Hi everyone and welcome to the channel! In today's video we'll be talking about what's
true and what isn't about DIY rooting hormones. The internet is chock full of lists and videos
recommending different household substances that can help you propagate and grow new roots.
The vast majority of this content, however, only recommends items and doesn't show us any actual
proof that these items help rooting. So I set out to see what works and what doesn't and I'm here to
share that with you guys today. The most commonly mentioned DIY rooting agents are honey, aloe vera,
aspirin, cinnamon, saliva and apple cider vinegar. Let's start with honey. Does it work? kinda. Much
of the content promoting honey will tell you to add it to boiling water, then propagate
your plants in that mixture once it cools. This is an absolutely terrible idea! I very quickly
had mold growth in that mixture when I attempted this and those cuttings did not grow any roots.
The dip method, where we simply dip our stem into honey, does work. Tomato cuttings I propagated
with a honey dip grew more roots, faster, than my water-based controls. It's also important to note
that we need to use raw unpasteurized honey. Common, pasteurized honey did not show any
improved rooting versus my water-based controls. Next up, aloe vera! Does it work?
Not really. Aloe vera gel contains salicylic acid which has been proven to enhance rooting
success and speed in academic research. For a DIY substitute we can cut a leaf of an aloe plant,
scrape out the gel, and use this gel to treat our stem cutting before propagation.
I tested six aloe treated plants, versus six water controls.
Only two of those aloe treated plants made it into the top six overall for root growth and the four
worst performing cuttings, were all treated with aloe. My aloe treated plants also
suffered from foliage wilt, which the control plants did not. This does not seem to work.
Third we have aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid. Does it work? Hell no! This hypothesis
that aspirin will work is also a derivative of the salicylic acid research mentioned earlier.
The internet tells us to crush up aspirin and add it to our propagation reservoir. I started with
one tablet, which was unable to fully dissolve and instead stuck to my stems. The foliage on
these plants began to wilt and they did not root as fast as the water control counterparts.
Adding a half tablet to my reservoir reduced those foliage effects, but I still didn't
see any positive signs of growth versus my water controls. This seems like it either doesn't work,
or hurts the plants. Fourth, we have cinnamon. Does it work? Yeah! Dipping stem ends in cinnamon
before propagation seemed helpful in my trials. The cinnamon plants seemed to develop more roots,
further up along the stems, giving them an edge on their water control counterparts.
This method is easy, straightforward and seems to actually have a positive impact. Fifth,
apple cider vinegar. Does it work? No. The internet will tell you to add a small amount
of apple cider vinegar to your reservoir or dip your stems in it before propagation.
I tried multiple apple cider vinegars and both of them slowed root growth versus my water controls.
Lastly, saliva. Does it work? I doubt it! Apparently, giving your stems a good lick will
help ward off disease and improve root growth. I saw no signs of this in my limited trials.
In comparison to some of the previously mentioned substances, a quick lick did not have any ill
effects on my cuttings, but there were no clear benefits. Saliva is 99 water anyways, so we really
can't expect this to have much of an impact. So there we have it- actual proof and trials testing
these different routing agents. Some of them work, but a lot of them don't. We've really got to be
careful on what sources we use from the internet with our gardening advice. I hope this helps you
guys avoid some of that misinformation and focus on the DIY rooting hormones that do in fact work.
I've had even better success improving my rooting speeds, by messing around with how I cut my stems.
Thanks a lot for watching this video, I hope it helps, and as always, happy harvesting!