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 THEBats
The Bridge Master
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 8,488
Last seen: 11 years, 6 months
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 Miracle Gro for Pot 
#564253 - 06/13/11 10:56 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304665904576383832249741032.html
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has long sold weed killer. Now, it's hoping to help people grow killer weed.
In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scotts Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company.
"I want to target the pot market," Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview. "There's no good reason we haven't."
Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.—for nearly two-thirds of its revenue. With consumers still cautious about spending, the retailers aren't building new stores as quickly as they used to, making growth for suppliers like Scotts harder to come by. Against that backdrop, Mr. Hagedorn has pushed his regional sales presidents to look for smaller pockets of growth, such as the marijuana market, that together could produce a noticeable bump in sales.
Sixteen states have legalized medical marijuana, the largest being California and Colorado. The market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, according to a report by See Change Strategy LLC, an information data services company.
While the report focuses on revenue from growers and dispensaries, Kris Lotlikar, president of See Change, said the market for companies selling hydroponic equipment and professional services is also thriving.
"We see very good growth for these types of companies as the medical-marijuana business grows," he said.
Altered States
Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, but federal raids on medical dispensaries have eased since President Obama took office. And while major public companies haven't openly targeted the market, in recent months medical-marijuana companies have sought money from venture capitalists and signaled future IPOs.
Centennial Seed Co., a Boulder, Colo., medical-cannabis seed seller, is seeking $500,000 through a private offering. General Cannabis Inc., whose stock trades on the Pink Sheets, supports the medical-marijuana market with financial and Internet services.
The 55-year-old Mr. Hagedorn isn't a typical suit-wearing CEO. A former F-16 fighter pilot, he flies his Cessna to and from meetings in Port Washington, N.Y., where he grew up, and the company's headquarters in Ohio, much to the chagrin of his board. He also peppers his language with swear words and military references, and he showed up at the office on a recent June day in jeans and sneakers.
Mr. Hagedorn took over Miracle-Gro from his father, who co-founded the company. The idea to merge with Scotts dawned on him after he looked at the company's market value in 1995, he said, so he called his father's tax lawyer to vet the idea. "I said, 'Bob, I got this f— crazy idea. Do you think it'd be f— possible to take over Scotts?'" he recalls, sitting in the Port Washington office that his father once occupied.
Mr. Hagedorn is serious about sales growth, no matter how small. On a recent trip to a Farmingdale, N.Y., Home Depot, he saw a customer having a difficult time choosing soil. "C'mon, go help him out," he told Mike Carbonara, Scotts' president for the Northeast. A few minutes later, the customer was walking away with a bag of Miracle-Gro. Over the next half hour, Mr. Carbonara influenced three more sales.
Targeting marijuana isn't the only way Mr. Hagedorn is pursuing growth outside the national chains. Scotts is also looking to sell more through grocery stores.
And the company is recultivating its ties to independent lawn-and-garden-store owners, including offering them exclusive products. Mr. Hagedorn strained those ties with a 2009 speech in which he criticized the owners for not doing enough to promote Scotts products, prompting many owners to walk out.
"I don't give speeches to independents anymore," he said.
To target marijuana growers, Scotts would likely buy niche dirt companies that already exist rather than create its own line of branded products.
Raids on pot-growing operations have turned up Scotts products. Mr. Hagedorn takes that as a good sign of brand awareness, but he fears that some growers would be reluctant to use a mainstream product.
Rollitup.org, a website geared toward the marijuana-growing community, has several forums that debate Miracle-Gro's effectiveness. A user with the moniker Weedqueen12 wrote: "i think [Miracle-Gro] works well." Another user, dannyboy602, countered that Miracle-Gro causes pot plants to "burn and stress."
In the past, Scotts wouldn't have considered pursuing businesses or product lines that generated less than $10 million a year in revenue. But, Mr. Hagedorn said, "We can't operate our business like that anymore."
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com
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kickin-two-hundo said:
you know what i did in english class? I came to class stoned out of my mind every day, i chugged vodka in the back of class, i put dead fish in the ceiling tiles. i put a gallon of old milk and orange juice in the file cabinet before winter vacation. i brought snakes in a tied up sweater and let them loose during class. i didnt go to school to learn, i went because i had to. i didnt care, and i didn't fucking listen to that stupid bitch. and i still don't fucking care. i tore the pages out of her books and burned them, and threw away all the books in the class, two books per day. 
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 harri
ˈko͞okē
Registered: 03/29/09
Posts: 781
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: THEBats]
#564294 - 06/14/11 04:56 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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lol that's awesome
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alienscience
Farve in training
Registered: 01/04/11
Posts: 478
Last seen: 4 years, 5 months
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: harri]
#564399 - 06/14/11 02:05 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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They said in the video that they are looking at buying out existing companies and utilizing their recipes. Does anyone think fox farm is in danger of being bought out? I've always pictured them as the premiere 'pot' growing soil/nutrient company. I think their stuff would do really well under miracle grow, but I'd hate to see those awesome designs go away =Z
Either way, I know miracle grow makes some excellent soil and am really looking forward to seeing where this ends up.
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smurf_master
Master Smurf
Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 413
Loc: Everywhere 
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: alienscience]
#564401 - 06/14/11 02:07 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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tltr but I knew a kid who tried growing with Miracle Grow and his plants got burned h4rdcore in the backdoor. just sayin
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alienscience
Farve in training
Registered: 01/04/11
Posts: 478
Last seen: 4 years, 5 months
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: smurf_master]
#564402 - 06/14/11 02:13 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I see what you mean smurf, most of their soils are pre-loaded with nutrients already. I just bought a few bags of their 'potting mix' and it says it feeds plants up to 6 months. =o
I think that if miracle grow does go through with this, it will do wonders for the MMJ initiative. Both commercially and scientifically (like by making top notch soil readily available)
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DungenessDank
Lord of the Flies
Registered: 05/05/08
Posts: 9,372
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: alienscience]
#564407 - 06/14/11 02:31 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I hope they buy Fox Farms, their products aren't worth a damn for growing anyway.
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openmind
cannaisseur
Registered: 06/06/08
Posts: 597
Loc: Cannafornia
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: THEBats]
#564408 - 06/14/11 02:44 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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My buddy knows a guy that uses some simple miracle gro soil for his outdoor grow of Purple Urkle....The harvest turns out beautiful every year, some of the best outdoor buds I've ever seen.
.
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smurf_master
Master Smurf
Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 413
Loc: Everywhere
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: openmind]
#564419 - 06/14/11 03:17 PM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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pfffff Fox Farms is good now, I have great results. If Miracle Grow takes them over they'll just jack up prices.
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DungenessDank
Lord of the Flies
Registered: 05/05/08
Posts: 9,372
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: smurf_master]
#564580 - 06/15/11 09:04 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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They say big bloom works for hydro applications, but from my experience it just fucks shit up.
Not to mention it takes 2-3 days for the pH to stabilize.
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smurf_master
Master Smurf
Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 413
Loc: Everywhere 
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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i dunno about hydro, i prefer mother earths soil.
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Harry_Ba11sach
cannoisseur
Registered: 04/20/08
Posts: 11,753
Loc: Nepal
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Quote:
DungenessDank said:
I hope they buy Fox Farms, their products aren't worth a damn for growing anyway.
Still about 1000% better than MG.
Miracle grow has a fucking challenge ahead of them if they want pot growers to respect them. Pretty much the consensus around the internet is that Miracle Grow is a complete joke of a fertilizer and soil company.
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smurf_master
Master Smurf
Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 413
Loc: Everywhere
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Listen to the man with the best signature.
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MR.HEADY
PorchMonkey
Registered: 07/21/10
Posts: 1,162
Loc: Toothless acres . West Vi...
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: smurf_master]
#564614 - 06/15/11 11:53 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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Ive seen incredible smoke and plants that had nothing but mg used on them. Its all about application
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[quote]FarBeyondDriven said:
Anybody ever tell you you're the result of a broken prophylactic in the back seat of a 74 Mercury?[/quote]
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Tank333
Psychotic Hippie
Registered: 08/19/10
Posts: 1,241
Loc: Washington
Last seen: 4 years, 11 months
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: MR.HEADY]
#565355 - 06/18/11 10:30 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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You know, I think it does produce some decent results. I have a friend who grows with it. I even bought him some FFOF to use, and he still prefers the MG.
But Harry is right. They aren't formulated for our purposes, and if they want us to expect good soil, they'd better do a fuckton of research first... lol
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My best run so far
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smurf_master
Master Smurf
Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 413
Loc: Everywhere 
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Miracle Gro for Pot [Re: Tank333]
#565365 - 06/18/11 11:11 AM (13 years, 6 months ago) |
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I love the fox farms solubles, I just started recently using Cha Ching along with Open Sesame and the buds are looking fine.
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