# Organic rooting gel?



## next (Feb 15, 2015)

Any suggestions on some rooting gel, that wouldn't interfere with an organic grow.

Thanks in advance.


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## Rosebud (Feb 15, 2015)

If you have any willow trees nearby, you can get some of the yellow tipped branches and soak them in water for 24-48 hours and use that willow water. 

Some people have used honey, I have not. But i am going to do the willow water.


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## next (Feb 15, 2015)

Wow very interesting.. I have some diamond willows near by.. their not the huge willow tree's I see on google tho. More like a.. 10-15 foot tall bush tree


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## next (Feb 15, 2015)

Seems as tho any willow that is in the Salix family will do the job.. For those who come here looking for an answer, I shall provide details via copy n paste 

How to Make &#8220;Willow Water&#8221;

Here is the procedure for making willow water:

1   Collect young first-year twigs and stems of any of willow (Salix spp.) species, these have green or yellow bark. Don&#8217;t use the older growth that has brown or gray bark.

2   Remove all the leaves, these are not used. Don&#8217;t waste good green material though, 
compost the leaves or throw them in the garden as mulch.

3   Take the twigs and cut them up into short pieces around 1" (2.5cm) long.

4   The next step is to add the water. there are several techniques to extract the natural plant rooting hormones:

5   a) Place the chopped willow twigs in a container and cover with boiling water, just like making tea, and allow the &#8220;tea&#8221; to stand overnight.

5  b) Place the chopped willow twigs in a container and cover with tap water (unheated), and let it soak for several days.

6   When finished, separate the liquid from the twigs by carefully pouring out the liquid, or pouring it through a strainer or sieve. The liquid is now ready to use for rooting cuttings. 

You can keep the liquid for up to two months if you put it in a jar with a tight fitting lid and keep the liquid in the refrigerator. Remember to label the jar so you remember what it is, and write down the date you brewed it up, and to aid the memory, write down the date that it should be used by, which is two months from the date it was made!  

To use, just pour some willow water into a small jar, and place the cuttings in there like flowers in a vase, and leave them there to soak overnight for several hours so that they take up the plant rooting hormone. Then prepare them as you would when propagating any other cuttings.

The second way to use willow water is to use it to water the propagating medium in which you have placed cuttings. Watering your cuttings twice with willow water should be enough to help them root.


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## next (Feb 17, 2015)

I would like to try earth juice rootstock, I think I may try and get my hands on some.

It sounds like young willows work best, might have to wait for spring time to try out the willow water


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## The Hemp Goddess (Feb 17, 2015)

LOL--I have some willow shoots soaking as we speak.  My sis has great willow trees on her property.  I have not tried willow water before, but I have been having problems with cloning, so decided to give it a try.


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## umbra (Feb 17, 2015)

you could just use aspirin


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## next (Feb 17, 2015)

I would like to get my hands on some earth juice rootstock.. mhm..

Hemp Goddess,

Did you do pretty much the same thing I copy and pasted? Will be interesting to see the results.. I made tea with willow bark to use as aspirin before, and it does work quite well.


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## Droopy Dog (Feb 20, 2015)

Well, FWIW, I have a 20'willow tree next to the drive and still use CLONEX Gel and Solution + Rockwool.

After rooting, 100% organic.

Played with willow water, aloe, honey and even aspirin.

They all work to one degree or another, but Clonex and RW is my Go-To.

DD


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## Rosebud (Feb 21, 2015)

DD, i liked clones too. Tell me about rockwool. Do you stick the cutting in the hole and then squeeze the rockwool? And how wet do you keep it? I would think you would soak it and ring it out half way, but my clones died when i did that.  I don't think I squeezed it inot the stem though.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Feb 21, 2015)

I never have good luck with rockwool.  I find it very hard to control the amount of moisture--they always seem to hold too much water and things rot.  I have tried multi's RW cloning several times to no avail.


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## Droopy Dog (Feb 21, 2015)

IMO, one of the most important 'tricks' to using RW is covered in this quote from the 1989 SSSC catalog. It involves scattering a handful or so of perlite where the cubes will be sitting.

"On a flat surface without perlite the blocks would suck themselves fixed as it were. The water/air ratio in the blocks would then be seriously out of balance, which would result in rotting at the base of the cuttings."

It is so simple, so effective, and so often overlooked.

DD


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## Rosebud (Feb 21, 2015)

Thank you DD. makes perfect sense.. thanks!!!!!


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## Droopy Dog (Feb 21, 2015)

continued after having to re type most of the above. LOL

Even fully saturated, RW keeps a good water/air ratio and I only squeeze the cubes enough so they aren't dripping on me, but that's all. The perlite again. No rotting issues.

I do use a dome now due to low humidity that I didn't have in Fl. 

THG, try the handful of perlite under the cubes and I'll bet you see a 420% improvement! Even with no wringing out.

DD


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## Droopy Dog (Feb 21, 2015)

ROSE, you too!

That one small paragraph saved sooo much aggravation right from the git go.

It is only just a bit over 2 pages of text and 2 pics and still one of the best how-to's I've seen, even if it is 26 years old and in a seed catalog from Holland.

I don't recall EVER seeing the perlite trick mentioned anywhere else. Could have been, IDK.

DD


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## The Hemp Goddess (Feb 21, 2015)

That just makes so much sense.  I do not have any rw right now, but you can be sure that I will remember this little tidbit.


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## Droopy Dog (Feb 21, 2015)

I forgot the perlite once and for the life of me couldn't figure out why everything was going so wrong. Went back to re read the instructions, got to the perlite part and did a DOH!!! Cut some more clones and went on. Was using 3x3x3" cubes and just made some new holes (4 clones/cube). Still like that size, holds the correct moisture much longer than the small cube and less watering. Going to give the 2x2x2" cubes a try. Might be a good compromise.

DD


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## next (Mar 24, 2015)

Anyone use / try general organic's, bio root?

I think ima give it a try


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 24, 2015)

I have some, but have not tried it to clone.  Although I cannot see how using something like Olivias gel to clone, even if it isn't organic, would interfere with an organic grow.


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## next (Mar 24, 2015)

Is Olivia's your preferred choice? I put a clone in my little homemade cloner with some bio root, will see what happens.


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## pcduck (Mar 24, 2015)

I soak RW with kelp water. Place in tray. Pour more kelp water into tray. Drip some clonex into RW hole. Place cutting into hole. Place dome on. Then forget about them till I see roots.


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## next (Mar 24, 2015)

what type of kelp are you using?


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## pcduck (Mar 24, 2015)

Powered from kelp4less.com


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## next (Mar 24, 2015)

nice website, would love the cloning powder that claims roots in 4 days!

too bad shipping is 20$ to canada


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## The Hemp Goddess (Mar 28, 2015)

I have been reading about using aloe vera as a cloning gel.  Apparently it has the same rooting hormone that is contained in willow and aspirin.


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## Rosebud (Mar 28, 2015)

I went back to clonex and it or the temperatures are working.


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## 000StankDank000 (Mar 28, 2015)

Don't the " Harcore" organic people use alo Vera plants mixed with water?  That's what iv seen


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