Can't say if that really worked but that's what I did, I'm not aware of any ill effects. I know that I used it straight in a wick cloner and had no trouble. TonyA - I feel you man, I've been in the same spot. Since you can't flush the perlite by itself, and it's only a 1/3 of the perlite that you used in question, I wouldn't flush all of your soil and wash out the nutrients you just put in there. Lion is right, it's a really small ammt. But I'm with you on wanting to avoid it. Best of luck Grat
Thanks all. As I said, I know it's not the end of the world. Or even of this crop. Lots of people grow lots of mj using lots of MG ferts and are very happy with their results. I'm just really pissed, mostly with myself, since I literally go out of my way to buy only organic products. I live in a small town, and have found only one place that has anything other than MG perlite. So I still don't know where it even came from or how it got in with my "special" supplies. At least I learned a valuable lesson -- always read the bag before dumping it in.
