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Rooting in water

Some years ago I tried to root cuttings , size  about 20 cm ,
of Buxus Sempervivens in aerated water in spring in a hothouse.
I did the experiment because in Holland cuttings usually are rooted 
in peat-sand mixtures . The peat is for water storage but peat is acid 
as well and is a ionexchanger , so absorbs Cations , Ca , Mg , K , Na
So peat also can be seen as a deioniser and I hoped that acid water 
could replace peat , a limited resource !  

I had 2 treatments in black plastic pots of 5 l with about 15 cuttings . 
A Tap water , with EC about 1 mS , about 10 mmol/l salt 
B Demineralised water acidified to pH 4 with HNO3 , 0.1 mmol /l 
  I added demi water and checked pH every week of treatment B
  Water was not renewed .

Most cuttings in tap water died  and all lost most leaves .
The cuttings in the acid treatment lost less leaves and  
rooted well after some months and were transferred to soil .
Nearly all rooted plants survived the transfer to soil.
In tap water I also found extensive mold growth [ maybe because of dying 
plant material] , the acid treatment was relatively clean .

My explanation is that the acid water is absorbed by the plant without 
roots and transpired , but the plants have no problem with absorbed
salts
as in the tap water treatment . So they feel better.Maybe the acid also 
prevents blocking of the Xylem vessels by preventing mold/ bacteria
growth  
or by sweeping organic material bonded to the xylem vessel walls .    

Who did similar experiments , knows literature about this subject ?

Frits Meijboom , meijboom@ab.dlo.nl / fax +31-317-422415


-- 
Duncan McAlpine, Federal Way, WA
Why buy plants when you can grow them yourself.....?
http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/
http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/pumkin.html
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