A home expert watched in horror after a Home Depot shopper allegedly made a mistake when buying fertilizer. In a viral clip, TikToker @twinhomeexperts shared a PSA about the fertilizer you’re buying at the home improvement store, and why it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.
What’s wrong with Miracle-Gro?
The expert films a customer placing a Miracle-Gro sack of fertilizer onto their trolley. “Don’t do it,” the TikToker urges. But the happy customer heads to check out with his new bag of fertilizer.
What’s the issue? Miracle-Gro is one of the most popular brands among home gardeners and often tops review lists. However, for $8.47, the Miracle-Gro garden soil is a “contaminating your soil, microbes, and worm” problem, according to the TikToker.
He records the bright and colorful plants in the garden center of Home Depot. Their beauty is all because of the synthetics inside Miracle-Gro, the expert says. The urea and ammonia phosphates make up the ingredients inside that fertilizer.
“Consumers aren’t educated,” he states. Then he shows a bag of the Kellogg organix fertilizer. “So f you’re gonna buy a fertilizer, always stick with all organic. And make sure that it’s listed as Omri.
Viewers aren’t so sure
With over 64,000 views, the expert’s TikTok had several divided opinions. Some users thanked the TikToker for the PSA, while others called him out.
“Urea and ammonia phosphates are naturally occurring pal,” one user said.
Another wrote, “Wait I know I paid attention enough in class to remember that those things you listed are naturally in soil.”
One user speculated that organic products are inherently more expensive: “Go organic for 3X the price.” However, the Kellogg product on Home Depot’s site lists it at $6.97 for the size the TikToker showed.
Is Miracle-Gro toxic?
According to several articles online, many tout Mircale-Gro as toxic for the environment. One blog post says Miracle Gro works so well because of the synthetic ingredients. But the author claims they do more harm than good: “The problem with MG is that the nitrogen is derived from synthetic ammonium and water soluble nitrates, producing off-chemicals that are harmful to soil microbes, worms, and all other forms of life in the soil.”
The author also claims that the product pollutes rivers and streams.
Another blog Gardenary claimed the same thing, writing, “Synthetic fertilizers have, in fact, caused something called eutrophication, or ‘greening’ of our waterways.”
This causes too much algae and not enough oxygen, the blog states, killing aquatic life. How true are these claims? The backlash inspired the Scotts Miracle-Gro company to put out a release.
“Any time you use a ScottsMiracle-Gro product, you’re connecting with the environment,” the first line of a post on the website reads. However, much of the data Scotts shared had to do with the packaging and rarely with the actual product.
In 2012, the company was given a $4 million fine for violating the the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scotts pleaded guilty to illegally applying insecticides to its wild bird food products that are toxic to birds.” Their crimes also included “falsifying pesticide registration documents, distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels, and distributing unregistered pesticides. This is the largest criminal penalty under FIFRA to date.”
@twinhomeexperts BEWARE of this fertilizer, DONT DO IT ! #gardening #fertilizer #beware #bigboxstore ♬ Timeless – Franksille
The company also had to pay a separate $6 million fee in penalties and $2 million in environmental projects. Scotts was also ordered to pay several hundreds of thousands to environmental groups.
What about today?
So while the company has come a long way since then, many still urge folks to stick with the organic stuff. The Mary Sue has reached out to Miracle-Gro via website contact form and the TikToker via email for more information.
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