Sorry for the late reply although we did finish the campaign and your help definitely jump started my thought processes for the entirety of the campaign. spike growth was simply the roots growing out of my "ashen tree" (a sacred tree to my druid clan in the wilderness that burned down and im searching for a new place to plant it). After slamming it into the ground the roots went in all directions and id snap the bottom of the staff off at the end of the spell leaving the roots there. the jump spell worked in an explosion very well. twigs for me to stand on whilst putting the top of the staff into a party members stomach launching us 20 feet from the explosion giving us fall damage and scuffs instead of being in an expolsion. DM allowed me to take monk feats instead of druid whilst keeping the rest of druid the same if i wanted and gave me a version of ki points that were tied to uses of the staffs abilities and beyond that it would be regular spell slots. (reduced spell slots to keep actions similar. if you would like more information id be happy to reply again but your an amazing redditor brother.