For regular nutritional maintenance, there is nothing in any of the products you list that cannot be found in and more reliably delivered by an appropriate soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro, Foliage-Pro, Peter's, others. Some of the negative issues associated with organic forms of nutrition for houseplants are unreliable delivery (organic soil amendments like kelp meal and guano must be acted upon by soil organisms before the nutrients locked in organic molecules are broken down into elemental form. Since soil organism populations are boom/bust in containers, you can see that delivery is unreliable), no way to tell how much of each nutrient is being delivered and when, accelerated soil collapse because the organic component tends to increase biotic populations which break down other organic parts of the soil, algal crusts on top of soils, a greater incidence of soil insect problems, including fungus gnats ......

I would suggest that you use these products by scattering them on your beds or garden, rather than incorporating them into your nutrition supplementation program for containerized plants. There is a considerable difference in the value of feeding the soil for garden applications and its value, or more appropriately lack of value, for container culture.

From a past thread:

Superthrive or Superjivecolor>size>
The question regarding the value of Superthrive as a miracle tonic for plants is often bandied about in horticultural circles. Over the years, I had read claims that ranged from, "I put it on my plant, which had never bloomed, and it was in full bloom the next day." to, "It was dead - I put Superthrive on it and the next day it was alive and beautiful, growing better than it ever had before." I decided to find out for myself.

If you look for information on the net, you will probably only find the manufacturers claims and anecdotal observations, both so in want of anything that resembles a control. Though my experiments were far from purely scientific, I tried to keep some loose controls in place so that I could make a fair judgment of its value, based my own observations. Here is what I did, what I found, and the conclusions I made about any value the product Superthrive might hold for me.

On four separate occasions, I took multiple cuttings of plants in four different genera. In each case the group of cuttings were taken from the same individual plant to reduce genetic variance. The plant materials I used were: Ficus benjamina, (a tropical weeping fig) Luna apiculata (Peruvian myrtle), Chaenorrhinum minus (a dwarf snapdragon), and an unknown variety of Coleus. In each instance, I prepared cuttings from the same plant and inserted them in a very fast, sterile soil. The containers containing half of the cuttings were immersed/soaked in a Superthrive solution of approximately 1/2 tsp per gallon of water to the upper soil line. The other half of the cuttings were watered in with water only. In subsequent waterings, I would water the "Superthrive batch" of cuttings with a solution of 10 drops per gallon and the others with only water. The same fertilizer regimen was followed on both groups of cuttings. In all four instances, the cuttings that I used Superthrive on rooted and showed new growth first. For this reason, it follows that they would naturally exhibit better development, though I could see no difference in overall vitality, once rooted. I can also say that a slightly higher percentage of cuttings rooted that were treated with the Superthrive treatment at the outset. I suspect that is directly related to the effects of the auxin in Superthrive hastening initiation of root primordia before potential vascular connections were destroyed by rot causing organisms.

In particular, something I looked for because of my affinity for a compact form in plants was branch (stem) extension. (The writer is a bonsai practitioner.) Though the cuttings treated with Superthrive rooted sooner, they exhibited the same amount of branch extension. In other words, internode length was approximately equal and no difference in leaf size was noted.

As a second part to each of my "experiments", I divided the group of cuttings that had not been treated with Superthrive into two groups. One of the groups remained on the water/fertilizer only program, while the other group was treated to an additional 10 drops of Superthrive in each gallon of fertilizer solution. Again, the fertilizer regimen was the same for both groups. By summerÂs end, I could detect no difference in bio-mass or vitality between the two groups of plants.

Since I replicated the above experiment in four different trials, using four different plant materials, I am quite comfortable in drawing some conclusions as they apply to me and my growing habits or abilities. First, and based on my observations, I have concluded that Superthrive does hold value for me as a rooting aid, or stimulant if you prefer. I regularly soak the soil, usually overnight, of my newly root-pruned and often bare-rooted repots in a solution of 1/2 tsp Superthrive per gallon of water. Second, and also based on my observations, I no longer bother with its use at any time other than at repotting. No evidence was accumulated through the 4 trials to convince me that Superthrive was of any value as a "tonic" for plants with roots that were beyond the initiation or recovery stage.

Interestingly, the first ingredient listed as being beneficial to plants on the Superthrive label is vitamin B-1 (or thiamine). Growing plants synthesize their own vitamin B-1 as a by-product of their metabolism, as do many of the fungi and bacteria having symbiotic relationships with plant roots, so it's extremely doubtful that vitamin B-1 could be deficient in soils or that a growing plant could exhibit a vitamin B-1 deficiency.

Some will note that I used more of the product than suggested on the container. I wanted to see if any unwanted effects surfaced as well as trying to be sure there was ample opportunity for clear delineation between the groups. I suspect that if a more dilute solution was used, the difference between groups would have been even less clear.

It might be worth noting that since the product contains the growth regulator (hormone) auxin, its overuse can cause defoliation, at least in dicots. The broad-leaf weed killer Weed-B-Gone and the infamous "Agent Orange", a defoliant that saw widespread use in Viet Nam, are little more than synthetic auxin.

Al

Thanks Al!

So Superthrive is only sort of a waste of money. It's good to know it can be use to suppliment rootings.

What you say about the other two, in retrospect, makes sense. I have tried going organic indoors and haven't noticed a difference although I'm sure it works for some people. I'll use them in my garden outside.

Thanks again
Dan

Superthrive-- I also have tried test trials and have never been able to tell a difference with or without in plant comparsions- appears its a total waste.

Just a note to anyone wanting to use bat guano, check first if it's sterilized or pasteurized then you can make your own choice whether to use it.

I bought a soil that has guano (and I didn't realize it when I bought it) but just found out it's not sterilized or pasteurized, and I don't want that inside my clean healthy home. So I'm re-potting ALL of the plants I used it in, using a better soil......and it's not easy!!! Super time consuming.

Sara, go back and reread Al's first paragraph. Dry organics like the guano or kelp meal - pasteurized/sterilized or not - are not very efficient at delivering nutrients to any container grown plantings. There just does not tend to be sufficient populations of the microbiology needed to break these products down into a plant usable form in most container soils. And mixing them in any quantity with the potting soil could lead to unfortunate outcomes re: drainage and moisture retention.

You would be better served by using any sort of organics in a liquid formulation (although these are not ideal either) or any regular water soluble synthetic fert. It is extremely difficult to remain 100% organic with containers and still get productive, healthy plants.