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stella1751
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I think she used Miracle Gro

In another forum, under humorous experiences, I told the tale of my cousin (actually my cousin's wife) and how she believed she was a hands-off gardener because I was doing all the work. She uses an automatic watering system, one I advise her on for time and amount, so all she has to do is wander out through her garden daily to admire her plants. Long story short, here's the link to that forum: [url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17527[/url] For those of you who haven't read the second to last entry, this link may help express the depths of my frustration.

For the past three or four weeks, her (read: my) garden has been growing like mad. Each time she has visited me, she has cast a pitying look at my peppers and tomatoes, telling me how hers are doing so much better. Each time I have visited her, I have secretly applauded myself for having grown such a fine second garden. Progressively, though, I have been becoming concerned. I'm a good gardener, with occasional exciting successes, but everything in this garden smacked of rare, exciting success: Pepper plants 3' tall, tomato plants now--mid-season--6' tall and a lush, vibrant green; cucumbers that climbed a 4' trellis in less than two weeks.

I visited her last night and took a close look at those 6' tall tomatoes. The plants are drop-dead gorgeous, a bright emerald green with perfect leaves. Unfortunately, I noticed three problems with her tomatoes: 1) These cherry tomatoes at mid-season have only roughly a dozen quarter-sized tomatoes per plant; 2) This lush foliage is sloppy, with stems unable to support any serious production; and 3) There were some curious bright orange splash marks on some of the ground level leaves.

My heart is breaking :cry: I bought these plants for her from Burpee. When they arrived two weeks early, I nurtured them and cared for them like they were my own. They are an exciting cherry, something called "Italian Ice," which is supposed to go an ivory color. When it was time to plant them, I planted them for her in soil I had advised her in preparing. I set each beauty in deep holes with bone meal and fish emulsion in the bottoms, holes I then carefully back-filled to the right depth. I bought her cages in anticipation of the growth.

I think she's using Miracle Grow. I can't be certain because I've never used it and I just plain don't know anyone who has. Can someone make an educated guess? I couldn't risk taking photos. I've already hinted to her that I suspect these are not organic.

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rainbowgardener
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Yup, tall, super-leafy fast growing plants sounds like big doses of Miracle Gro or something like it. However, as you already noticed, it's likely to back fire on her... huge beautiful plants with hardly any fruits. Too much nitrogen feeding forces plant growth at the expense of fruiting.

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stella1751
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I finally became angry enough to call her on it. Yes, she used Miracle Gro. After jumping through hoops to set her up with her own organic garden so she didn't create a family uproar when I didn't give her all my produce, she used a chemical fertilizer and compromised not only her soil but her production. I counted maybe a dozen (maybe) tomatoes per Italian Ice plant.

Lest anyone suspect I am upset because she is outproducing me, read my posting "Why I Am an Organic Gardener." Once the sun hits my Lemon Boys today, I will take photos of their clusters and clusters and clusters of tomatoes, tomatoes Kathy will now expect to wind up in her fridge because she wanted a quick fix for the slow-maturing organic garden I gave her :evil:

I apologize for using this forum to vent, but unnecessary chemical usage is a hot spot for me, given the nature of my father's death.

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Zofiava
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Does your cousins wife know why you feel so strongly about the use of chemicals?

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stella1751
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She should have. If she didn't, though, she does now. I posted my "Why I Am an Organic Gardener" on Facebook :twisted:

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Zofiava
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That's good. If she knows everything, maybe she will make more informed choices from now on.

GeorgiaGirl
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UGH, that's frustrating. I'm so glad you posted that on facebook... I really hope she gets the picture! (although, I heard yesterday that some moronic study came out claiming that there's no evidence organic food is any better for you than chemically grown food... I haven't read the details but that is BOGUS... full of holes, I'm sure... but, I'm sure people like your cousin's wife will hear about it and think, "See, there's nothing wrong with using MiracleGro" and blithely go on doing what she's doing. :(

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stella1751
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Funny thing is that she used Miracle Gro because she is greedy and unscrupulous. Now she will get nothing. I keep thinking about that Aesops fable about the dog and the bone. This dog had this huge, juicy bone he was immensely excited about. While he's walking to a tree to lie down and have a good chew, he passes a pond. He glances into the pond and sees this dog that looks just like him, staring up at him, a huge, juicy bone in his mouth. The dog is peeved. That other dog's bone is clearly bigger than his, and he decides he must have it. He drops his bone and lunges toward the other dog. Well, naturally, the other dog was his reflection, so now the greedy dog has nothing, his bone now lying at the bottom of the pond.

That's just what Kathy did. She had an organic gardener of twenty years experience select her plants, purchase her plants, plant her plants, and otherwise micro-manage her garden. It wasn't enough. She wanted more. "Why can't I have it all?" she must have thought. "Stella's organics and expertise AND Miracle Gro."

Now she has virtually nothing. She will want mine, come fall, but this time I'm holding fast.

Following are photos of my Lemon Boys. I'm not much of a photographer, but even I can't diminish the glory of these hardworking fellows! They are killing themselves, producing nothing but tomato after tomato after tomato. No, their foliage is nothing to write home about. It's not a brilliant green, and they aren't 6' tall. Nope. They're doing what I asked them to do: Producing Tomatoes.

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/1.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/3.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/4.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/mitbah/7.jpg[/img]

cynthia_h
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stella1751 wrote: She will want mine, come fall, but this time I'm holding fast.
Yes. And, next year, be sure she WORKS alongside of you when/if you help her establish the garden. Clearly, she didn't value what she didn't work on. :x

You went so far above and beyond what anyone I know would have done, and this is very poor repayment.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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stella1751
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I could never trust her again, Cynthia_H. I made a promise to honor my father's memory, and against my will, I managed to break it. I won't give a second chance on something that important to me.

BTW, here's an interesting link about the First Lady's attempt to garden organically. One day, in the far future, will it even be possible to have an organic garden, or will all the virgin soil be gone?

[url]https://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/07/30/michelle-obamas-toxic-veggie-nightmare-white-house-organic-gar/?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl8|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F07%2F30%2Fmichelle-obamas-toxic-veggie-nightmare-white-house-organic-gar%2F[/url]

cynthia_h
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There's a whole school of environmental mitigation called phytoremediation.

Plants which are known to absorb and hold heavy metals or other pollutants in their roots and/or leaves are planted in areas of known hazard. When the plants are harvested, they are NOT composted but rather disposed of safely ("safely" depends on the pollutant in question).

I wonder whether focused phytoremediation would reduce the lead count at the White House to much less threatening levels?

Cynthia

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stella1751
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Wow! I love this garden forum. I have so never heard of this "phytoremediation." So, are you of the opinion that polluted soil can be restored to its previous organic levels? Or do you believe that once exposed to chemicals, soil can no longer be certified organic? The wife of our President wants to have an organic garden. Can she ever truly have an organic garden on the White House grounds?

In a way, I see this incident as symbolic of what is happening across the country. It's a little frightening to me. Maybe I'm just too old :lol:

cynthia_h
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The field of phytoremediation is approx. 10 years old. The effects of different plants on different pollutants in different soil types is still a major focus of research.

As to whether the White House garden can "ever" be certified as organic, that depends on what the certifying body thinks of phytoremediation, backed up with laboratory analytical results.

An Internet search on phytoremediation will definitely help you learn the vast scope of the field.

Cynthia

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!potatoes!
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paul stamets is working on a bunch of stuff using mycoremediation - same idea, but uses mushrooms to break down and suck up toxic molecules - he's got oyster mushrooms that break down diesel, among other things.

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Diane
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stella1751 wrote:Wow! I love this garden forum. I have so never heard of this "phytoremediation." So, are you of the opinion that polluted soil can be restored to its previous organic levels? Or do you believe that once exposed to chemicals, soil can no longer be certified organic? The wife of our President wants to have an organic garden. Can she ever truly have an organic garden on the White House grounds?

In a way, I see this incident as symbolic of what is happening across the country. It's a little frightening to me. Maybe I'm just too old :lol:
Just like our polluted waters, I believe our soil can be cleaned. I live near a harbor so polluted that Drs said, don't let your kids near that water. You couldn't see your feet at six inches in.
Now years later, you see tiny tiny crabs walking along the shore. You see lots of life where there was none.
If some plants can add to the soil, some should be able to take from it.
Raisins help kids who have high lead levels.

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stella1751
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I like your optimism, Diane, but I am depressed by your awareness. Your final caveat, that "Raisins help kids who have high lead levels," would remain unspoken in a country that cared about its soil.

Sometimes I wonder what our government doesn't tell us. I wonder about the FDA approval for chemical usage, whether new, fancy-schmancy products aren't rushed through to help our beleaguered farmers feed a nation. I wonder whether those new products won't, one day down the road, kill a hundred or so more fathers, as they killed mine.

Should an American mother, as I am assuming you are, know how to deal with lead poisoning? Forgive me my melancholy. I am merely in a mood to consider the consequences of our nation's actions. I know we must feed the nation. However, at what cost?

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kimbledawn
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I completely agree with how you feel. sometimes when others only see a snowball we can see the avalanche. It really is sad about chemical usage. I have found out so much by being a member on this forum.

I have come to the conclusion that our government is a business period... :cry: And unfortunately if we allow it we are the guinea pigs for anything they want to test out.

I had a time like you're having when I research the affects of mercury on children and cases of autism and how mercury was the carrier for childhood shots. They say mercury is no longer used but they also say that mercury has no connection to autism.


When I watched "tHE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN" AND SAW ALL OF THE DRUGS THE GOVERNMENT USED ON PREGNANT WOMEN AND HOW FOR YEARS CHILDREN WERE BORN WITHOUT ARMS AND LEGS and finally the government stopped using that drug and switched to different ones.

When I found out that certain plastics are known to cause cancer but they are used for food containers and baby bottles......


I could go on but as you said...Its really sad...really :cry:

So I understand.....how hard to know something is harmful and others aren't concerned, or just don't understand the importance of it all.

GeorgiaGirl
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Sometimes I wonder what our government doesn't tell us. I wonder about the FDA approval for chemical usage, whether new, fancy-schmancy products aren't rushed through to help our beleaguered farmers feed a nation. I wonder whether those new products won't, one day down the road, kill a hundred or so more fathers, as they killed mine.
You absolutely have to read The Hundred-Year Lie: How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That Are Destroying Your Health and/or Fight for your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America. It is horrifying, sickening, and yet strangely empowering to understand how the FDA is not our friend but rather an agency to give us false security while they actually protect Big Pharma and "Big Food." Both of these books are thoroughly documented and based on proven facts, not speculation.

Although the facts are depressing, it's important to know them so that we can protect ourselves. The bottom line is: 1) Don't trust what the government tells is "safe" regarding food, tap water, medicines, vaccinations, etc., and 2) expose yourself only to as NATURAL of things as possible... organic whole foods... purified or spring water, NOT straight tap water... as few meds and vaccinations as possible... as few plastics as possible... as little radiation as possible (e.g., refuse that dental x-ray at your next check-up! it is NOT needed and x-rays are proven to have cumulative harm!)... a lot of things that I'm sure many of us are already doing. Those two books will open your eyes to other ways we can protect ourselves too.
I had a time like you're having when I research the affects of mercury on children and cases of autism and how mercury was the carrier for childhood shots. They say mercury is no longer used but they also say that mercury has no connection to autism.
Yep, and they also claim that thimerosal has no connection to autism either (when actually it acts much the same as mercury), so they blissfully keep putting that in our children's vaccines. And last week, I heard about a new study that claims (don't laugh) that organic food is no better than conventionally produced food! When you look at who puts out those studies, and look deeper at how they arrived at these phony conclusions, it's obvious that their ulterior motive directed the outcome of the "research." It's sad how many people will hear that and think, "See? I don't need organic anything; that's all hype" -- and blissfully go on buying their genetically-modified, poison-grown food and feeding it to their children, thinking they're doing the right thing. :(

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gixxerific
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GeorgiaGirl wrote: I heard about a new study that claims (don't laugh) that organic food is no better than conventionally produced food! :(
I saw a story on that I believe last Thur on the morning news. I about dropped a pot of coffee on me, well not really with the coffee thing, but I stopped what I was doing. I had too my jaw was on the floor which made it hard to do anything. I couldn't believe it, pretty much ticked me off knowing that it was a bunch of cr*p they were feeding the mindless minions. At least around here the local Grocery stores bring in real Homegrown produce grown locally. but who's to say what they put on those plants?

End rant\ (before I get mad)

Dono



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