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DCL
I'm a skeptic, and I'm especially a skeptic when it comes to anything a giant corporation tells me. So when I see a bag of "organic" potting soil from a company that's better known for selling chemicals to kill bugs and weeds... well. I tend to believe the "organic" name on that label even less than I believe in the existence of the Easter Bunny.
If you look at a bag of the most widely available "organic" potting soil available at home and garden centers, you'll notice that it is not OMRI certified. How can this be, when the label clearly says it's organic?
The short answer is that a company can say anything it wants on the front of the package, in general. Much in the way manufacturers of "food-like substances" (I love that Pollanism) can say on their label that they're "healthy," manufacturers of gardening products have the same loopholes. We need to look at the back of the package -- specifically, the ingredients. This particular potting soil lists its ingredients as composted bark, spaghnum peat moss, pasteurized poultry litter and organic wetting agents. We need to look closely at that "poultry litter" ingredient, because it's the main reason this product isn't really organic.
The poultry litter for this product comes from Perdue. As we know, Perdue is a gigantic chicken processing corporation, and its chickens are definitely not fed organic feed. So the waste they produce is not suitable for organic agriculture.
It's kind of a shame that we have to do this much research to determine whether something labeled "organic" is really organic or not. But do it we must.
So how can you find out if your potting soil or organic fertilizer is really organic? A good organic brand will have 2 main things: an OMRI certification label (which states the product is approved for organic agricultural use) and a list of ingredients that specifically says something like "poultry litter from organically-raised chickens."
Of course, you can also make your own potting soil, which is probably the best way to make sure you're getting exactly what you want.
As I said before, there's plenty of garden greenwashing to go around.
