Gardendaze

Recently I signed up to receive emails from Bonnie Plants. I was a little surprised to receive an acknowledgment from Scott’s (as in Scott’s Miracle-Gro) thanking me but whatever.

So none of you will be surprised when I tell you how shocked I am that they (Scott’s) have come out with an an organic version of their Ortho weed killer, GroundClear. (As you have already surmised by now, Scott’s is affiliated with Ortho as well. )

Here’s the problem: the organic version is called Ortho GroundClear and is sold in ready to use and concentrate bottles. It very clearly states “OMRI” listed on the bottles. Its primary ingredient is ammonium nonanoate. So far so good.

The problem arises when you realize that there is a similar, non-OMRI listed product called Ortho GroundClear as well as Ortho GroundClear Super. And of course, since we are who we are, why wouldn’t we buy the super-strength product, perhaps being deceived about whether it is organic, since all the products have the exact same name?

I surely understand Scott’s wanting to house its organic products under its best-selling line of weed killers. But I think that they need to do more to make them stand apart. Stores don’t have room on their shelves for this distinction.

And of course, those that didn’t intend to buy the organic version might do so in error and get mighty annoyed when their weeds don’t quite die as they intended.

I suspect Scott’s has just made a mess of its branding with this one and something will change shortly.