Miracle Grow

[plantbug]

Is Miracle Grow good for hosta? If yes, how long in the season can you use safely?

[John Polka]

Yeah its good for hosta... I think it was somebody who said they'd heard Solberg here recently do a talk about foliar fertilizing the summer flush of a hosta... not with miracle grow imparticular... but it can be used to do this... he also said he recommends a fertilizer with a Nitrogren percent over 20 for all year... I just today bought Lily Miller's version of Miracle Gro... its supposed to be less damaging to nature with no chlorine blah blah blah... over the last four years I've used a mix of 10-10-10 farm fertilize and Miracle Gro... both Tomato formula and Original Recipe...you get bigger hosta with Miracle Gro... just a caution to not fertilize too late in the season... I think not after July if you are zone 5 or above... you'll have fresh new crown and root growth that won't have time to harden off... and will likely rot...We don't see much freezing temps til December here in Southern Kentucky... after I drink this cup of coffee and check my facebook... I'm about to go try out this Lily Miller's water soluable fertilize...I can get by with a water soluable fertilize til September here... but I wouldn't use farm fertilize or CRF after June... and even then you have to be careful with the CRF... some of it sticks around for months...
John

[John Polka]

Oh yeah and one more note of caution... I think its right to say you don't want to blow up your foliage so big... that the root system can't give it enough water to sweat... then you get sunburned plants more easily...
John

[Mark Raw]

what is crf?

[John Polka]

controlled release fertilizer... osmocote etc..

[Mark Raw]

Of course I'm not up on abreviations.

[ogrefcf]

I use it on mine once or twice a month. It's so cheap I figure why not. I also do a slow release in the spring time. Might be almost time to do another now.

[kHT]

I'm sorry but I wouldn't use MG after seeing what it does to the driveway. I toss out lime in the early spring and compost. I have to go out every couple weeks
and water them down due to all the pine stuff that falls on them.

[jonbry123]

Miracle Gro is an excellent all purpose fertilizer and also includes important micro nutrients that a lot of other cheaper brands do not. Unfortunately it needs to be reapplied more often as the nutrients tend to leach out of the soil with rain and watering. And there is some debate about whether some of the ingredients in this and similar fertilizers destroy the bacteria in the soil that help with plant waste breakdown. I use Espoma Hollytone fertilizer as it is organic and provides a low dose of nutrients for a period of months and helps maintain a Ph just below 7. Hostas prefer a slightly acidic soil so Miracle Gro is really not the best to use but rather Miracid but at a reduced rate half the normal dosage if your going to use a non organic fertilizer. Lime should not be added to hosta beds as it raises the Ph to a level higher than preferred by these plants.

[kHT]

Jon, the reason we use lime in the spring is due to removal of 4-6 inches of pine needle off our hostas. We have extremely acidy soil here!

[Mark Raw]

The only fert I have used this year was some I mase myself from nettles. All my hosta are in pots and I can't say it's made much if any difference. Oh I did give then 1 dose of tomato fert other week when they started coming into flower. Still no difference.

[jonbry123]

Kht that's fine as long as the Ph doesn't stay above 7. I do know some who also have to add lime to their beds due to the acid rain here in the NE. True Tomato fertilizer at least what is made here in the states is slightly acidic and should be good for hostas as well.

[kHT]

Thanks Jon for the tip as we only do the lime in early spring. Here is my view from the southwest window this am.
Let me also add that some of these were damaged by 4 hail storms and I had to cut some back and thin others.