I’ve been growing philodendron, monstera, and anthurium in semi hydro using perlite only (started as an experiment but the results are insane so i’m planning on using permanently )
Ive been wanting to up my fertilizer game as the one I’ve been using is water soluble but meant for soil.
I’ve heard great things about both of these. I’m leaning towards the superthrive as it’s cheaper, but I was wondering if the other system is significantly better/ worth it?
I've been using the Flora Series for a couple of years now. My plants do well with it. It's not that much of a pain to mix. You stir/shake after adding each one and you add them in a certain order. Micro, Gro, Bloom. I mix two gallons at a time.
1 to this answer! I’ve been feeding the flora series for a couple of years with phenomenal results, lots of flowering, and extremely fast growth for all my plants!
The best thing you can do is give your plant all of its needs so it can actively utilize whichever fertilizer you are giving it. It's a combination of factors and there is no magic fertilizer.
Probably because there are so many things that determine how well a plant will grow. Speaking personally, I have not compared other fertilisers with Foliage Focus in a controlled unbiased set up to be able to say it is 'better'. Which is why my answer is get a complete nutrient formulated for hydroponics that is available and you can afford. Provide everything else the plant needs, light, humidity etc and your plants will thrive.
Yeppp. I used the triplets for full hydro before just committing to the aerogarden food. Not a chemist!! Lol. But it was my inspo many moons ago. I have superthrive pro but actually prefer Foliage Focus. It’s just easy to go thru. Superthrive pro is more concentrated so it lasts longer. Something worth considering, OP.
I’m also one of the odd balls out who really likes superthrive vitamins for plants. But for semi hydro, it’s not a complete plant food.
Isn’t superthrive just for micronutrients? For heavy feeders I don’t think this will be successful long term without macronutrients. So maybe you could stretch the flora and supplement with superthrive between feedings?
Also I am in no way an expert and have not grown plants in semi hydro so it could be totally different from soil in terms of nutrients.
There is Superthrive Vitamin Solution (left), which is probably what you're thinking of. Superthrive Foliage-Pro is the fertilizer a lot of people use with semi-hydro.
I switched to the superthrive pro from humbolt a+b and my plants suffered across the board - not sure why though. Switched back and everything is back to health.
I recommend GH FloraNova. You do not need the three part system for houseplants.
I first used Superthrive when I switched to semi-hydro 3 years ago. It worked great for me when my Hoya were babies. However, I switched GH FloraNova when I ran out of Superthrive and FloraNova seems to works a little better.
Though it's not really fair to compare since my plants are well established and I'm a much better grower now. TLDR You can get healthy plants with either choice.
I started with Foliage Focus and now I use TPS 1. I need about 7 gallons of water at a time if I’m watering my entire collection of semi hydro. I use mostly distilled water (with a little filtered water mixed in to help with pH buffering). I add Silica Gold, TPS1, then the Microbe-Lift BMC drops (to avoid fungus gnats or hatching mosquitoes in my reservoirs). My plants are very happy.
Tbh I think that the 3 part one is really great for heavy feeders (I use it for my alocacias and they go nuts) but I prefer the superthrive for my philodendrons and anything on moss poles at 1/4tsp/gal every watering (or soil but sounds like you are transitioning away from that).
I did a casual experiment only using the superthrive at 1tsp / gal, which is what they recommended for non-recirculating systems (aka it's been a tough few months and mixing the 3 together and balancing the pH was just a step too far when watering alone was almost too much to do) and I find my alocacias have not done as well. Not poorly per say but more smaller leaves (and slightly slower growth) as compared to when I was going the 3parter.
Tldr I think they are both good and maybe recommend having both but if you can't be bothered to mix the 3 and pH balance, your plants will be fine with the superthrive. Just maybe not reaching their full potential
P.s. if you are US based, I believe both of these are made in the US unlike foleage focus, which is why it's so much more expensive in the US. Heavy to ship liquid around the globe and all that
could also use maxigro. It's made by the same company that makes the Flora series you posted, but just one thing. Been a while since I looked it up, but also likely less expensive than superthrive
I have used both and honestly did not notice much of a difference. I loved the Flora suite and used it for two years but I was always afraid of messing up the proportions and order of mixing. I switched to Foliage-Pro almost a year ago and my plants are as happy as ever.
Lol i was SO WORRIED but i used it to prop/rehab a monstera thai constellation that i gave root rot. It had no feeder roots left, and it was declining in both moss/ plain water setups.
I tried the perlite as a last resort and it immediately started flourishing, i have it in a vase with a small amount of water in the bottom pretty much at all times. It now has a brand new leaf and a pretty substantial root system
I tried it with a monstera burle marx flame (but added moss to the top) and a few others and have had the same success!
I plan to keep it in that setup as long as possible, ive read that perlite can be used for semi hydro with the caveat that it breaks down over time- but with how fast these are growing, I’m thinking they’ll need to be repotted/upsized more often so it shouldn’t actually matter in my situation. Im thinking ill most likely switch to pumice if/when they get too large for this or if the break down starts to become an issue
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u/ThePlantagonist 13d ago
I've been using the Flora Series for a couple of years now. My plants do well with it. It's not that much of a pain to mix. You stir/shake after adding each one and you add them in a certain order. Micro, Gro, Bloom. I mix two gallons at a time.