This was published in Stemma Magazine: Superthrive or Superjivecolor>size> The question regarding the value of Superthrive as a miracle tonic for plants is often bandied about in horticultural circles. Over the years, I had read claims that ranged from, "I put it on my plant, which had never bloomed, and it was in full bloom the next day." to, "It was dead - I put Superthrive on it and the next day it was alive and beautiful, growing better than it ever had before." I decided to find out for myself. If you look for information on the net, you will probably only find the manufacturers claims and anecdotal observations, both so in want of anything that resembles a control. Though my experiments were far from purely scientific, I tried to keep some loose controls in place so that I could make a fair judgment of its value, based my own observations. Here is what I did, what I found, and the conclusions I made about any value the product Superthrive might hold for me. On four separate occasions, I took multiple cuttings of plants in four different genera. In each case the group of cuttings were taken from the same individual plant to reduce genetic variance. The plant materials I used were: Ficus benjamina, (a tropical weeping fig) Luna apiculata (Peruvian myrtle), Chaenorrhinum minus (a dwarf snapdragon), and an unknown variety of Coleus. In each instance, I prepared cuttings from the same plant and inserted them in a very fast, sterile soil. The containers containing half of the cuttings were immersed/soaked in a Superthrive solution of approximately 1/2 tsp per gallon of water to the upper soil line. The other half of the cuttings were watered in with water only. In subsequent waterings, I would water the "Superthrive batch" of cuttings with a solution of 10 drops per gallon and the others with only water. The same fertilizer regimen was followed on both groups of cuttings. In all four instances, the cuttings that I used Superthrive on rooted and showed new growth first. For this reason, it follows that they would naturally exhibit better development, though I could see no difference in overall vitality, once rooted. I can also say that a slightly higher percentage of cuttings rooted that were treated with the Superthrive treatment at the outset. I suspect that is directly related to the effects of the auxin in Superthrive hastening initiation of root primordia before potential vascular connections were destroyed by rot causing organisms. In particular, something I looked for because of my affinity for a compact form in plants was branch (stem) extension. (The writer is a bonsai practitioner.) Though the cuttings treated with Superthrive rooted sooner, they exhibited the same amount of branch extension. In other words, internode length was approximately equal and no difference in leaf size was noted. As a second part to each of my "experiments", I divided the group of cuttings that had not been treated with Superthrive into two groups. One of the groups remained on the water/fertilizer only program, while the other group was treated to an additional 10 drops of Superthrive in each gallon of fertilizer solution. Again, the fertilizer regimen was the same for both groups. By summerÂs end, I could detect no difference in bio-mass or vitality between the two groups of plants. Since I replicated the above experiment in four different trials, using four different plant materials, I am quite comfortable in drawing some conclusions as they apply to me and my growing habits or abilities. First, and based on my observations, I have concluded that Superthrive does hold value for me as a rooting aid, or stimulant if you prefer. I regularly soak the soil, usually overnight, of my newly root-pruned and often bare-rooted repots in a solution of 1/2 tsp Superthrive per gallon of water. Second, and also based on my observations, I no longer bother with its use at any time other than at repotting. No evidence was accumulated through the 4 trials to convince me that Superthrive was of any value as a "tonic" for plants with roots that were beyond the initiation or recovery stage. Interestingly, the first ingredient listed as being beneficial to plants on the Superthrive label is vitamin B-1 (or thiamine). Growing plants are able to synthesize their own vitamin B-1 as do many of the fungi and bacteria having relationships with plant roots, so it's extremely doubtful that vitamin B-1 could be deficient in soils or that a growing plant could exhibit a vitamin B-1 deficiency. Some will note that I used more of the product than suggested on the container. I wanted to see if any unwanted effects surfaced as well as trying to be sure there was ample opportunity for clear delineation between the groups. I suspect that if a more dilute solution was used, the difference between groups would have been even less clear. It might be worth noting that since the product contains the growth regulator (hormone) auxin, its overuse can cause defoliation, at least in dicots. The broad-leaf weed killer Weed-B-Gone and the infamous "Agent Orange", a defoliant that saw widespread use in Viet Nam, are little more than synthetic auxin. Al

Carla35--thanks for your thoughtful insight. I think that you're right about him staying out of my life if he really cared. Our counselor and DH know all about this guy--all the history, all the embarrassing past, and about me lying that we had a sexual relationship--although not about the recent contact. DH made a huge deal out of everything, and I felt really horrible about myself, and it finally reach the point where counselor told him that he was creating a hydra situation, where each time one head is smashed, two grow back. He told DH that he had to stop obsessing about it and decide whether or not this was going to be a "deal breaker" and it took DH almost eight months to decide. DH couldn't let it go, I still don't think he has because he has an almost impossible time forgiving people, but at minimum he is not supposed to berate me about it any more. It's frustrating b/c I wasn't unfaithful in our marriage, so first he had to deal with the pre-marriage, pre-serious-relationship-with-me stuff, then the theoretical emotional affair. I hadn't really been thinking about my friend too much for the last six or so months. The email brought back a lot of memories. It is the same guy from my other posts and the advice I got from the forum last year was helpful. However, I can't just forget about and erase all the old feelings. I try not to think about them, but I'll probably always have them--I think that's human. Because I've been spending time trying to get more in touch with my own emotions, it means that I have to experience all the sadness, pain, regret or whatever, along with the good emotions. In counseling, now, DH and I are both working on communication. We're going separately for now, partly (from what I'm being told) so that the counselor can help DH with his low self-esteem and anger issues. Most recently, I'm supposed to be figuring out what my "values" are and what's important to me, then taking steps to assert these things in the marriage without worrying about whether or not DH will be angry with me. I'm not sure how to explain it, exactly, but I'm supposed to treat DH honestly about how I feel rather than the way I think he wants me to treat him. It's not necessarily resulting in smoother interaction but I'm not feeling resentful at DH any more, and because I don't feel resentful I really do want things to work. asolo--> just to reiterate, counselor did call me on it. amy--> my DH is not physically abusive but I don't think telling him about this would do anything positive; he is a suspicious person and it's possible for him to construe that I told him only so he would think nothing was going on, therefore making him more suspicious (like I'm only doing it for show). Better to say nothing. If he ever asks me if I've heard from that guy, I will tell him about the email and that it's deleted. Even from the trash.

George & Mama.....Color Guard is BLUE now (the liquid itself) and Total Care was orange (the liquid). I smelled and opened the lid to Color Guard today, 5/13/16 @ Target. I think I hate the scent of Color Guard. Total Care never smelled great in the bottle, but it always smelled good after washing and drying. @Pat....I always used Total Care for our daily clothes...tees, shirts, shorts, socks, undies, PJs...It leaves everything so soft. I wash most clothing items at 120F (cold fill, heated to 120F). 3 Rinses. Total Care has been gone for a little while now, but there are bottles on Amazon and Mama saw it at Ollie's.

That's a sad house :( We were married in 79. Lived in my husband's bosses rental for 7 months before moving to an apt in N. Dallas for a year and back to E. Texas to build the home we're still in so I don't have any stories except for the exploding gas oven in the rental house. All I knew was electric. My mother had me terrified of gas cooking appliances and gas for heating. We'd huddle together in a recliner during the winter because I was too afraid of the gas tank getting too low and leaking (or something). It was a 200 gallon tank and when it got to 25%, I freaked LOL. Then I once turned on the gas oven and several minutes later remembered that I had forgotten to light the pilot light. I went flying across the kitchen when I lit the match! It was a small pleasant house. I think DH's boss spiffed it up for us more than he would have someone he didn't know :) Our Dallas apt was brand new and just a mile or so from the Valley View Mall (for those of you familiar with Dallas). We only had one car then and when David got home from work, I'd hit the mall, often till closing time. I'd NEVER walk alone to my car in a big city parking lot now. What WAS I thinking!?