Hormone rooting gel/powder but which one is best........

Hi all you cutting fanatics

Which one do you use, so many to choose from I need advice on which one to have (to be honest I dont use nothing normaly).

Spruce

 

I want the Red Clonex, but I've never seen it available (or not at a price I want to afford ...)

I'm of the opinion that it goes off, and it is thus best to buy a new pot regularly, so perhaps buy one that is cheaper because it is a small tin, rather than buying "bulk" & cheaper.

I think they all have the same iso-whatnot hormone, when I was a nipper there used to be a rooting compound for "hardwood cuttings" - which I think just had more of the active iso-whatnot hormone in it, but I only see one type of powder at the local garden centre these days.

Knock off all the excess - the hormone is a barrier to roots forming (it stimulates creation of the callus in the first place, which kicks the process off, but then prevents roots forming, so you don't want loads of it all the way up the stem of the cutting etc.). That's my understanding of the process ... don't rely on it as Gospel !!

 

I used to use it all the time, but since they took the fungicide out (captan I think it was) I dont bother.
I once heard vinegar was good as a rooting hormone, but never tried it.

 

I have read books that say gel is best and books that say powder is best but most say gel is best. I use clonex myself i have no complaints powder sounds a bit fidly to me.

 

I used to like those little clear perspex gel pots. Can you still buy them?
I remember being allowed to take a portion of a shapely busy lizzie with flowers of scarlet and white stripe, at a pub "The Queens Head", Icklesham. We used to frequent the place often and it was at the end of the bar. Beautiful growing habit,not bushy; like an upturned umbrella. I remember putting bits into this gel pot and getting many rooted cuttings. Haven't seen this variety for years and years,.'twas a long time ago........

 

I liked the gel pots as well Jenny but don't know if they are still available. My brother used them quite a bit too, I'll ask him if they're still around.

I've been using 'Strike' powder and not had any problems.

 

Yes, they have become harder to find though ... my local Garden Centre no longer sells them. I always keep a few as I think that they work the best of anything I have tried, and for things that I need to take (limited material, or hard to "strike") they are my weapon of choice.

 

So what can we (GC) do to initiate their return Kristen? We know a good thing when we see it - why oh why stop it? Banned substance - kids might get high on it??

 

You can buy hormone rooting gel on Amazon.

I've also read you can make your own by standing some willow stems in water (just like a bunch of flowers) for 24 hours, after which you throw the twigs away and dip your cuttings in the water - never tried it so .....

Didn't I recently hear one of the Gardener's World team (can't reall whether it was Monty Don or Carol Klein) say hormone rooting powder/gel is a waste of money and that they never use it.

 

I've "not used it" when I haven't had any, results weren't noticeably different one way or the other. Its cheap enough that I would prefer to use it even if it only marginally increases my strike-rate (or makes me feel better!)

They are readily available online:

[http://www.nugel.co.uk/buy-rooting-...ypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=93&category_id=1]

(they have some hormone gel and other stuff too - might try that)

works out about a quid a pot, and I get 4, and sometimes 6, cuttings per pot ... maybe too expensive for folk to consider? or maybe the people who go to garden centres to buy tea & a bun <sigh> don't actually propagate anything, do they just buy "oven ready" plants instead ?

 

I tried powder on some geranium cuttings last year. No difference, most died!

 

I bought some gel2root on line and it arrived today. It says it's a home garden hormone rooting medium for houseplant and softwood cuttings. I will try to take some cuttings of salvias, laurentia and fuchsias in the Autumn.