Hmm. I don't know what to tell you AlP. I've used it for - oh - maybe 4 or 5 years and I swear by it. IMO, it's a fabulous product and I've seen a significant differnce in my plants. More flowers. Better growth. I use it both in my watering can and as a foliar feed. I wonder why you don't see the results and I'm sorry that you don't. May I ask why you feel you've "only found more and more reasons to be disappointed with this product more than amazed..."? Are you finding others disappointed in the results?? Just curious...

I can't tell where you are, but I suppose maybe your conditions might be optimal for Hoyas (like Floridians...) and maybe there's not much for you to gain using it. For those of us growing in less-than-ideal conditions, it's a Godsend!

Denise in Omaha

I wouldn't test anything during the off-season.
I'd wait to compare the new growth, then I'd draw my conclusions.
That said, I don't use VF-11 and my Hoyas are prosperous.

I, too, have read that the formula is so mild that it can't really help or hurt.

Josh

Denise, to clarify:

What I meant by being more disappointed the more I read posts on here was that you guys seem to swear by this stuff and its results, and the more I read these positive comments about it, the more disappointed I became because mine was not seeming to have an effect.

I live in Ohio, so I don't think we have the most ideal of conditions for Hoyas. Perhaps it was because of the off-season, as Josh mentioned, and I just need to give it a try this time of the year.

Al,

We have about the same conditions, but I suppose if you started using it in fall/winter, you might not see significant results. If you want to see (really see) how it works, I'd do a side-by-side test with two of the same species. I really think you'll see a difference.

Denise in Omaha

I only started using it about 4 months ago. I use it on more then just hoyas, and it's not the growing season for many of my plants, so I'll give it a few more months but so far I'm not impressed. I have a feeling that I'll be going back to my usual CalMag Plus, Spray n Grow trio, Dynagro, Thrive Alive w/B1, kelp extract and fish emulsion, at least for most of my plants. I might continue with the VF-11 on the hoyas a bit longer.

And maybe that's the difference - I've never been one to try a lot of different fertilizers so I don't have a lot to compare it to. All I've ever really used is plain old fertilizers (like Miracle Gro or Schultz) and a bloom booster a couple times a year. I don't feel that VF-11 is any kind of "push" - I don't see significantly more growth. I just observe my plants are vibrantly healthy, I have fewer problems with things like fungus gnats, and in my Haworthias, I don't have the root loss I had before I started using it.

Denise in Omaha

Here's my opinion. I did not like it with my orchids, or with my African violets. But for the hoyas, I did see a difference. As soon as I started using VF-11, the hoyas took off growing. At the time, I was using it both as a fertilizer I watered in, and as a foliar feed. I haven't been using it as a foliar feed lately, because they outgrew the span of their pots and since I am growing in a regular carpeted room and have nowhere for runoff to go, it doesn't seem wise : ) I have noticed growth has slowed down a bit, particularly with new leaves. I also enjoy using VF-11 on most of my other houseplants. Just not the orchids or the African violets. I can't put my finger on why, exactly. I think in the case of the orchids, they require more nitrogen since most of them are mounted and really don't have a medium to draw nutrients from.

Just my own experience two summers ago: I tried VF-11 on a few each of my hoyas, african violets and orchids. Within a month all of the plants that I used it on got a weird yellow cast to their leaves, especially the african violets so I stopped using it.

I have a lot of iron in my water which does affect the soil of my plants so I have created a soil mix that works well with the iron, possibly the iron level affected how the VF-11 worked. I fertilized with Schultz AV for two weeks and the plants all quickly turned a nice green again so nothing permanent happened.

Everyone's conditions are different, that's why there are so many different kinds of everything. It's good to experiment to find what works for you :)

That might be another reason it works better for some than others. I've only used RO water on my plants for, well, at least 20 years. I know RO filters remove calcium, and probably some other minerals, which may explain why VF-11 works well for me. However, I did use SuperThrive before that, but I see much better results with the VF-11, so I think there's something else there that gives better (healthier) growth for my conditions.

Denise in Omaha

I have been using VF-11 for about a year now and I would not be without it. I live in the southern most part of Utah and it hot,dry and no humidity here. All my houseplants look great. I do not use it on any of my violet just because I like to give the a low dose of fertilizer with each watering. If my hoyas grew any better or faster I would have to either buy me a new home or build them a home of their own. So my vote is for VF-11 and the wonders it does.
Ann in So Ut

I've been using VF-11 for nearly a year...and ordered a full case in February....I have over 350 houseplants and a gallon doesn't last long. I'm really confused by the posters who state they don't use VF-11 on their African Violets...since I started using it in June 2009, my AV's have tripled in size, and as the VF-11 label states, they're in constant bloom...but, the blooms are much larger and fuller, too. This is great, but also presents a problem as the AV's take up so much more space! I truly haven't noticed much difference with my hoyas, but the AV's and my begonias are thriving with this stuff. According to Eleanor's website, a study done by Michigan State University concluded that foliar feeding had 90% efficacy, whereas root feeding had only 10% efficacy. I truly wish I was much less negligent about foliar feeding...but, with so many plants, it's an all day job!! The best remedy would be to do as Denise does, root and foliar feeding. I envy her energy!! Fondly, Patrick

I agree Denise, I don't think there's a problem with VF-11 at all and do believe that in the right conditions it works great. Unfortunately the iron in my water is working against it hence the yellow cast to the leaves. The two together just aren't a good combination. I wonder if higher levels of lime or clay in the water could do the same thing and change results? Possibly this is one of the reasons why people have mixed results. The site says it works best alone, well my iron definately isn't letting it be alone!

The only thing that seems to give me visible results is using the beer fertilizer recipe found floating around here once a month on every kind of houseplant. It obviously flushes a lot of the iron out of the soil and bark, makes it much less heavy, which in turn is why I'm sure it's helpful for me. But for others it doesn't work at all.

Again, everyones conditions are truly different. I don't think it means that VF-11 doesn't work at all, it just means my conditions are working against the product.

My sis swears by it on her AVs and she even uses it on her vegetables. She and her husband own a nursery about 30 minutes from Omaha, and despite the fact that she makes VERY little selling it, she makes room on her store shelves for it.

Denise in Omaha