Miracle-Gro Versus Scotts Fertilizer

Agriculture, horticulture, and many other botanical sciences depend upon timing and effective use of resources to create and sustain plant growth for personal enjoyment or for monetary profit. From commercial vegetable farms to personal flower gardens, plant growth varies based on an array of influences, from sunlight and amount of water to viability of soil. Most importantly, soil must be appropriately fertilized and nurtured in order to sustain plant life.

In a personal experiment of fertilizer performance, three fertilizer types (no fertilizer, Miracle-Gro, and Scotts) are implemented with two closely related plants (sugar snaps and snow peas). Twenty-four individual plants are grown in the experiment - four of each combination of plant and fertilizer. Additionally, each plant in the study receives the prescribed amount of fertilizer, and the same amount of water daily. However, some plant types may respond differently to various types of fertilizer. In addition to finding out which fertilizer works best for the given plant types, the product comparison also examines the interactions between the fertilizer and each plant type to determine if one type of fertilizer promotes more growth in a particular type of plant. Whether one is an amateur gardener or professional, knowing which type of fertilizer makes a particular plant's growth more vigorous and sustainable means the difference between no garden combined with no profit, a mediocre garden with an average profit, or a flourishing garden with increasing profits.