Thoughts on Superthrive?

[sand_tiger86]

I see a lot of people online talking about adding Superthrive to their watering regime. I've always just used urea-free orchid fertilizer, alternating between a foliage specialized one and a bloom booster. Does Superthrive work well? What are you experiences with it in contrast to orchid fertilizer?

[espranch]

Kelly, I use it with fertilizer. I use 1/4 teaspoon S.T. and 1/4 fertilizer to a gallon of water. I like the results...Betty

[cakedaddy]

You'll probably get lots of varying opinions on this topic! I use it as well. I tend to think of it more as a tonic than anything else.
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[eorchids]

You'll probably get lots of varying opinions on this topic!

As usual !
I stop using it for more than 1 year and I think there is no difference.

[cdayinflorida]

Kelly, I did a poll on it. Just do a search

[happyhouseorchids]

I have used it in the past but do not anymore I found no difference .

[tucker85]

You can grow outstanding orchids with just a good fertilizer and no suppliments. I used Superthrive years ago and couldn't tell if it was doing anything or not. If you want to use a suppliment, I recommend Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed. I've had excellent results with it and it's available from many of the orchid supply stores. Other seaweed products might be just as good. You still need to use a good fertilizer though.

[espranch]

I like to add a tablespoon of vodka to my fertilizer mix...one per gallon. Then it seems the insects don't like the orchids quite as much! Learned this one from a looooooooooooong time orchid grower...Betty

[sand_tiger86]

I like to add a tablespoon of vodka to my fertilizer mix...one per gallon. Then it seems the insects don't like the orchids quite as much! Learned this one from a looooooooooooong time orchid grower...Betty

That's really interesting! I'm always afraid to put anything out of the ordinary in my orchid water due to fear of killing them. I can't believe they don't croak out on Vodka! lol Maybe mind would be happy drunks and actually bloom for me.

[dougroc]

Sand tiger,

While I don't have any carefully controlled double-blind experiments to prove this, I do believe that I do get more vigorous root growth when I use Superthrive rather. A little bottle goes a long way so it is not an expensive thing to add to your fertilizer regimen.

A couple things I been doing that could also account for the improved root growth that I have seeing lately is using seaweed extract, and also I have been
repotting a lot of my plants in spaghnum moss and perlite instead of bark mix. (Paphs and Catts still go in bark mix)

One of my orchid friends told me that Superthrive is also very acidic. Our tap water here is pretty decent for orchids, but it is a bit on the
alkaline side. Not sure what the tap water is like in Texas, but if anyone in your local orchid society has a test kit, it might be worth finding
out how alkaline it is.