Rooting Hormone or not?

9 years ago

I've read mixed information on rooting hormone, and have an old bottle my grandma gave me that has made it through several moves. I've always used it because it's what I was taught for AVs and Geraniums/Pelargoniums.

So I am trying an experiment- I planted 6 AF leaves in a perlite/potting soil mixture in a 6 cell starting container- 2 each of three varieties, and put rooting hormone on half of the leaves.

What are your experiences?

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Comments (7)

Karin
9 years ago
umm, my rooting hormone has gotten so icky in just a couple of years, i wouldn't put it anywhere near my AV's.

african violets and geraniums have always rooted well for me with nothing added.
quimoi
9 years ago
I never used it on anything. However I did buy some holiday cactus cutttings and had one rot. I believe it was my fault for using a different medium. I cut it off and replanted them using hte rooting powder and they all made, even the very, very iffy looking one that had begun to rot.

It has some antifungal properties. However I haven't started using it on african violets, although it might not have hurt on a really badly damaged plant from Lowe's (again the antifungal might have been a plus.)

Mine is old too but is just a white powder.

Diana
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cmtigger
Original Author
9 years ago
Two of the leaf sets were shipped, and one off of my own plants, so I'll also get to see how shipped leaves differ from home grown.

Luckily my rooting hormone is still in good condition, not gross at all, just a nice, dry powder.
Karin
9 years ago
Yeah, I could only find the liquid stuff back when i bought it. And I admit to not being too careful about dipping plants in it vs taking some out and brushing it on them... That probably makes a difference ;-)
PRO
Whitelacey
9 years ago
CMT,

Rooting hormone is not usually used on violets because you are not really after roots, you are after babies. The hormones will stimulate root growth and suppress plantlet growth. I used it at one time and was not very successful with it. Lots of roots; babies, not so much. Everything I have read of others using it says the same thing. We do need root formation but, as AV's root readily, this using RH is not necessary and may slow things down considerably.

Let us know how our experiment turns out. Everyone's growing conditions and growing practices are different so you may be successful with it.

Linda
quimoi
9 years ago
Maybe I should have been clearer about that damaged plant - all I had left was a tiny crown and some suckers so maybe the rooting hormone would have helped against rotting. I wasn't after babies.

I've read pretty much the same thing as Linda says about leaves. Of course since I never used it (to be honest, I was surprised to find I even owned any!).

Diana
Vikki
9 years ago
Rooting hormone goes bad and becomes very inefficient after about a year. If it's been around for longer than that, it probably isn't doing any good one way or another. Just toss the stuff. Lowes sells it and it's not all that expensive.