Maybe the best selling snake oil on the market....is that good enough?

You'll not find it in a discussion about fertilizers because it is NOT one! At best it might be considered a transplant tonic or dilute rooting supplement. It is mostly water, containing less than .1% vitamin B1; less than .5% 1-Naphthyl acetic acid (a naturally occurring phytohormone that encourages root development in transplants), and some 50 undisclosed proprietary ingredients in even lesser concentrations. The rest of the bottle - around 95% - is just water. And that gets diluted down even further if mixed and applied according to label directions.

One of the primary issues with ST is that it has no scientific evidence to back it up nor have any field trials or controlled experiments been conducted that would support its extravagant claims.

This was written by a very long time and well-regarded member of these forms who is a recognized authority on soils, container gardening and associated supplements and fertilizers.

Superthrive or Superjive

"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 summer's 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 are able to synthesize their own vitamin B-1 as do many of the fungi and bacteria having 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."

spend your money on building your soil.. and your plants will NEVER need snake oil ferts ... period.. paragraph... your truly .. usual closing and signature...

they are your PLANTS.. they are not children.. they do not need to be fed.. edumacated.. nor clothed.. treat them as such ...

either buy more plants.. or buy compost that will break down and make your soil better ..

ken

What superthrive are you talking about? I know of a couple. There's the liquid stuff that's pretty much a rooting helper. It has isopropal alchohol in it and that does stuff/kills stuff. So it's supposed to be helpful for transplants or cuttings. I know that superthrive the liquid rooting helper has long been mentioned as an additive in hydroponing growing, but I don't know if it's still popular in that community anymore. There might be other stuff more popular now. I haven't ever used it. I use a rooting powder if I want to do rooting stuff. Or sometimes make a batch of willow tea if it's more of a watering in thing.

There is also a granular fertilizer. I've seen bags of it for sale. It seems like a basic 4-4-4, and kind of pricey to me. Other bags of ferts that are more popular or cheaper probably.