Rooting Hormones with alcohol vs powder
- Subject: Rooting Hormones with alcohol vs powder
- From: "Rooting" r*@hortus.com
- Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 12:24:53 -0400
Don't make any assumptions that alcohol based plant rooting homones are
great cause they are used by commercial growers.
The sanitation issue is result of the care of the cuttings.
If you have dirty cuttings then no matter if you dip the basal end only in
an alcohol.
It is better to sanitize the cuttings with dilute bleach before doing ANY
processing and to use sterile media!
The main reason that commercial growers use an alcohol base product is
because they do not know any better.
The active ingredient (mostly IBA) is water insoluble so the maker of these
products use alcohol to dissolve.
This is not the only answer to the problem...Phytotronics has a water
soluble IBA which eliminates the problem
( http://www.phytotronics.com and http://www.fredgloeckner.com )
If you take a look at Dr Manners pages you will see that he too was
surprised that for difficult to root roses the dry dip powders work better
http://members.aol.com/mmmavocad4/hormone.html
Regarding alcohol:
Dr. Blazick writes in 'Chemicals and Formulations used to promote
adventitious rooting' (page 138) in Davis, Haissig and Sankhla, Adventitious
Root Formation in Cuttings, Dioscorides Press, Portland, 1988.
"It is best to avoid using full or near full strength (95-100%) alcohol
because it may dehydrate and injure basal stem tissue".
He goes on to say: "Lack of practical experience with this technique can
result in killing or severely injuring cuttings during treatment. Solution
concentrations must be carefully adjusted to the species and degree of
lignification of the cutting; duration of treatment must also be not too
long."
Other factors he considered: Alcohol evaporates rapidly therefore the auxin
concentration of the solution will elevate as the solution becomes reduced.
Too high a concentration of alcohol will cause the cuttings to die. Cuttings
may drag in excess moisture to the solution therefore changing the
concentration. Alcohol may absorb water from humid air. Surely (3) and (4)
may not be as important a consideration (in production) than (1) or
especially (2).
Other factors to consider:
Alcohol is flammable. Users must be advised not to have open flame in the
area. Suitable fire safe storage must be provided. Worker safety must be
considered. There health hazards when handling alcohol . Avoid breathing
vapors. Avoid contact with eyes and skin.
Protective equipment must be provided.
Alcohol is better reserved for drinking other than root dipping (:
regards
MRK
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 01:26:50 -0400
From: Frank Dutra <fdutra1@attbi.com>
Subject: Re: Personal experience with plant rooting hormones
>I've been under the assumption that Dip n Grow was the best choice
>since it is being used at the commercial level and has alcohol as a
>disinfectant. I was going through some trays of hydrangea cuttings
>(softwood-stuck on 7/31/02) and ran into some that I used a powder
>on when I ran out of Dip n Grow. I was surprised to find that they
>were substantially better rooted than their cohorts stuck a week
>earlier with Dip n Grow. Of course there are many variables which
>could account for this, but I will definetely be experimenting with
>my next batch. It may be just a matter of concentration since I have
>been using the liquid at it's lowest (20:1) and don't remember what
>the powder was, although the package said it was for softwood and
>semi softwood cuttings.
Another question, Will the auxin in the rooting compound inhibit
lateral shoot growth if it gets on the buds?
>What is your own *personal* experience using
>liquid plant rooting hormones vs. dry powder rooting hormones
>to propagate
>
>woody plant cuttings and/or
>herbaceous plant cuttings (for example tropical 'house plants") and/or
>herbs and perennials
>
>} has anyone seen Dr. Manners study?
>http://members.aol.com/mmmavocad4/hormone.html
>
>} how about willow water?
>once again has anyone seen Dr. Manners study?
>http://members.aol.com/mmmavocad4/willow.html
>
>regards
>MRK
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