Is Miracle Gro a Viable Alternative for Fertility in Strawberry?

This question was floated at our recent Plant Nutrient lunch.  In view of the fact that Miracle Gro is such a great fertilizer in home gardens and similar settings, would it be worth the while to use it in strawberries?  Excellent solubility, fast plant response, good concentrations of the macronutrients and a complete diet of micronutrients to boot.

Going to the 2011 Cost and Return study for strawberries, we see that total nitrogen use for strawberries is 140 lbs, consisting of 500 lbs of 18-8-13 slow release and another 350 lbs of CAN17 (by the way this is NOT a recommendation for fertilizer use in strawberries, these two materials are simply to be used as a general guide to obtain cost information).  In order to obtain the same level of nitrogen out of Miracle Gro (24-8-16), we would need to use 625 lbs which, since it is a soluble fertilizer, would be injected through the drip tape and spread over the life of the crop.  

Total cost of 18-6-13 pre-plant and CAN17 works out to be $488, or 1% of the total operating cost per acre to produce strawberries.  Miracle Gro, on the other hand, retails for $20 per 10 lb carton on Amazon (checked Alibaba, more expensive at $11.55 - 13.55 per 5 lb carton, minimum 40 carton pallet out of Malaysia from what seemed to be sort of a sketchy operation), meaning our total cost would be $1166 (0.24 x 583 lbs = 140 lbs; 583 lbs x $2 per lb = $1,166) or 4% of the total operating cost for an acre of berries.  

It is hard to believe that the plant response to Miracle Gro, even if markedly improved over current practices, will make it anything worth the near 3x rise in cost, so it is probably not worth the while to pursue this idea any further.

What about Miracle Gro as a fertilizer for strawberries?

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