# It’s very Green



## Aqua sobriquet (13 May 2019)

https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/tnc-complete-1000ml-229-p.asp

Should I be adding food colouring to my all in one formula?  

Or is there something missing ...


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## tam (13 May 2019)

Might just be it makes grabbing the complete v. lite bottle easier?


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## dw1305 (13 May 2019)

Hi all, 





Aqua sobriquet said:


> Should I be adding food colouring to my all in one formula


You could do. Liquid feeds are often coloured, you can then use the <"tint as an estimate of how much you have in your diluted solution">. 





tam said:


> Might just be it makes grabbing the complete v. lite bottle easier


Might be, it might be the same at Aquarium Gardens, put the green dye in one formulation and then you don't ever send the wrong one out. 

Possibly making the fertiliser green might sublimely make the purchaser think that their plants are going to be greener as well? 

I've been using <"Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food"> recently (not recommended for aquariums because of its urea content) and it is bright blue.




 

I've been mixing enough into a two litre milk carton to give me a light sky blue tint and watering the house plants with it. I've also sloshed a little bit into the tanks. I'm not recommending this, and it isn't very scientific, but so far so good. 

cheers Darrel


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## Aqua sobriquet (13 May 2019)

Yes I use the bright Blue stuff in the garden as well. House plants get the iconic Brown stuff!


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## Jayefc1 (18 May 2019)

My all in one formular starts brown but In a couple of hours goes a green colour as the salts all dissolve


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## Aqua sobriquet (22 May 2019)

I found out the bright blue colour in Miracle Grow is Copper Sulphate.


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## dw1305 (22 May 2019)

Hi all, 





Aqua sobriquet said:


> I found out the bright blue colour in Miracle Grow is Copper Sulphate.


You know that pretty soon this will be all over the WWW, but minus the emoticon.

Before long it will be a "fact" and both our names will be forever associated with it. Who knows in the future wars may be fought between the true "blue believers" and their non-believing foe.

*Fact*: The pentahydrate of copper sulphate  (CuSO4.5H2O) is blue and "Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food" contains copper sulphate.  However I'm pretty sure (certain actually) that the 0.07% Cu content would be enough to give the fertiliser that bright blue colour.

If any-one is interested in the ingredients they are:





> Ingredients: Total Nitrogen (N) (24%) (Ammoniacal Nitrogen (3.5%), Urea Nitrogen (20.5%), Available Phosphate (P2O5) (8%), Soluble Potash (K2O) (16%), Boron (B) (0.02%), Copper (Cu) (0.07%), Water Soluble Copper (Cu) (0.07%), Iron (Fe) (0.15%), Chelated Iron (Fe) (0.15%), Magnesium (Mn) (0.05%), Chelated Manganese (Mn) (0.05%), Molybdenum (Mo) (0.0005%), Zinc (Zn) (0.06%), Water Soluble Zinc (Zn) (0.06%).
> 
> Derived from Ammonium Sulfate, Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Urea, Urea Phosphate, Boric Acid, Copper Sulfate, Iron EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Sodium Molybdate, and Zinc Sulfate


cheers Darrel


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## Aqua sobriquet (22 May 2019)

I only use it for plants in the garden. I transferred the box of Miracle Grow powder I had into a plastic tub because it got wet and when I sometimes get it on my fingers it turns them blue and it’s difficult to wash off.


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## dw1305 (26 Jun 2019)

Hi all, 





Jayefc1 said:


> My all in one formula starts brown but In a couple of hours goes a green colour as the salts all dissolve


It is probably the iron being reduced from ferric (Fe+++) to ferrous (Fe++), if you add ascorbic acid (an H+ ion donor) this will happen when the pH falls below pH7. 





Aqua sobriquet said:


> House plants get the iconic Brown stuff!


When I was a kid my mum used to be a great "BabyBio" fan, and used to swear by it for the house plants, which all used to do really well.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (26 Jun 2019)

I remeber that Miracle grow beeing launched on our market about 25 to 30 years ago.. And color definitively has a psycholigical effect.. Because of its poisonous blue color i initialy was very reluctant about throwing it over the tomatos. But finaly i did and i never grew such fat tomatos as i did on Miracle grow.. That stuff realy rocks the boat, i guess because its a fast release and directly available artificial fertilizer.

But have to admit, if the color was green i probably wouldn't have hesitated to use it to begin with.


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## Aqua sobriquet (26 Jun 2019)

No idea what’s in it but we use Tomorite or another generic Tomato feed for anything we intend to eat from the garden.


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## dw1305 (26 Jun 2019)

Hi all,





zozo said:


> Because of its poisonous blue color i initialy was very reluctant about throwing it over the tomatos


I think horticultural liquid feeds were traditionally blue, but I have no idea when that started, or why blue was chosen as a colour. 





zozo said:


> But finaly i did and i never grew such fat tomatos as i did on Miracle grow.


I assume it is the urea content that gives you that instant boost.

Looking at the ingredient list, it looks pretty good, especially for a <"relatively cheap product"> (if the link stops working that was less than £5 for a kilogram). 





> Ingredients: Total Nitrogen (N) (24%) (Ammoniacal Nitrogen (3.5%), Urea Nitrogen (20.5%), Available Phosphate (P2O5) (8%), Soluble Potash (K2O) (16%), Boron (B) (0.02%), Copper (Cu) (0.07%), Water Soluble Copper (Cu) (0.07%), Iron (Fe) (0.15%), Chelated Iron (Fe) (0.15%), Magnesium (Mn) (0.05%), Chelated Manganese (Mn) (0.05%), Molybdenum (Mo) (0.0005%), Zinc (Zn) (0.06%), Water Soluble Zinc (Zn) (0.06%).
> 
> Derived from Ammonium Sulfate, Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Urea, Urea Phosphate, Boric Acid, Copper Sulfate, Iron EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Sodium Molybdate, and Zinc Sulfate.


Other than not being suitable for aquariums because of the urea/ammonium the only thing "wrong" would be the low magnesium content, which could be very easily rectified by adding some (equally cheap) "Epsom Salts".

I assume Miracle-Gro was <"originally formulated"> for the American market, where there is likely to be <"much more magnesium in the tap water"> than there is in N. Europe.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (26 Jun 2019)

dw1305 said:


> I assume Miracle-Gro was <"originally formulated"> for the American market, where there is likely to be <"much more magnesium in the tap water"> than there is in N. Europe.



I think so too, i remember it seeing it for the first time via such a Tel - Sell advertisment on the television in the middle of the night.. That must have been at least 25 years ago.. Later i found a box of it in a local garden centre and gave it a try. And it grew plants surprisingly well. And somehowe it dissapeared again from the local shop shelfs, i rarely see it around anymore and dunno why. Only via internet.. I guess it might still be its strange blue color and cristal powder like substance making it a unappealing product for regular customers to buy and use. It does look awfull and doesn't give the idea beeing particularly healthy for a noob...


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## dw1305 (26 Jun 2019)

Hi all, 





dw1305 said:


> I think horticultural liquid feeds were traditionally blue, but I have no idea when that started, or why blue was chosen as a colour.


I haven't managed to find the reason, but I found this <"Dyes for fertilizers ....">. 





Aqua sobriquet said:


> I found out the bright blue colour in Miracle Grow is Copper Sulphate.





dw1305 said:


> You know that pretty soon this will be all over the WWW, but minus the emoticon. Before long it will be a "fact" and both our names will be forever associated with it. Who knows in the future wars may be fought between the true "blue believers" and their non-believing foe.


It is worse than I thought, <"some-one actually predicted this answer"> in 2015, it is on a _bona fide_ <"scientific site"> and no-one has queried it.

There is a more complete discussion in <"Serious inquiry.....">

cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (1 Dec 2020)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> I found out the bright blue colour in Miracle Grow is Copper Sulphate.


Hi @Aqua sobriquet

Just spotted your comment above. It's interesting because my bottle of _Miracle-Gro All Purpose_ liquid fertilizer contains a dark brown _liquid_. I guess the manufacturer changed the formulation?

JPC


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