Superduperthrive

[Justin088]

So i was at my local bonsai nursery and the guy up there recommended some stuff called super thrive. Any body heard of it. sounds like overpriced junk to me.

[tomc]

Sounds like over-priced junque to me too.

If you need to fertilize if you are unable to make 'oily cake' for an organic fertilizer. You are left with either soluble fertilzer or osmocoat pellets.

Oily cake is blended and dried cottonseed meal, kelp, and bonemeal. Sometimes lovingly called 'poo-poo' balls.

I'm sure there are better oily cake recipes on the web (than my memory of it). I stopped using it some years ago.

[Justin088]

Is there a specific process in making the poo balls?

[tomc]

Is there a specific process in making the poo balls?

Your going to have to hit the books, or the web, or get lucky here with someone who still makes oily cake.

I gave it up some years back.

My memory is quite fuzzy on this:

One part finished sifted compost, one part cotton seed meal, one-half part dried kelp, one part bone meal, one part water.

Cook all of the above together makes a stanky porridge. Spread out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet cut into squares, dry. one or more squares per tree per month in spring through fall.

A "part" is what ever messure of volume you use.

[Justin088]

cool thanks for the heads up. I'll def look it up. What kind of fertilizer do you use?

[tomc]

I ended up with a vole problem 8-9 years back and switched over to osmocoat about two tablespoons per five gallons of soil mixed in April-May when I transplant, and any soluble fertilizer every two weeks mixed at 1/2 reccomended strength. starting in June to October.

I do use Mir-acid soluble on azalea...

[Justin088]

thanks for the descriptive dates. After repotting how long do you wait to fertilize?

[tomc]

At least a month. Osmocoat will still be feeding in October, but I'm over feeding mine a bit to build up root mass.

Plus several of mine are at leaf cutting stage, to ramify the tops.

[TomM]

Our club makes the fert cakes and I use them along with the Osmocote, fish emulsion, and a couple other products on a weekly rotating basis through the growing season. Some plants get "special diets" to promote different things such as flowering. There are also micronutrients, acid and iron supplements.

As for SuperThrive - some folks love it, some not. The critics usually call it a worthless smelly concoction over hyped sales gimmick.

I'm in the other camp. Please understand that it is not a fertilizer. Rather it is a concentrated blend of vitamins. From my experience (forget the "Hollywood testimonials) it greatly reduces the stress of transplanting, re-potting or any root work. A drop or 2 in the water for the first watering after transplanting (like with bone meal) it seems to give a little boost. Some people will swear that it also helps with those plants that have been under the weather for a while.

I might be considered biased as I also am a user of vitamin supplements for myself.

Give it a try for yourself - or at least talk to those who do. Then decide.

[kdodds]

My personal preference is liquid fert at 10:7:9, half strength, weekly during growing season (monthly off season for indoor trees).

As for Superthrive... well, it smells like vitamin B12, like vegemite. So, I *assume* there are vitamins and minerals in there. But, wait, aren't there vitamins and minerals in soil (and even some in fertilizer)? Probably. And what sort of geriatric, osteoporotic, bonsai needs vitamin supplements anyway? If you said, "none, that's ridiculous" then you're probably pretty close to what Superthrive is. I know there are scads of people who use and recommend it. I've used it, trying a small bottle years ago. Results? Really no difference I could discern. In fact, my trees look better now than they did back then. Of course they're three years older. Hmmm... Supertime, in a bottle, use one drop per day for three years and your trees will mature nicely.

[tomc]

Justin, the superthrive huggers, and the superthrive haters are never gonna agree.

I beleive what both camps will agree on is that they use very fast draining mostly inert soils, this means I-they-we all need to fertilize.

FWIW a century ago comparable disagreements around grown from seed, or coppiced trees used to make for fist fights at some bonsai exhibitions in Japan.

I promise we'll play much nicer here, even as we disagree.

[Justin088]

Im almost positive most vitamins and minerals are unstable in water anyway. Especially if your like me and you leave your water sprayer outside so the water can cool down a bit. IM sure the solution doesn't stand a chance under the hot Texas sun.

[TomM]

Good points all around. We're not an argumentive group here. Anyone notice this? I respect all views, and never consider mine to be hard facts. I like SuperThrive mainly for 'root recovery' but I can't swear that that it has a long term effect.

As for 'soil' having vitamins in it - hmmm - most bonsai soils are mainly inorganic. Vitamins? Traces maybe from the shredded bark. Traces of acids in the rain too. To my mind the application of SuperThrive (once or twice) after root pruning/re-potting simply provides a little energy boost or kick-start for the recovery process.

[Justin088]

The traces of vitamins on the soil are subject to environmental conditions. Who knows that actual stability and application variables that go into the process of soil actually feeding the plant. I would assume regular waterings and summer heat would pretty much dissolve or wash away traces of vitamins and minerals in the soil over time.

My last point on super thrive. It's kinda like a multi vitamin. No proof behind the pudding but it never hurts to take one very day. Same would probably apply to Suprathrive as well.

[kdodds]

I would agree IF is could be proven that high doses of vitamins applied to bonsai did not have a harmful effect over time. Then, by all means, beneficial or not, water your plants daily with it. Your money, you know? Unfortunately, there are no such studies proving benefits, or harmful effects. For my own trees, I have not seen Superthrive "save" anything that I would consider too far gone already. Nor do I notice any difference repotting, defoliating, etc. without Superthrive than I did with. FWIW, most experienced horticulturists concur that this has been their experience as well, and say pretty much the same thing, it's your money, spend it on Superthrive if you want to, I'll be saving mine for a nice pot to compliment my tree.