cuttings

[Honey monster]

I have taken cuttings from my rosemary plant and all of them are now dying. I pulled them out and noticed that none had rooted. I used normal potting compost. Is there something I am doing wrong??

[Jim]

You need to make a diagonal cut on the base of the cutting and then pull off some of the lower leaves. Then cut about an inch up down to what I think is called the campian layer, if you have any put some hormone rooting powder on it. Then just make sure it's kept watered, it can take a little while to root.

[Emma]

Is hormone rooting powder organic

[Wombat]

Depends on your definition of "Organic". Rooting powder is a plant hormone that stimulates the plant tp produce roots, I am reasonably sure that it is synthetic rather than plant derived. Mind you, I am not aware of any wholly organic method apart from "stick it in and see if it works".

Good Luck!

[Andy Hamilton]

I must admit I have tried just sticking cuttings in to see if that works, it appears to for a while then they all die off. I suppose if I fed them a bit more regularly it may have.

[Wombat]

I have tried it too, and for some things it works, but I think overall that you get better and more reproducible results when rooting powder is used. :D

[Wombat]

G'Day All!

For Christmas I got the Permaculture Design Manual and in there Bill Mollison mentions that if you chip willow wood down and soak it in water (you get willow water ).

The willow water is stated to be rich in giberellins, but after research I have found it is actually rich in auxins , which are plant hormones and used to assist in rooting of cuttings............so there is a rooting powder alternative which is organic!