Rooting hormones

 The time for taking summer cuttings is approaching.  This raises the
perennial questions which bother me at this time of the year:

Is the shelf life of last year's purchase of "Strike" powder long
enough for me to risk using it again this year?
(Never mind how long it had been on the shop shelves before I bought
it)

Which is preferable, "Strike" powder or Bio "Roota" liquid?

Franz

 gOn Tue, 6 Jul 2004 08:28:14 +0000 (UTC), Franz Heymann wrote:


I think I've read that the active ingredient decomposes fairly
quickly and that you should buy fresh powder annually. Do I
myself do this? No.

I've also read commments (perhaps here in urg) that for most
plants, rooting hormones are an irrelevancy, so the potency or
impotency of one's hormone powder is also irrelevant.

Still, I use the stuff just in case, but as time goes on my
methods become more and more primitive. Right now I've got rose
cuttings underway, powdered and dibbled directly into the soil
with a glass jar over them, just like grandma used to do.



I never had any luck at all with the various rooting-hormone
gels. The cuttings seemed to rot away almost instantly.

YMMV


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
[change "atlantic" to "pacific" and
"invalid" to "net" to reply by email]

 from totototo@atlanticcoast.invalid (Rodger Whitlock) contains these words:


  Me neither. I prefer powder too. Lasts for years and years:~)


  Ah, it's the magical intention of the user that makes the useless
powder work.

  We're having mild cloudy humid weather; cuttings are rooting at high
speed atm.

  Janet.

 

I had a feeling that that was the case.


My success rate with powder is markedly better than without.

What'a so primitive about that?
I do it exactly like that, putting two cuttings close together under
the jar, inserted at the place I want the rose to grow.  That spares
the rose the shock of being transplanted.  Usually at least one of the
two root.  And if neither take, so what, there's nothing lost.

I'll stick to the powder then, unless some other urgler comes forth
with a watertight case for the gel stuff.

What is "YMMV"?

Franz

 On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 05:25:24 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"

< big snip>


Your Mileage May Vary :-)


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
bed and breakfast near Ludlow: http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk
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