gavin_mason31•2mo agoProlific Poster

Ngl I used to think propagations needed root hormone every time

For 2 years I was dipping every single cutting in rooting powder before sticking it in soil. Wasted so much money on those little bottles. Then my aunt who's been growing roses since the 80s told me most common houseplants root fine without it if you just use fresh cuttings and keep humidity up. She showed me by sticking a plain pothos cutting in water and it had roots in 10 days. Now I only use hormone for woody stems or finicky stuff. Has anyone else been overusing products they didn't actually need?

3 comments

3 Comments

ben_shah932mo ago

Didn't someone do a test showing most cuttings root faster with just plain water?

charlie_stone722mo ago

Wait, have we all been tricked into buying rooting hormone when it's basically optional? I did the exact same thing as you for like three years straight, buying those little packets of powder and dumping them on every single cutting even though half of them were just basic pothos or tradescantia (which root if you look at them funny). My neighbor finally called me out on it when she saw me dipping a succulent leaf in rooting hormone and laughed her head off. She showed me her propagation station which is literally just a bunch of dirty jars with tap water and everything has crazy roots. Now I only break out the hormone for my rose cuttings or really temperamental stuff like that picky ficus I killed last month. It's wild how much extra stuff we buy without questioning it.

felix_martin567d ago

Wait, your neighbor actually laughed at you for putting rooting hormone on a succulent? That's brutal but kind of hilarious honestly. I feel personally attacked because I've definitely done that exact same thing with my jade plant cuttings back when I first started propagating. I guess I never really stopped to question it because the garden center people always made it sound like you absolutely needed the stuff or your cuttings would die a horrible death. It's crazy to think we've been buying into that hype for so long without anyone calling us out sooner. Makes you wonder what other gardening products are just fancy snake oil we've been duped into buying.