How to use Rooting Hormone

Today I’ll talk about a product called rooting hormone. It is a secret to success in propagation. Botanists develop this miracle product to minimize the failure in cloning plants.

With the help of rooting hormones, anyone can propagate plants by using stem-cutting techniques.

If you want to keep a specific breed of plant in your garden, cloning is the only solution.

This is a process where you can make a duplicate plant by using the cuttings of the mother plant or main plant. This duplicate plant will have the same qualities as that the parent plant.

But the sad truth is:

Most of the time people end up with failed cloning due to many reasons like environmental conditions, no experience, wrong cut, etc.

Rooting Hormone is the solution to all your propagation problems.

We have a 98 % success rate in cloning plants do you want to know how we are using this miracle product?

The best part is you can use it at any time of the year and it works on all types of plant cuttings.

The long shelf life makes it easy for us growers to store it for years.

Let’s talk about some best rooting homes for plants. Later in this post, I will teach you how to use them.

Best Rooting Hormones for Plants


Clonex Plant Rooting Gel

Clonex rooting hormone

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Clonex is the first choice of growers because this has so much positive feedback and every other grower is using it for propagation.

It is a gel-based cloning gel for plants and has a thick consistency which has its own benefits.

The unique benefit of using clones is that you apply them on cutting edge. It sticks to the edge and seals it.

This protects the biological process of the development of new roots.

It has an impressive shelf life of more than 4 years.

We are using this Clonex Gel to duplicate plants in our indoor garden. It is quite affordable and gives good results if you know how to use it properly.

It has a full spectrum of minerals and trace elements that are highly needed by the new plants. The trace elements are the vitamins that are present in good percentages.

They provide protection to the new root tissues because they are delicate and easily get diseases.

Go to Amazon to check the positive feedback of different growers.

The users are happy and recommend this product to new and experienced growers to Make your garden equally effective in all weather conditions.

Use this cloning gel for propagating Woody Plants, Vegetables, Ornamental Species, Fruit trees, etc.

PROS

Top Product in the Category

Contain Trace elements

Contains Essential Vitamins

Alcohol-Free

Water-based formula

Seal the Cutting edge

Years of shelf life

CONS

None for this Product

Garden Safe TakeRoot

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If you want more natural products then for this Garden Safe Root. It has Indole-3-butyric acid which is similar to the natural rooting hormone that plants contain in their stems.

You can use it to propagate Philodendrons, African Violets, Geraniums, Ornamentals, etc.

My mom uses this rooting powder to root broken plumeria. I was sure that it will not works. I was shocked when I saw new roots after 12 days.

She uses water for propagation and places the jar in a warm and humid place after finishing the process.

It works fantastic on all plant cuttings. But I don’t know why it did not work on rooting my lucky bamboo plant.

PROS

Natural Formula

Easy to use

Work on damaged stems

The powder form is easy to store

A small quantity is enough to use

Product of United Industries

CONS

Does not contain Fungicide

MetaMagic Rooting Powder

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It contains 4 natural organic ingredients that are proven to help in rooting stem cuttings.

Willow Branch increases the production of natural growth hormones in plants.

Aloe Vera gel promotes the growth of new roots. The new roots grow healthy and form strong root balls.

Cinnamon is the third organic ingredient in the formula. We all know it has anti-fungal properties and is often used for the treatment of root rot.

Having natural fungicides is best than copper-based fungicides. Cinnamon protects stem cutting from various fungal diseases.

MetaMagic all-natural plant growth hormone works best on the following plants Species:

  • Herbs
  • Cactus
  • Philodendrons
  • Monstera
  • Ornamentals
  • Fruit trees
  • Vegetables
  • Herbaceous
  • All Indoor Plants

With this rooting powder, you are free to use different types of growing mediums. Water, Potting Soil, Rockwool, Pebbles, etc are all compatible with it.

Vitamins and trace elements are present in sufficient amounts. They ensure that your stem cutting gets the proper amount of all nutrients.

The manufacturer gives 30-day money-back guarantee. For more questions regarding money-back visit the official site of the manufacturer or call their customer support.

PROS

Natural Formula

Organic Ingredients

Contains Cinnamon

Works Great with all types of Rooting Mediums

For all types of Indoor plants

Money-back Guarantee

CONS

None

Dip N Grow Liquid Rooting Concentrate

cloning gel

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Now, this is the most powerful liquid rooting concentrate on the market and is widely used for years. This is the latest and most advanced formula (manufacturers make some positive changes in their formula). It contains two hormones for effective rooting which are NAA and IBA.

The formula is alcohol based which is a good thing because the alcohol helps cuttings to fully absorbed the hormone which results in 100% success in cloning.

Alcohol in the formula also acts as a disinfectant it makes your cuttings free of bacteria.

The only disadvantage of alcohol is it burned some softwood plants but the manufacturer says to dilute it by mixing it with water before using it on softwood plants.

There are many warnings printed on the label read them carefully to avoid an accident. Rooting elements are not safe for humans and animals so keep them away from the reach of children.

It is clearly mentioned on the bottle that if you do not use the diluted mixture within 10 hours then you have to throw it out. after 10 hours the mixture became ineffective means no use.

To make an effective diluted mixture, mix the 20 drops of this concentrated liquid with the 60 drops of water.

This way you can have the best form of diluted cloning liquid.

This diluted mixture can be used for any plant including softwood.

PROS

Strong Rooting Formula

Two Proven Rooting Ingredients

Contains alcohol to disinfect the cutting

For Advanced Growers

Industrial Standards

Works fast

CONS

Not for Softwood Plants

What is Rooting Hormone?

In simple words, it is a synthetic chemical available in gel or powder form to stimulate plant growth.

One question often comes into mind when plant cuttings are able to grow new roots naturally. Then why waste money on rooting gels, liquids, and powders?

Well, it is true that some plants automatically produce new roots when placed in clean water for some time but this is not true in each case.

There are some species of plants that need some external help to grow new roots and rooting compounds help them to do so.

Actually, cloning hormone gives you the surety that you will get successful in cloning.

Failed cloning is a very painful condition when you do not have a mother plant in your garden anymore and your plant cutting does not produce roots.

You need to throw the plant cutting out of your garden. This happens to us so many times when we were not aware of the rooting hormone.

There is a special type of plant that produce new roots naturally, but after a very long time (several days or months). This situation slows down the production of the entire garden.

To speed up the rooting process use the cloning gel or powder.

All plant rooting gels, powders, and liquids use a natural plant hormone called Auxins.

IAA (indole acetic acid) is a hormone that every plant has naturally which helps them to produce new roots.

TYPES OF ROOTING HORMONE

They are available in three forms (a) LIQUID ROOTING (b) GEL FORM (c) POWDER FORM.

LIQUID FORM

The liquid form is available in two types Concentrated and Ready-to-use liquid hormone.

The ready-to-use hormone is best for beginners and is also more convenient to use especially if you have no time for your garden or have no experience with cloning plants.

It has everything in balanced form no need to mix it with anything. Just pour the right amount of it and you are good to go.

The most common mistake which people make while using liquid cloning hormone is, they dip the plant cutting directly into the bottle.

This habit will contaminate the entire solution of the cloning compound or spread disease in the garden.

The best way to use it, take out the desired amount of it in a separate container and then dip the cutting into it.

On the other hand, if you are using a concentrated form of it, this means you already know that you need to dilute it first.

Concentrated liquid gives more control over the potency of the rooting mixture.

Suppose you have many plant cuttings of different plants all of them need a different concentration of rooting mixture to grow.

Here you can do two things first you can buy different ready-to-use liquid for every type of plant cutting or use concentrated liquid and customize it according to your need.

Some plants need more concentrated liquid than others for effective cloning.

For example, softwood tissue plants need less concentrated liquid than hard-woodier tissue plants.

So, double-check the type and requirement of your plant before using rooting gel or powder.

All concentrated liquids need refrigeration because they have a very short lifespan (the only downside).

GEL FORM

Rooting Gel is the most popular and widely used hormone for cloning. It has many benefits over the other available forms which are as follows.

The biggest benefit is gel form has the right amount of synthetic hormone which is suitable for every type of plant. A Very small amount of gel is required for cloning the plants as compared to the powder and liquid forms.

No need to dip directly into the container. You can take out the gel with your finger and apply it at the bottom of the plant cutting.

Another advantage of gels is they cover the entire cut region and keep it covered.

This process allows the hormone tissue to get easily absorbed into the plant cuttings. Gels are best to use in all cloning machines.

POWER FORM

Powder-form rooting hormone products have years of shelf life if they are kept dry in a safe place.

Commercial Growers always prefer to use powder form over others. The biggest advantage according to us is the shelf life of powder.

They do not need to mix it with anything.

All you need to do is take the cutting and dip it into the powder bottle, tapping it lightly to remove the excess of material.

After this place the cutting in your cloning machine. This is as simple as that.

Note: Before dipping the cut into the powder, we advise you to dip it into the water to make it slightly wet. This way more powder will stick to the end and increases the chances of better rooting as fast as possible.

Key Factors that Affect Rooting Plants

Using the best rooting material is not enough for successful rooting there are many other factors that contribute to effective cloning.

Environmental conditions are extremely important to keep in mind while doing this process of making duplicate plants from the mother plant.

Cleanliness is another important factor for obtaining reliable cloning results.

Sanitizing and sterilizing is the process that you need to use to clean every piece of equipment that is used in cloning.

Do the cleaning process after finishing one batch or starting the new cloning batch.

Search for the healthy and vibrant donor plant in your garden for cloning because the clone will grow up the same as the mother plant.

To get 100% success in cloning make sure you choose the right parent plant and all equipment is well-cleaned, make sure you are using an effective rooting stimulator for guaranteed results.

Which type of Plant Cutting is Best to Grow with Cloning Mixtures?

Cloning hormones are capable to grow any type of plant cutting like stem cutting, root cutting, and leaf cutting.

The thing that matters is your experience. If you do not have experience read the complete article to gain enough knowledge about cloning plants or ask for help from an experienced gardener.

Growing a plant from a cutting requires lots of patience. Cutting s are fragile when they just get separated from the original plant.

Always remember to moisten the soil after putting the plant cutting into the pot. Do not water the cutting just through some water to moist the soil not wet it.

Growing from Stem Cutting

First of all, choose the healthy plant which you believe gives more production and you need more identical plants in your garden.

  • Now take a clean knife and cut one of the healthy stems of the plant. Do not use scissors they will pinch the stem or give an improper cut.
  • Take an 8 to 10 inches long stem, carefully remove all the leaves and cut the part of the stem that is above the node.
  • Moist the bottom part of the stem.
  • Take out the desired amount of cloning compound in a different container. Dip the bottom of the stem into it (one inch only).
  • Use any hormone of your choice Gel, Powder, or Liquid the procedure is the same for all of them.
  • Now place the cutting into the potting medium.
  • Make a hole first into the pot so that the stem can adjust into the pot comfortably.
  • Tap the soil properly this will remove all the air around the cutting.
  • Spray the water onto the stem and moisten the soil.

NOTE: Plant cutting does not need direct sunlight but this does not mean you always put them in shade (little light is required for a few hours).

Rooting from Leaf

Not all plants have stems, some only have a leaf. It is simple to make a clone from leafy plants.

Cut the closest leaf from the center of the plant.

Dip the bottom part into the hormone and plant the leaf into the soilless mix.

Some plants which do not have a stem or have a very small stem are required to put some of the rooting hormones on the back side of the leaf and then slightly press the leaf so that the back side of the leaf where we use the hormone touches the soilless mix.

Root Cutting Method

As the name suggests in this method of plant cloning, we use the roots of the parent plant.

A small piece of the root of an original healthy plant is used to produce more identical plants.

Uncover the root area (not all) and cut the 2 inches piece of strong roots and cover back the root area of the original plant.

Now dip the root into the rooting hormone and plant it into the growing medium. Normally fall is the best time for cloning because by the spring you will have a healthy strong big plant.

Conclusion

Rooting hormone is essential to successfully propagate plants. These plant growth hormones are common and are not very expensive.

Clone any plant that you have and want to multiply it.

Use growth hormones carefully on softwood plants and in the leaf propagation technique.

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