Willow Water.

[novice grower]

Found this info on another site.

"The willow plant is a natural source of auxin.Therefore,it can be very easy to make up afresh batch of homemae rooting compound whenever you ned to plant some new cutting's."

 

1. Gather a handful of willow branch tip's.

 

2.Chop or mash into smaller pieces.

 

3.Fill mall container with pieces.

 

4.Fill container with pieces and allow to sit over-night.

 

5.Remove wilow pieces.

 

6.Dip cutting into the water,covering the stem.

 

7.Put cutting into potting mix (or moist sand)

 

8.Cover with plastic bag to retain moisture.

 

9.After root's form,re-pot.

 

If you don't have accesss to willow,dissolve a few aspirin in a jar o water.Aspirin is made from willow bark,so it can have the same effect as the willow water.

 

Another method.

 

To mix up a batch of willow water,simply cut a few stems of willow branche's about the diameter of a pencil that are green and supple.

Then cut the branche's into one inch piece's and smash them with a hammer.

Next,bring a pot of water to the boil,drop the willow stem's into the water and remove from the heat.

Allow the mixture to steep,stirring occasssionally.

Once cooled,it is ready to use.

Dip the ends of the plant cutting's you want to root into the solution before dropping them into the jar of water or pots of soil.

 

In addition to using water willow to root cutting's,you can also pour it around young transplant's to help with their root development.

 

Hope this is beneficial to ya's!

 

Peace.

[Chev]

Call me slack, but clonex just sounds heaps fuckin easier

Thanks for the info novice!

[Luke Skywalker]

And modern aspirin isn't made from willow bark, it's a slightly different substance.

 

Yeah, call me stupid and slack, but you'd be better off using just clonex, as this has the "auxins" required in good amounts.

 

Still, organic growers may want to give this a try. Just make sure you have the right species of tree, otherwise you could cause a lot of trouble for your plants. Not sure how many willows grow in Oz, but I'm sure theres some out there somewhere.

 

BTW, I've also heard of people using aspirin to deliberately hermaphroditise plants, so I would be wary of that for that reason as well.

[greenacres]

i use clonex as well but if your stuck for a rooting hormone just dip your cutting in good old vegemite. my mother used to run a plant nursery and vegie was all she ever used

[F420]

veg eh? my first thought was HUH?? but then it would be good thinking about it.

[greenacres]

yeah she recons its something to do with the yeast extracts and the other vitains in it. btw she used it back in the 70s so there was no clonex around then. but she still uses it.

[Luke Skywalker]

Honey and aloe vera gel works well as a natural cloning gel, the anti-bacterial effects of both are useful to help out the clones get a good start, and whilst they don't root as fast as those treated with clonex, it certainly did the job for me.