Good for you on eliminating the Miracle Gro, but fish emulsion is significantly different. Alaska's is 5-1-1 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium), so it isn't providing any extra boost for flower production, mainly for green growth. The fish emulsion needs the soil bacteria to convert it to the best form of nitrogen for the plants roots to uptake, so although I know some people muse it as a foilar spray or in sterile container soil, I think it is of minimal value there.

Some fish emulsions add kelp or other natural sea products to bring the N/P/K number up to 6-3-3, but few organic fertilizers are as fast-acting as chemical ones. That's why organic nutrients are typically best placed in the soil before the plant reaches the flowering stage. Also, products such as bone meal, earthworm castings, high p/k guanos (such as bat or poultry) can help replace the need for chemical fertilizers.

But due to some questions about the amount of salt Miracle Grow leaves behind, whether or not it kills beneficial microbes, etc., I decided to look into other options.

Miracle Grow is almost all salt. Y'know why? Because plants only use water soluble salts for nutrients and Miracle is formulated to be completely water soluble.

Organic sources of nutrients get converted to the same elemental "stuff" before plants can use it. Miracle Grow or fish emulsion doesn't matter a bit to the plants. What it matters to is the inhabitants of the soil. MG gives them no food other than the urea, organics does.

Beyond that it simply doesn't matter.

In addition to the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potash the Alaska Fish Emulsion is reputed to have 19 minerals and 11 vitamins although finding something that lists them is difficult. Some of those things would have "sodium" in the name which means they are a salt, anything with "sodium" in its name is a salt, and some residues from many other things (chemicals) are refered to as salts.
When making the transition from using synthetic plant stimulants to an organic garden, while the soil is fixing itself, the AFE can be a big help even if your soil bacteria are not functioning at optimal levels yet.

So the Fish Emulsion won't artificially pump up the blooming of the plants, correct? These are all newly planted or newly transplanted plants I'm going to be using it on, so root growth and foliar growth are of more value to me this season. I also want to benefit the organisims in the soil to help build it up. There are already tons of worms, etc. in the soil, and I don't want the Miracle Grow to harm them. The fewer chemicals the better.

Thanks for the replies! I understand how Miracle Grow bypasses the organisms in the soil to provide the plants with nutrients. You are right that there IS one point I fail to understand: if there is no difference between organic/synthetic (etc.) in the sense that the plant is ultimately nourished and that one way or the other the soil organisms aren't harmed, why is this topic so hotly debated? Misinformation? Aversion to Miracle Grow on the basis of some sort of principle?

On other threads there were accusations of Miracle Grow being akin to a steroid (I don't believe that, I've just been trolling a bit and read it). There have also been speculations that if gardeners were to end usage of Miracle Grow after years of use, their plants would suffer do to a lack of beneficial soil organisms to help break down nutrients (evidently due to Miracle Grow creating an inhospitable habitat for them). I'm NOT trying to perpetuate such statements, just separate fact from fiction.

I don't know if I will stop using Miracle Grow entirely, only that I felt it was important to ask some questions and find out the truth behind such claims. Frankly, I rarely do anything to my plants beside incorporate some manure now and then and replenish the cypress mulch. I just thought I would give the Miracle Grow a try to see if I noticed any difference with the new plants.

Thanks again for the input!

why is this topic so hotly debated? Misinformation?

Yes. That is it in a nut shell. Lots of people call synthetic fertilizers 'chemicals' demonstrating they have no concept of chemistry ;) Aversion to Miracle Grow on the basis of some sort of principle?

In some cases, yes. Some growers are inherently distrustful of large companies and assume the products they sell aren't safe. Sometimes they are even correct ;)

However I have encountered many people who simply 'feel' that nutrients from organic sources must be different or healthier than those from synthetics even though in many cases they are the same thing, just processed a little differently. Phosphorus often is derived from rocks. Some of this gets labeled as organic and the rest gets an acid bath to make it more soluble and is no longer considered organic. There have also been speculations that if gardeners were to end usage of Miracle Grow after years of use, their plants would suffer do to a lack of beneficial soil organisms to help break down nutrients

Please don't take this as my encouraging you to use Miracle Grow or any other synthetic in your gardens, but you don't harm any soil organisms by using it. Instead you don't sustain and build the populations of soil critters by not providing them with organic matter to eat. It isn't the presence of Miracle Grow that is the problem, it's the lack of organic matter. It is true that once the organic matter component of a soil drops to zero, there isn't going to be much soil life. What would they be doing? ;)

Ultimately we as growers can supply 100% of our plant's nutritional needs from a box of synthetic fertilizer. Or, we could work on giving food to the soil critters so they keep our soil in good shape and they take care of providing nutrients to the plants. Or, we could choose a hybrid approach.

While there are very valid reasons to choose an organic only approach, misinformation and scare tactics such as what you have reported seeing are not good reasons though.