Jobe's Organics Succulent Fertilizer Spikes

Worked well with my succulents this summer. Will continue to use them in the future. My succulents all grew much more this summer than they have in past summers when they weren’t fed. I love the ease of the spikes. Put them in and forget about them.

They help per directions. Using more than recommended is not required for improved growth.

I use these on my tomatoes and hot peppers with good success. These spikes should also work well for any kind of fruiting vegetable. The spikes last for 8 weeks at a time, and provides a nice, steady slow release fertilizer. This makes for very convenient gardening. For tomatoes I use them at half the recommended rate, and supplement with potassium and magnesium rich fertilizers (epsom salt, greensand, wood ash, miracle-gro for tomatoes). For hot peppers I use them at 1/3 the recommended rate and a small amount of epsom salt (these plants don't need much fertilizer, but are somewhat magnesium hungry). My crops on both kinds of plants are great, and I'm quite happy with these. I only wish they had a low-nitrogen spike with more potassium in it for tomatoes (ie: 2-6-7, instead of 2-7-4) Edit 6/28/2013: Previously I could find these locally, but this year I'm having a hard time finding them, so I ordered them from Amazon. I continue to use these with great results, both in raised beds and potted planters. I also ordered the general purpose (4-4-4) version and am trying it out on leaf-crop herbs (basil, oregano, etc), and leafy houseplants (spider plant, philodendron, etc). I also notice they have a "Container and Annuals" version which is 3-5-6.. I might try that on tomatoes sometime for the higher potassium, but for now I'm using what I've been happy with.

From my stupid-tall cactus to my stupid-huge succulents; this stuff is magic. Works best when used just before growing season- however; The suggested amount of spikes seems low tho. No negative effects when I use one or two extra during growth season so go nuts. Definitely needs to be more per bag (I’d gladly pay more!) - cause, is it me or does it just seem like a lot of plastic material wasted for 12 tiny spikes (literally 1/30th of the bag is full) that are ultimately non recyclable!- no matter what the bag or your recycling container says - cause you’re dumb if you think fertilizer packaging looks forward to an existence of multiple reincarnation lol. I mean - my used milk jugs have to be cleaned like-new before they even consider taking them anywhere but the landfill, so I’m guessing plastic bags with traces of condensed nitrogen, phosphate and magnesium aren’t the darlings of the recycling plant … SO… lookin at you Jobe’s package design team; Seriously. Seems kinda counterproductive to the idea/school/cult of connecting with nature thru gardening, planting and other horticultural practices to better the environment …- kinda making the whole Jobe’s brand seem phony and profit driven. Just sayin. But Thanks again for the great fertilizer.

Works like it should. If you have bulbs - put some of these around them a couple weeks before they start breaking the soil and again after they have bloomed. For less experienced gardeners, once they have bloomed, do NOT cut them back. I know they look ratty but that time where they turn brown and dry up is when they are storing the energy needed for next years blooms. So, give them another dose of bone meal which is really easy with these spikes, learn which perennial plants are later season bloomers to that bulb, and plant those around your bulbs to hide the trying out period. Next year, when your bulbs open big and beautiful, you will be glad you did,

I have been using this for several years on my tomatoes and green beans. I have gotten great growth, not just a ton of vegetation I got large yields too. These nutrients are worth the price which isn’t that much. You do have to re apply about every week or two.

Everything related to shipping, delivery, and packaging of this product was great; no complaints there. I am giving it 3 stars though because I think it's kind of a bad product--I believe the nutrient amounts (N-P-K) are out of whack, even for tomatoes. Basically, I think they have way too much phosphorous and/or not enough nitrogen in them. Also, if you read the packaging, this calls for an insanely high number of sticks per plants (8, I think, but check), so this is good for about 6 plants, if you follow the directions. I did not use as many sticks as recommended for my tomato plants, however, as it seemed excessive to me and I figured I'd rather add more later than too many at once. The resulting problem was unrelated to the fact I used fewer sticks than recommended, and would have been worse if I had: my previously healthy plants all immediately developed a nitrogen deficiency due to a sudden overdose of phosphorous. Moreover, I know this was not the result of there having been too much phosphorous in the soil to begin with, as I had just tested my soil before adding these. So, I guess it could also be a matter of disproportionate accessibility to the different nutrients in each stick, rather than just the wrong proportions of them, but it amounts to the same thing in the end. Phosphorous easily builds up in the soil and takes years to get used up or leached away, so I will not be buying these again in the future, because I certainly don't need to add any more to my soil for awhile, and because I've had to supplement my plants with a separate nitrogen fertilizer to keep them alive since using this. If it weren't for these issues, I would really love this product. Fertilizer sticks are a great convenience and this is the only organic line of them I can find. So WHAT I WOULD REALLY LIKE is for Jobe's to start making some organic, phosphorous-free fertilizer sticks, not so much because of this incident, but because I have many other plants and areas of the garden that don't need supplemental phosphorous, but do need regular nitrogen and potassium; plus phosphorous is much easier to add and doesn't need to happen as regularly (case in point). There don't seem to be any kind of phosphorous-free fertilizer sticks on the market, organic or otherwise, but I'd definitely buy more of this brand if they filled this niche.

Great food for plants.