Best Way To Propagate Stem Cuttings In Water

Four experiments to determine which rooting technique works best

[garyrock]

I've grown lots of cuttings by using tap water and a CAP full (about the size of a screw top on a soda bottle) of hydrogen peroxide 3% volume in a jam jar full of water. Another term for hydrogen peroxide is oxygenated water, this powers up the water with oxygen that the plant uses to grow roots. It also helps keep the water clean. Once a week, tip the water out, flush the jar, and repeat with clean water and another cap full. Worth a go!

[HotPanDan]

Straight to the point! I appreciate you! Tap water it is!

[JustSageIt]

I’ve tested propagations a few ways… what seems to work for me is dipping the end in clonex and letting the plant sit out with it for about 10-15mins. Then put it in water. 12 hours/24 hours later I dump the purple water out and put it back in regular water. It gives the plant time to absorb the growth hormones enough but without burning the cutting from the harshness of the clonex.

[bogeyonanostrilhair]

Storks that start in water tend to adapt to water and can reject the soil when potting. It's not often but does lower the success rate. I put them in pots every time keeping the soil wet until rooted. Anyone wanting to stick to water can add a little soil to the water to help prevent stem from converting to water.

[tailzzzzz]

I just soak my cuttings in tap water in a clear glass jar for a few days and then stick them in a pot in potting soil. Before placing them in the jars of water, I remove all growth from the bottom 2 to 4 nodes. I keep the pots in a shaded area and water daily. The humidity helps the roots grow. If you give them a tug and there's resistance, there are roots.

It might take longer for some plants, but I'm not always ready to plant the things I'm rooting right away anyway. I've had pretty good luck with this method.

[WalkOverHotCoal]

Most interesting experiment. I have been think about the same...whether growth hormone does any good as an additive in water. Thank you.

[ddahstan]

That's an Awesome sight to see!! Tab water is the way to for me. I've always rooted store bought herbs, veggies, various fruit branches in water with 99% success rate. The 1% failure is probably not changing the Stinky water! 😊😅

Rooting my pomegranate branches now. After a month and half or so, though no roots have shown yet (except for white "popcorn" areas appearing), various buds and young branches are shooting out. Yayyy.
In fact, 99% of the time I drink tab water here in CA. It has all the trace minerals us humans need. Why waste it and go buy water that's all filtered out the essential minerals then try to eat/drink food to replace what's already there in the tab. Not only this, but also all the countless the plastic bottles.

I've been to my city's water filtration plant and been throughly satisfied, as they have it-- "From toilet to Tab"! 😅 Decades ago, they used to use Chlorine to filter water, I still drank that tab water after letting the chlorine evaporated... Anywho, I shall stop my antics now. 😅😂

[TeSoad]

How often did you change your water? Would you recommend a bubbler for oxygen?

[michaelmontero]

I recently did similar experiment with basil cuttings. A few in tap water and a few in compost tea. TW rooted at day 6, CT took longer, day 9. By day 14, CT roots were about 3 times fuller and longer than TW.

[naturallysally]

This is very informative and to the point. Thank you!

[alyssa]

What about city water that has chlorine? Would you rec a dechlorinator? I’ve read that fish tank dechlorinator that's also safe for aquatic plants may help.

[mrsfmcool]

What's the best way to transfer these cuttings that have grown in water into a pot or straight into the garden?

[hounaidafarhat]

I use regular water always give me results

[marcellacoblentz]

What is the name of this plant? I am not familiar with it here in my zone 7 area.

[carmenbugeja]

I'm propagating in water and some stem are rotting at the ends, how can I avoid this, I change the water regularly? Thank you.

[laxmitiwari]

for rooting i grow Hibiscus stem in water and white dot is form is it sign of rooting or not?

[oreo]

hello, i did a maple cutting in water the cutting managed to grow new leaves and then later on the leaves start to droop and then it starts to wilt and curl...then it never rooted and died later, some of the maple cuttings had rot at the end of cuttings and others didn't not sure why this is happening i place them directly on my window ledge for some good sunlight can you please help kind of depressing to see all of them die. thanks.

[ohvnaq]

interesting. i had plants rooting well in 2 separate cups of water. i added some rooting powder to one cup, and the next day the roots in that cup started to brown and wither in parts, when i was expecting them to grow like crazy. strange.

[dizzyspinner]

I've found that the technique that works best varies by species. Soaking tomatoes will only increase your mortality. Simply sticking them in potting mix and watering gets me 100% success unless I try to root something ridiculously large. Peppers, on the other hand, benefit from presoaking and dipping in hormones. I'm sure if you did the same experiment with different species, you'd get very different results with some of them.

[SanctuaryGardenLiving]

This is so interesting to me. I am wondering if the results would be different using an aeroponic rooter.

I guess I will have to do some experiments myself.

I have a Clone King, and use it for different flowers, shrubs, and house plants. I put some rooting hormone in the water and things don't seem to be rooting very quickly.