I have been an avid Spray N Grow user for around 20 years, and I would never garden without it (although with my chaotic spring this year, I have been remiss and have yet to do my first spray! Yikes!) I can absolutely tell when I haven't used it (like now) because my plants are less vigorous and don't grow as fast or big. When I do spray at least every couple of weeks starting with first leaves, I have a lot more growth, bigger crops, and things actually taste better. Be careful what you spray it on, though, because I usually only spray it once or twice on my zucchini, because we all know what it's like to have too much zucchini! :)
Just to be clear--SNG is NOT a fertilizer, it's a micronutrient growth enhancer. So you do need to fertilize as well. I mix their foliar feed in too before I spray (Bill's Perfect Fertilizer) for extra oomph.
I am always complimented on the flowers in my front yard, because they bloom magnificently. Last year one of my oriental lilies had 15 blooms on it! And my mulberry tree in my front yard has grown about 20-25 feet in 4 years!

Carla in Sac
No I do not sell Spray N Grow (but maybe I should!) :)

Lychee:

Spray-N-Grow is a scam. It is a prime example of the power of suggestion on innocent gardeners.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thank you Jellyman! Nail on the head as usual. It's a product for people who garden by the phases of the moon.

You can make many products seem miraculous if you do research where you have plants growing in an artificial soil devoid of essential minerals. Add those minerals in this context and the results are statistically impressive.

hmm- jellyman and harvestman- my gut reaction is the same as yours but it would seem that all the people who actually use it swear by it. and the company has been around for coming on close to 30 years- thats a pretty decent run for a scam product. jellyman and harvestman- do u have any proof that the product is a scam

Lychee:

Many years ago, I purchased and used S&G for two seasons. The first season, the treated plants did pretty well, but I wondered whether the product was responsible for that, and the 2nd season ran control groups. The treated and control groups performed exactly the same. Most soils are not deficient in essential minerals and micronutrients, and if they are, use of compost or other organic amendments is the answer.

Always be wary of products that depend on testimonials from the clients for publicity. When people buy a seemingly worthless but expensive product like S&G, they want it to work so badly that it does, or it seems to.

S&G is believed to be nothing more than a kelp extract (at best), but of course the formula is "secret". When a product so good has been around for 30 years, you would think some university or other ag research institution would have tested it and rendered a judgment. But none have. All they have is their testimonials from people who so, so want to believe. They do not publish the testimonials from people who think they have been ripped off. So I would turn your question around: Have you seen any proof, other than the personal testimonials, that this product has beneficial effects?

If you want to send them your money, that is up to you. This is the thinking that has kept this company going for 30 years. Unfortunately, it's legal.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Here's another pretty reliable way to sniff out scams. "If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't". If Spray-N-Grow worked as advetised they would be selling it by the barrel to commercial agriculture and anyone who didn't use it would be out of business. Straight logic can work.

jelly and harvest- I hear you. But in fairness, the testimonials were not only coming from spray and grow, they were also on daves garden (13/13 positive), where there would be nothing to stop people posting negative reviews. I will try and conduct a test this year- will grow 2 pots of cape gooseberries- one with and one without spray and grow and i'll see what happens.

Hm.....here we have a similar product called Ultra Grow, I have tested it some years ago and
found nothing this product would do,.. as claimed.
There used to be a local website with testimonials but can't seem to find it, perhaps
somebody finally stepped on their toes. It was selling like hot cake, promoted by a local radio garden talk.
I'm sure, this business laughed all the way to the bank.

Konrad

Lychee:

If you want to settle the matter in your own mind, a side-by-side comparison test is certainly the way to do it. I have to add that I don't consider Dave's Watchdog to be gospel either. These sites can be salted. Why wouldn't they be?

As you mix it up, don't forget to watch for the magical color change from clear to urine yellow. That is part of what is supposed to show it's working.

Like Alan, I was born a skeptic, even questioning the nutritional content of my mother's milk.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

"jelly and harvest- I hear you. But in fairness, the testimonials were not only coming from spray and grow, they were also on daves garden (13/13 positive), where there would be nothing to stop people posting negative reviews."

Wow, is this how people evaluate legitamacy on the internet. How confusing it must be and how easy to promote a scam. I could generate as many positive revues as I wanted and my incentive could just be profit motive.

Lycheelover, what is your reasonable explanation for why commercial agriculture hasn't bought into this product. There is tremendous international competition (as well as local) in the commercial production of food. If SNG worked as advertised how on earth would it not be used by farmers all over the world. Please answer this question. Logic is very important to me- almost like a religion. Remember that this product has been around for decades and the producer has every incentive to sell as widely as possible.

If you won't at least try to answer this, I guess my input is completely useless to you and I'll not bother you again.

harvestman- totally with you on logic- and your point about commercial growers is a valid one. one answer may be that it is too expensive to use on a commercial level (a gallon is $100). also, even if you have a valid question, that does not totally counteract the numerous testimonials from peole who have actually used it. while it is true, they could be fake, it is very unlikely as all of the reviewers had left numerous other reviews for other products over several years. this would be a tremendous time consuming way of promoting their product if all those reviewers are really sprayngrow employees.

certainly, sautesmom who gave it a positive review on this thread is not a fake review, as I know carla and have swapped scion wood with her! she is also a very experienced gardener who is unlikely to think a product works just because the company says it does.

Look, im probably just as big a sceptic as jelly and harvest, but if i see something intriguing with some evidence that it works, i dont automatically write it off in the name of scepticism. I look into things.

bottom line is, im doubtful i will see much of a difference in my tiral but i think, given all the glowing testimonials, its worth looking into.

harvest and jelly, please continue to offer me the benefit of your experience. i truly appreciate it. peace and happy gardening, lycheeluva

You said "im probably just as big a sceptic as jelly and harvest, but if i see something intriguing with some evidence that it works..."

Consider this: testimonials aren't evidence.

Jellyman and harvestman have it right.

Beyond that, in order to be a true trial of a product, it must be run over 3 seasons to determine if results are consistent.

And sorry to say, a test using only 2 plants -- one treated, one not -- doesn't qualify as an adequate trial.

Thanks jean. Lychee Luvaa consider the cost of producing fruit per acre and how much even a 20% increase in yeald would mean to a commercial grower- and 20% would be modest compared to S+G claims.

In commercial quantities all agricultural product prices shrink.

I have seen so many majical products make the rounds over the decades- in horticulture and every where else (especially diet). Testamonials are always generous with these products- and I wasn't suggesting S+G's were all contrived.

20 years ago I bought S+G and trialed it because the sales pitch also sold me to at least give it a chance. These days I'm a lot harder to con(vince).

Now I take my cues from commercial production where the wheat seperates from the chafe rather quickly.

Lychee:

I still think a side by side test would give you something to go on other than our opinions, although Jean is right that one swallow does not make a spring, and doing several groups of different types of plants over time would be better. If you buy this stuff, you will have enough to try on other things as well. The one-season comparison I did was enough for me.

Harvestman's point on the disinterest of commercial agriculture in this product is telling. Since S&G is quite expensive, I would suggest you avoid using money set aside for other important projects, such as buying lottery tickets at the 7-11.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

They do advertise S+G occassionally in Good Fruit, the northwest's main fruitgrowers trade mag. Never heard of a single commercial grower endorse it in spite of this campaign.

Yeah, well, I see big glossy ads in a number of reputable magazines/trade journals for TyTy Nursery, and we all know what scum-sucking shysters those goobers are.

jean 001-

"You said "im probably just as big a sceptic as jelly and harvest, but if i see something intriguing with some evidence that it works..."
Consider this: testimonials aren't evidence.

Jean- careful! I'm an attorney so very qualified to argue with you on this- in fact testimonial are evidence- certainly they are not proof or infallible evidence but they are evidence. Evidence just means something which goes toward proving a point. Testimonies do not prove a point but they go towards proving a point.

If I grow 2 identical pots of gooseberries , one using the spray and one not, and the sprayed pot had a 30%+ yield- i would be damn impressed- not saying I would bet my life on the product, but certainly impressed enough to use it on all my fruit the following season to see what happens.
unfortunately, i do not have the space to conduct but the smallest trial (consisting of one with and one without)

Just a point here about testimonials. They mean very little. There is a thing called the placebo effect. Which is, the more one pays for a placebo, or the more effort one puts into the placebo "treatment", the more one is inclined to believe the placebo is helpful.

I've personally experienced this many times in my life, with friends recommending various products that were quite expensive, but wholly ineffective.

Lucky, I wasn't suggesting the campaign lent legitimacy to the product- just the opposite. In spite of an effort to hoodwink actual professionals S+G has made no headway in that realm.

The sad thing is , if you keep telling people just how great a product is, and no matter how false it may be, people break down and start to believe it. Take that ( Male enhancement ) Ad We all hate and know full well could never work, if nobody bought it, the ad's would vanish!

Yeah, I caught the tongue-in-cheek tone. I was offering additional support to your point, not challenging you.
Just because they've made scads of $$ (duping the gullible?) and can afford to BUY advertising space in what's routinely perceived to be a reputable periodical does not implicitly translate into an endorsement.

I have no experience with Spray and Grow but I must endorse what Jean001 has to say about a trial. Having been educated in the biological sciences, I have to say that a trial with two potted plants is not worth doing at all. The factors that affect plant growth (or any biological measurement) are multiple and often subtle; hence the need for a control group to determine if the variable you are testing is responsible for the difference you are measuring. Results of a two-plant test could just as easily convince you that the product worked wonderfully or not at all regardless of its actual efficacy. Once convinced by personal experience, it is difficult to dislodge false beliefs from one's mind. In fact, this sort of "experiment" is often the basis for many very sincere (but erroneous) positive testimonials in alternative medicine, diets, etc.

sw- I disagree.
If I grow 2 goosebery plants from the same seed, grow them in the same bucket, in the same spot in the garden, in the same soil, give them the same water and the only difference is one gets the spray and one doesnt- and then the one with the spray has say 3-% or 50% more fruit- that would certainly go along way to convincing me. Not claiming it is statistical proof. claiming it would be extrenely strong circumstantial evidence that would make use the spray the following year on all my plants to compare my yield compared to previous years.

If we narrow it down to just two plants, I'd suggest a simple trial to test this theory. Plant two seeds. Every day spend two to three minutes staring intensely at one and always ignore the other. I would bet that there will be a significant difference in the two plants.

I think a reasonable test could be conducted with as few as ten to twelve plants, but two are going to tell you about as much as a coin toss.

Someone here, interested in SNG, should do a proper test and post the results.

brandon- bet there would be no difference using a stare test. im not that good looking.

Wow, just checked in on this thread, and am I surprised to see that I am a scam!
Or is it that I am an innocent, gullible gardener who gardens by phases of the moon?
I wish you people would write to my creditors to let them know I don't exist--maybe my mortgage would go away!

Carla in Sac
(who has been gardening for over 30 years, and, I might add, won $2,500.00 in 2007 for the best tomato in Naturesweet's Tomato Challenge--with the help of Spray N Grow)(yes you can google it)(but I'm sure that's a scam too)

I have three kids, all from the same parents, grew up in the same house, ate (pretty much) the same food, breathed the same air, etc., so why are they so different?

Seriously, you may BELIEVE you can make it so that the only difference is which one gets the spray, but you cannot. That's the whole point of doing statistical analyses with adequate experimental and control groups. Biological organisms and their microenvironments are complex. You can't be assured that each plant is nibbled on the same place by the same amount by the same insects, that the sunlight each receives is exactly the same on the same leaf area for the same time, that the roots are able to extend the same distance and are under exactly the same competitive pressures and on and on. There will be variation between plants due to factors over which you have no control and of which you may be unaware. How much of the variation you can properly ascribe to random factors and how much to the treatment you cannot possibly know with only two plants.

Dave

Yeah, right, with the help of S+G. I'll will say it one more time, in another way. If this stuff actually worked as advertised the creator would not only be a billionaire, but would have won a Nobel prize for drastically reducing famine in the third world- I'm serious. It would be one of the greatest agricultural contributions in the history of mankind. I think the birthrate of suckers may be accelerating.

carla tried to google it but couldnt find it!

Harvestman:

The question was does anyone have any personal experience with Spray N Grow. I related my long-term experience with it, as used yearly in my garden.
You can either use it, or don't use it, you can even opine whether or not you think such a product COULD exist but...
I REALLY don't appreciate you calling me a naive, lying scam artist in a public forum, when you've never even tried to ask me a question about it, or anything for that matter. It's not like I joined GardenWeb yesterday to pop in here and write a puff-piece, I have been posting here for years, I am a real person who gardens as a hobby, and, frankly, I think my real-life experience trumps your knee-jerk narrow-minded baseless opinions issued from your desk chair. Would you be making such nasty comments to my face? Or is it just on the internet you think it's OK to libel someone?

Carla in Sac

Carla:

I have looked over Harvestman's posts, and don't see him calling you anything. I haven't called you anything either, but I stand by my judgment that S&G is a scam.

I am sure you are a wonderful gardener, with long experience. So are many of the other people that use and praise S&G. But that's part of the issue. Capable gardeners grow beautiful fruits and vegetables with or without this product, but, having paid a lot of money for a clear liquid, they want to credit the liquid not their own skills. You probably would have won the grand tomato prize whether you used S&G or not. And congratulations.

Harvestman can be, shall we say, a little indelicate, but he has made some very logical arguments, and is not guilty of any personal attack in this case. This is a simple difference of opinion, and let's leave it at that.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Carla, you are a very treasured and valued member on this site, I always look forward to reading your posts. I know you believe in this product , but so far you are the only positive post for this. I also know that can hurt! but none of us directed any of this at you, just the product! none of us I believe would ever try to make this personal; because you do offer so much; I know I have gained much from your vast knowledge and will always look forward to your future posts.

All human beings are gullible silly fools, don't you know. I'm a sucker, you're a sucker, we all can be bamboozled into believing anything given the right con. I ridicule myself and all of humanity and would love to live in a world where all this emphasis of saving face and maintaining self respect would be replaced with an instinct more useful. One expression from the '60's that is a conerstone of my philosophy is "we are all Bozos on this bus". I love us Bozos.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be too concerned about being a "treasured and valued member" of any web site. This is the 2-D world of human relationships. In my opinion these relationships are interesting but extremely superficial. Carla, you are unknown to me and I couldn't possibly legitimately insult you. My intention was only to ridicule S+G

Still, Mudflapper's humanity is very admirable. Love is always good, even 2-D love.

"Harvestman can be, shall we say, a little indelicate"
lovely turn of phrase jelly!

"but so far you are the only positive post for this"- carla is also the only person on this thread who has actually used the product in the last 10 years. in addition there r the 13/13 positive responses on daves garden.

"is the 2-D world of human relationships. In my opinion these relationships are interesting but extremely superficial"
harvest- i actually very much appreciate some of the froends i have made on this forum who have given me and traded with me scion wood and plant cuttings. I have also spent 5 days tropical fruit hunting in miami with a forum member. we also met up with a bunch of other forum members while we were there and went out for dinner and had a great time. there is no reason why you cannot cultivate internet relationships into live relationships if u so choose.

There is available locally here in California, a similarly marketed "secret formula" said to work miracles if enough is used often enough. I have experimented with it in several of the suggested uses, but have not worked with a matching control of the same plants. It also is a clear liquid with no odor. I have not yet summoned the courage to taste it, but it may be "secret" water. Its affect when used on my plants has been exactly like water. Its cost is reasonable, unless compared to the cost of water. Maybe this spring I will scientifically test the product and find it does benefit my plants. Al

Well, just read every post and will have to comment!!! I have used it for at least 4 years and just because it is fun to see the difference~I plant two pots full of annuals and mark the one I use S&G on. Every year the pot with S&G is at least 3 times the size of the unsprayed pot. Now, that makes me a believer.....I would not be without it. Cannot say enough about this product~I would pay twice the price just for the joy of seeing big healthy results.

My thought would be because pot grown plants are going to need an application of fertilizer and your control group was starving. I grow both in pots and in the ground and i have to fertilize my pot grown stuff or else they don't do squat. The in ground plants have lots of available nutrients, but in the pot it gets washed out.

I like to use Epsoma products that seem common here.

My mom got it for me a couple years back. I've used it from time to time on plants that look like they need a little help, and frequently those plants do seem to look better pretty quickly. I think I researched it (well I know I researched it, but I think I found) that it contains iron, as well as other "micros" and as such it would certainly be helpful if you're deficient in such things.

I also own and occasionally use Superthrive, especially when transplanting (usually along with liquid kelp) and it too seems to work, but I don't rely on any of them over good old compost, manure, leaf mould and mulch.

I cannot say I've done any side by side comparisons, as such work would tend to eliminate what I enjoy most about gardening, the stress-less-ness of it all.

~Chills

I've been using Spray-N-Grow along with their Bill's Perfect Fertilizer for a couple of years now. I've seen great results in both my flowers and vegetables but saw the most difference in the size of my veggies when I started using their product. I like that it is non-toxic since I use it on veggies that my family eats.

The company has their own social network ( http://my.spray-n-grow.net/ ) where gardeners share tips and stories. You can probably get lots of feedback there from people who have used their products.

I need to get stock in this company...S&G... I need to call my portfilo manager somethings wrong with my diversity.

I agree, why fight it. People just like majic, it's much funner than science (and less work having to concentrate). The testamonials here often completely ignore the logical reasons given on this thread for situations where S+G works (as in potting soils).

If you're not doing a comparison with a fertilizeer with a full range of micros (much cheaper) than you aren't telling anybody anything.

I have been using SNG for 7 years. What convinced me to keep using it was a group of bananas in my backyard. These had been growing around the house since we moved in (12 yrs ago). After transplanting some to the backyard, I treated them with SNG. Normally the bananas would reach about 6 feet tall. This group averaged ten feet and one grew taller than the power line, maybe 20 feet.
Since that trial I have applied it to every and all plants and have found the results to be similar.

I live in San Antonio and was researching a man named Ferd Staffel. He had a feed store in the 20's and came across a lot of info in old newspapers from that period. Then came across this more recent article: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-old-man-and-the-secret/ Wondering if he ever patented the product or if his family still owned the company, I came across this Houzz post. Don't know if the product is the same or not but it surely seems Mr. Staffel new what he was doing. He sold mostly to farmers who saw a 30% increase in their peanut crops. Just saying, the original product seemed to work well and btw,, had no kelp in it.

I have used it in the same garden that had same soil and fertilizers in the ground and same seeds. Two rows I sprayed with it and two rows without. I saw the difference and will always use it. I later sprayed all the rows and now they all are doing great.

I will stay with it even if some people don't want to use it. I will use it.

Hi, we live in B.C. Canada and have been using S n G since the eighties and swear by it. Although no retailor will ship to Canada, at a reasonable price anymore of late. When we first used it on eight rows of potatoes we had planted three weeks earlier, we sprayed only three rows. After three weeks later those three rows were twice as tall as the other five rows. At harvest time the SnG treated rows had twice as big a harvest as the others.. In our greenhouse the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers were so much better tasting than ever before. Back then only one place in Texas sold it. Even Saudi Arabia was buying it for their gardens. There are many more stories of friends that I introduced it to and they swore by it..

Al D....

Since I am a one finger typer I will stop now.

Hi, Can anyone lead me to a seller that will sell and ship S n g to Canada.....Please....???

Back when SNG first came out (20+ years ago) I tried it for about 3 years and was pleased with the results. Then in year 4 I experimented with control plants (my regular growing routine vs SNG) and saw no difference. My regular routine (maintain healthy soil, homemade compost, organic ferts) performed just as well as SNG treated plant. That being said, SNG may help folks that already have poor soil quality which lacks certain nutrients.