Scotts (MiracleGro) bought General Hydroponics

[churchhaze]

I didn't mean to imply "Maybe Jbone really saw what he says he saw." For me, it would be very hard to believe my eyes if I saw all that stuff in my local hardware stores. It would be nice, but it's hard to imagine me seeing it in my region.

Do you have a mental block? Do you want me to paint a photoshop picture for you? Picture 3 rows of bottles on a shelf... each bottle 1L... They look like bubbles bottles, typically seen on store shelves. One is pink, one is green, and the other is brownish. Do you need any more help imagining GH flora in a gardening store? Nutrients in the gardening section? Unbelievable!!! It's almost as if it should have been there for the last 30 years.

 

[az2000]

There are hardware stores in my area caring all that stuff.

What areas are you guys in? Areas that already have grow rights?

That's what's hard for me to imagine Home Depot/Lowes selling GH because it would imply carrying all the other stuff you guys have mentioned. That would be a big change here. Not a bad change, just a big one that is hard for me to see happening anytime soon. If the new MiracleGro-GH "lineup" began to be sold at retail like that in some regions (as you guys described), it seems like Scotts would put its legacy hydro outlets in jeopardy. I could see hydro stores dropping it in protest of what they surely would see coming.

 

[Jbone77]

Hell, a guy on here a while back said he bought his Fox Farm soil and tri pack at his local Ace, that shocked me. I'm in South west Florida and we have no real soil, we have mom n pop hydro farms everywhere so its only logical for the HD by me to carry it. The one 20 miles away didn't so go figure

 

[unwine99]

My Lowes used to carry Pro-Mix HP. It was stopped by a hydro store who complained to Premier Hort. about it.

and the one time they carried Pro-Mix it was removed from the shelves for being too high-end, specialized.

Did the hydro store complain to Premier Hort that it was too high-end for lowes? Haha j/k


http://t.homedepot.com/p/PRO-MIX-2-2-cu-ft-Compressed-HP-Mycorrhizae-20221RG/204678989

Menards carries it too. I've seen it in both legal/non-legal states.

 

[Jbone77]

Just check HD..com and check there hydro systems out. Decent stuff. But no GH on the site

 

[a mongo frog]

What areas are you guys in? Areas that already have grow rights?

That's what's hard for me to imagine Home Depot/Lowes selling GH because it would imply carrying all the other stuff you guys have mentioned. That would be a big change here. Not a bad change, just a big one that is hard for me to see happening anytime soon. If the new MiracleGro-GH "lineup" began to be sold at retail like that in some regions (as you guys described), it seems like Scotts would put its legacy hydro outlets in jeopardy. I could see hydro stores dropping it in protest of what they surely would see coming.

Yes, Actually live in the same county as GH. I have not seen it at home depot. Ace hardware for sure, a place called friedmans bros. But then again there are so many hydro stores in my area its crazy.

 

[BROBIE]

They look like bubbles bottles, typically seen on store shelves.

Bubbles is the brain of the group. I like him, he has a big heart.

 

[az2000]

Did the hydro store complain to Premier Hort that it was too high-end for lowes? Haha j/k.

The story I was told by the garden manager at Lowes, the garden centers and hydro shops are supposed to have an exclusive for Pro-Mix HP, BX. Premier Hort. makes some consumer products for ordinary retail. He said they weren't supposed to have sold it. A distributor got in trouble over it.

Later I was at a local hydro shop and mentioned something about it (how I'd picked up 5-6 bales for $12 each on closeout). The store manager said to an employee (in a low voice, she didn't intend me to hear it) that she had complained to Premier or the distributor about it.

That's all I know. Stuff like that is what caused me to think there wouldn't be much high-end at these retail sellers, and that this is more likely Scott's intention to get into the higher-markup boutique hydro environment.

But, it's possible Scott's intends to MiracleGro'ify this market. It will be interesting to watch.

 

[BROBIE]

GH for 60$ or so in Lowes will fly off the shelves.

 

[panhead]

Scotts is the 200 lb gorilla in the soil & fertilizer industry , look at their last 10 yrs where they've been buying out other brands .

Nothing new here with scotts & i highly doubt any marketing of GH products will hit big box store shelves .

 

[unwine99]

Scotts is the 200 lb gorilla in the soil & fertilizer industry , look at their last 10 yrs where they've been buying out other brands .

Nothing new here with scotts & i highly doubt any marketing of GH products will hit big box store shelves .

I see from the Scotts Miracle-Gro wiki page that they've made several acquisitions over the years but I don't see any of those brands/products that aren't available in one or more big-box stores. It just seems like they'd be foolish not to utilize their full market reach, unless they were solely after GH's patents/intellectual property.

Either way, it's an interesting acquisition for such a widely known corporation given GH's obvious ties to the MJ industry -- another sign that cannabis is finally shedding some of its negative stigma.

 

[panhead]

The reason i dont see mj specific nutes hit big box stores is their track record so far , one would think home depot & the buying power they have would be highly interested in selling high profit margin grow lights , they turned their back on huge profits & where they coulda had their own house brand grow lights.

To this day in Michigan a 400 watt hps bulb is all they stock & ya cant even order a 1,000 watt bulb from them .

Big box stores have historically snubbed their nose at the mj growing community & with shelf space at a ultra premium & customer awareness about fertilizers in the stone age i cant see them making space for $25 a quart nutes next to $7 a bottle nutes .

 

[az2000]

The subsidiary is named Hawthorne Gardening Company. I found this press release from Oct. 2014 announcing the creation of Hawthorne. I can't find a web site. The PR said they owned AeroGarden. That has some definite tie-ins to cannabis (grow an autoflower under that on the kitchen table?

I can't find anything indicating the direction they'll take (specialty store or big-box retail). The fact that they created a subsidiary causes me to think specialty/hydro stores. If they were going to compete in ordinary retail it seems like they'd just keep it under Scotts.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Fox Farm is at just any nursery ... They have the nutes , soil ( happy frog , ocean forest , light warrior ) . They had big bloom , Gro big , and tiger bloom. It's sold for VEGTABLES use. They didn't carry supplements but those are on amazon. Some carried DYNAGRO products as well.

As for GH , it will more likely keep its name and part of MG family. Just because most non growers wouldn't even know what are Plant Nutrients much less tie it into cannabis growing. It will become a " shelf brand " easily melded into other plant additives and fertilizers. I seen fish emulsion , seaweed extract , T5 fixtures , 100w / 150w CFLS , inline fans , ducting , aero bags , good potting soil , compost and on and on. ALL AT HOME DEPOT. It's not much of a stretch to see this line go mainstream.

 

[sunny747]

Looking at HD online ( They carry many grow lights etc..) I feel that in Cali it's only a matter of time before we can go to a local HD and get everything we want/need for hydro or pot gardening. It's a huge market and they'd be crazy not to get into it. Can't ever replace the good advice at some hydro stores though. Their products may be priced high to compensate for the space they have to rent, but it's nice to get solid advice.

I'd imagine that Scotts will cheapen the GH line. I'm not sure, but this may bum me out more than when Colgate Polmolive bought Toms of Maine

 

[Budzbuddha]

But you all forgot the most important point ..... It will all be owned by , made in CHINA.
They fuckin own everything . From the country that supplies the most toxic , shitty controlled , cheap crap we buy. There will be no quality control

They put lead in every god damn thing . Goodbye plants. ( sniff )

 

[unwine99]

The reason i dont see mj specific nutes hit big box stores is their track record so far , one would think home depot & the buying power they have would be highly interested in selling high profit margin grow lights , they turned their back on huge profits & where they coulda had their own house brand grow lights.

To this day in Michigan a 400 watt hps bulb is all they stock & ya cant even order a 1,000 watt bulb from them .

Big box stores have historically snubbed their nose at the mj growing community & with shelf space at a ultra premium & customer awareness about fertilizers in the stone age i cant see them making space for $25 a quart nutes next to $7 a bottle nutes .

All great points. But one thing to keep in mind is the corporation doing the acquiring is "the world's largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care." The recourses of such a huge conglomerate/corporation-thing would be able to cut the manufacturing costs substantially.

The subsidiary is named Hawthorne Gardening Company. I found this press release from Oct. 2014 announcing the creation of Hawthorne. I can't find a web site. The PR said they owned AeroGarden. That has some definite tie-ins to cannabis (grow an autoflower under that on the kitchen table?

I can't find anything indicating the direction they'll take (specialty store or big-box retail). The fact that they created a subsidiary causes me to think specialty/hydro stores. If they were going to compete in ordinary retail it seems like they'd just keep it under Scotts.

Hmmm. That's interesting. You could be right about the hydro stores but on the aero garden website they list Walmart, SAM's, and Costco as retailers so that coupled with the whole GH thing, the potential for something bigger yet to be unveiled is definitely there. We shall see.

 

[churchhaze]

Scotts could afford to sell liter bottles of GH flora for 7 bucks and still make a large profit.

It would also be very useful to people who wanted to grow other plants hydroponically like peppers. Home depot has lacked nitrate based formulas in general since forever. A product like jacks pro hydro would be just fine too though.. no need for the bottles in that case. There's no reason they couldn't just stock both, like they do with liquid lawn versions of all their solid lawn products you can get at home depot...

 

[churchhaze]

Lol.. Here's RIU's favorite character's big mike's opinion. He seems to agree with us that the margins will go to shit, and it will appear in home depot and lowes.

Although I can't understand his overall conclusion... That you should get advanced nutrients? Hes' fucked.

Brobie, is that you?

 

[churchhaze]

Realize that big mike's conclusion is that you should consider not supporting a product that has such small margins... Wow, I didn't know AN had such high margins... You're telling me I was ripped off??

AN is done... What a desperate argument... He doesn't care about you as the customer, he only cares about selling to his hydro shop "partners", and he makes that very clear in this video.