I've got to tell you, Drew, I don't mind if we disagree, but I don't care for the 'dude' thing. Still, I'll offer a polite and thorough response. I'd say that Miracle Grow is peat, bark, perlite, in order of volume respectively, which is important when we're talking about amending X with Y and Z. That's also common practice when listing ingredients by volume, from potting mixes to shampoos. Drew, perhaps you aren't aware how many times the mix is made improperly, and then wrongly blamed. That's something I try to suss out when people have questions: are we actually talking about 5-1-1 mix...or are we talking about a hodge-podge that kinda looks like 5-1-1 if you squint and shake your head real fast. If someone makes a batch of 5-1-1, but decides at the last minute to add some extra peat because the mix just seemed to drain so quickly, well it's important to know that to offer advice. It's important to know if Lime was added...and very often it's not. Folks say, Oh I'll add it if there's a problem - then magically they don't see the results that others are seeing. Same with fertilization and watering...coming from a pre-fertilized peaty mix, watering and fertilizing practices need to change to get the full potential of the 5-1-1. 5-1-1 won't work for everything, of course not. It happens to be perfect for my Dragon Fruit cactus and my Christmas Cacti, which absolutely thrive in bark-based mixes. Folks who've switched their holiday cacti into bark-based mixes have come back to spread the word. But dry Cacti would not do as well in a 5-1-1 - I would recommend no more than 25% screened bark in a dry cacti mix. I only grow a couple orchids, but both are in a variant of 5-1-1 (scoria, instead of peat). If the bark is screened properly, *most* orchids will thrive in bark-based mixes. I also grow all of my Hoyas in bark-based mixes. Josh

Jades do not like overheated cooked roots would be more accurate, Drew. Yes, that is probably the problem i had. For sure. Thanks for pointing it out. Yeah in California they are in full sun. My first jade was about to be killed as a weed from San Diego. My aunt lives there. I took it off her hands. Anyway again because of the pot heating up I have had best results in partial shade, your miliage may vary. Mine tends to grow weak in the winter as I'm unable to give it enough light. I prune it down in the spring. It's about 38 years old. I'm really bored with jades and I would just toss it, but my wife is attached to it. So how many jades have you grown? Any pictures? Here is one I grew from a broken branch off the orginal. About 4 years old. Grew well in partial shade too! You can see though how close the sun is. This post was edited by Drew51 on Tue, Aug 19, 14 at 23:09

Arghhh! I'm assuming that was a TiC reply. ;o) I've actually done some experimenting with loose controls in place using Superjive & have found it helpful in stimulating the formation of new roots, but of no use for anything, including as a 'tonic', beyond that singular saving grace. As always, YMMV. Something I wrote about VF-11: I'll gently disagree with the VF-11 recommendation on this basis: The guaranteed analysis of the primary macro-nutrients (NPK) in Eleanor's is: 0.15 - 0.85 - 0.55 This is less than 1% of ANY of the majors. 1/8 of 1% N, 7/8 of 1% P, 1/2 of 1% K. This is EXTREMELY low in fertility. Since I cannot find the rest of the analysis, I'm going to guess the rest of the nutrients are probably nonexistent, or nearly so. I haven't used this potion (VF-11), but then, you don't need to ride the bus to know what makes the wheels go round & round. Forgive me for being somewhat skeptical or even cynical, but when vague claims are made like: "... and mildew is eliminated because VF-11 changes the pH and creates a condition where mildew can not grow. Once again, isn't it amazing?" I wonder why there isn't something specific in the claim. Changes the pH of what? Soil? Cellular pH? Leaf surface pH - for how long? Hmmm I also wonder at: "VF-11 builds so much strength and health that plant cells 'harden' and 'seal in' the amino acids which aphids feed on. You have merely eliminated their food supply. And you have done it without the use of poisonous systemic or pesticides. Pretty nice...huh?" Don't aphids feed on sap. How does this product make the sap unavailable to aphids? Does it somehow make cells so hard that they cannot be penetrated and dry up all the intra-cellular plant water/sap? Should I/we be saying GMAB here? There's more, but you get the drift. I wouldn't say that this product has no benefit, as it may very well have some, but I am of the general feeling there is almost surely no panacean value to products like Superthrive or this elixir, and it's a good bet it's not the magic potion some may think it to be. I don't trust advertising that is known to be false and this alone is enough to fuel the skepticism in me. One thing additional: The claim that "you cannot overdo", means there could only be extremely minute (almost immeasurable or nonexistent) amounts of any micro-nutrients in it because micro-nutrient overdose produces toxicity at very low levels and over-doing would reveal readily visible symptoms quickly. Like I said, I wouldn't argue that it has no value, but I do know that I would invest in a good, known source of micro-nutrients and an appropriate fertilizer before I'd trust plant vitality to a product labeled with so many unsubstantiated claims. Al

Thanks for the advice. It's from a local orchid show years ago and says only "MSU formula" plus the dosage. I guess you are right that it's a repackage. Sources online shows the MSU formula (for RO water) should contain (13-3-15): Nitrate Nitrogen 12.5% Ammoniacal Nitrogen 0.5% Phosphorus as P2O5 3.0% Potassium as K2O 15.0% Calcium 8.0% Magnesium 2.0% Iron 0.17% Manganese 0.08% Zinc 0.04% Copper 0.04% Boron 0.01% Molybdenum 0.01% From my limited knowledge, those ingredients look fine to me. I just want to make sure it doesn't contain some heavy metal or strange hormone. Although I have no idea whether their concentration matters or not. On researching this question, I found that actually it's not easy to say whether a product is approved-for-use on food crops, as Dave said. Other than those that are specifically designed for vegetables, many generic fertilizers don't mention whether they can be used on food crops or not. Like the DynaGro Foliage Pro I have been using, I couldn't find a reliable source that states that product is safe for food crops.