Can I root directly in willow water?

aeroretzev

Active Member
I have 5 cuttings soaking in willow water (for it's use as a rooting hormone, go here if you aren't familiar: http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm.

I was going to leave them in for 12 hours to absorb the willow water, and then move 3 to soil and 2 to pure water, all under a dome.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience just letting the cuttings root in the willow water. I found references to other plants being able to do this, but I need to know specifically about herb cuttings.

I've also considered moving the cuttings to pure water, and then in 3-4 days give it another 12 hour soak in the willow water.

I have a limited number of clones off of one lonely plant - I'd be happy to do experimentation later but I can only try this if it has worked for someone else.

Any opinions?
 

cindysid

Well-Known Member
I root in willow water all the time. Soak the willow for 12 hrs before adding cuttings. Just leave them in there until they root.
 

bigsteve

Well-Known Member
I can help a little bit.

If you have a dome you might as well put the clones into jiffy pellets or rockwool cubes before putting them into the dome.
It takes forever for cuttings or clones to root in water. I go out every spring and cut willow branches to make my own cloning
gel so I'm on that. Without a stable matrix, like the pellets and cubes, your clone will sit in the water for 4 to 5 weeks before
you see any roots. I tried rooting clones in willow water too. Same thing.

I wouldn't jump from regular water to willow water etc. on general principles. Plants don't like change. Find the right way to do it
and stick with it. Here's my way of watering clones while they are in the domes -- I use large jiffy pellets placed in a 12 oz. plastic cup
with 3 holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. I put that cup inside an identical cup without the holes. When I need to moisten the pellets
I pull up the inside cup only and drip an oz. or 2 of liquid into the outer cup. Nesting the cups again allows the liquid to siphon from the outer
cup to the pellet in the inner cup. Good way to control just how much water they get.

Good luck and keep us posted.
BigSteve.
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
Really no need for any added bits and bobs i've found. Cannabis will root just fine in a glass of tap water if you really want. In my opinion hings like this are like 1001 other cannabis related things out there, totally unessential.
 

PsychOut

Member
Aeroretzev if your set on rooting in willow water you can greatly improve your success rate by using a bubbler to oxygenate the water. But it should be placed to the side if possible. I did this more than a decade ago as an experiment and it worked fine. At that time I cut out blocks of styrofoam and put holes in them thru which I placed my steams. These were floated in an aquarium. Worked fine as a make shift set up.
 

aeroretzev

Active Member
Thanks for the last several replies...
Sorry for the wait for reply - forgot to subscribe to my own thread...

Big Steve- I like the two cup siphon idea. I'm going to keep at least one clone in the willow water, but do you think I can/should move the other 2 into jiffy pots or soil (I've used 50/50 perlite and pro mix to successfully do a few clones) or just let them stay in the water?

Coho- Yes, aspirin is derived from willow. The willow is free though. Also, plants have been shown to do well with aspirin at 1:10000 parts water but larger amounts are toxic.
 
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