Willow Tea: Have *you* tried it?

I've been reading about ( and was told by my local trusty hydro guy ) that willow tea is an excellent and cheap cloning solution. I went out today and chopped some willow branches about the size of twigs, but 1-2ft in length. I have a 1/2'' thick stick for good measure as well.


I'd love to hear from anyone else who brews their own, or has used it.

*EDIT* I did do a couple of searches for it, but found nothing definitive.....

I read about this too and have been wanting to try it. When I was in the rain forest and saw trees like willows that were self rooting, I got it. I think it should work but haven't tried it yet. Are you going to experiment?

I actually started my brew tonight. I threw all the sticks & twigs into a big pot, poured in about 1 3/4 gallons of tap water and brought it a boil slowly over the course of an hour or so. Now it's doing it's overnight soak. Now I just have to find some good subjects for a test grow between this stuff and some Green Light root hormone crap I bought ( and personally don't trust since the instructions specifically state that it's not to be used on food bearing plants).

I plant on posting some pics here soon of my process.

I have used it before. It works ......sorta.

I only use Clonex gel and solution now. LOL

If you have 30 cuts and only need 5 clones, do the willow water. LOL It's not that bad, but not that good either.

What it really works well for, if I'm not too lazy to mix up a batch, is as a first watering for just transplanted, rooted, clones. It does help promote root growth, but I usually forget, or am too lazy to mix up a batch before I transplant.

Give it a shot and see for yourself.

Wet

willow has auxins in it just low concentrations

Willow itself definitely has something impressive going on when it comes to root growth. A few years ago, I cut a bunch of willow branches and poked them into the ground on one side of my property for a quick wind break. I never did anything else to them - didn't even give them water. Every single one is a healthy tree now.

A lot of people swear by stuff like house and garden 'root excelurator'. I tried it once, but didn't notice anything significant. I make tea for my plants (worm poop, seaweed, guano, etc. in a bucket of water with an air stone), and in the latest batch I thought I'd throw in a few chopped up willow branches to add some root growth stimulation to my tea. I know you guys are talking clone rooting, and this is plant root growth that I'm looking for... but still relevant, I suppose. I don't know how effective it will be, but I figure it can't hurt.

What if you were to take some growth tips off of a willow tree, take say a carrot peeler and remove the bark and then 'shave' the twigs down into little pieces. Put in a pot with distilled water and bring to a boil and then take off and allow to steep for several hours. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth, and then put in a wide-mouth glass dish under a fan for about a day or two until it reduces down to a much more potent product.

Then if you could get it to have the right consistency you would have your own homemade cloning gel. Right? lol Makes sense but I don't know how hot you could get the mix without ruining the IBA. Maybe it should just steep in the sun.

So I finished up with my tea making and here's the results:

1 1/2 gallons of Willow Tea from 1 3/4 gallons of water

Since I'm primarily using this on seedlings, I've got a good feeling about it.

MrZee said:

So I finished up with my tea making and here's the results:

1 1/2 gallons of Willow Tea from 1 3/4 gallons of water

Since I'm primarily using this on seedlings, I've got a good feeling about it.

Click to expand...

Should work just fine for seedlings.

Don't muck it up by adding nutes. At least not for the first few weeks.

BTW, I never boiled my tea, just let the stuff soak in the sun. But ????

Wet

Use the willow water to replace your current water. Dont use it to "root" the clones. Use a gel.

MrZee said:

I've been reading about ( and was told by my local trusty hydro guy ) that willow tea is an excellent and cheap cloning solution. I went out today and chopped some willow branches about the size of twigs, but 1-2ft in length. I have a 1/2'' thick stick for good measure as well.


I'd love to hear from anyone else who brews their own, or has used it.

*EDIT* I did do a couple of searches for it, but found nothing definitive.....

Click to expand...

the best and cheapest cloning solution is WATER!
yeah i said it pure plain clean water
most clones die from infection
make sure that your water is clean (bottled water)
knife or blade is clean
cup or whereever your going to place your cutting is clean
your hand
even where a facemask (surgical) LOL but everthing helps

but really all i do is stick my cuts into a d.i.y bubble ponic cloner
i take a plastic shoe box ($2 at walgreens, i think i paid way to much)
an aquarium air pump ($10 at walmart , where they have the fish)
an air hose ( $2 at walmart ,also in the fish area)
and a small airstone ($2 optional, but is looks cool, you also get this in the fish department)

and i use plain chicago tap water un phed
but for 2 more $ you can use bottle

i have had a 90% rate with this
no gel or powder just --- water

That 5hit said:

the best and cheapest cloning solution is WATER!
yeah i said it pure plain clean water
most clones die from infection
make sure that your water is clean (bottled water)
knife or blade is clean
cup or whereever your going to place your cutting is clean
your hand
even where a facemask (surgical) LOL but everthing helps

but really all i do is stick my cuts into a d.i.y bubble ponic cloner
i take a plastic shoe box ($2 at walgreens, i think i paid way to much)
an aquarium air pump ($10 at walmart , where they have the fish)
an air hose ( $2 at walmart ,also in the fish area)
and a small airstone ($2 optional, but is looks cool, you also get this in the fish department)

and i use plain chicago tap water un phed
but for 2 more $ you can use bottle

i have had a 90% rate with this
no gel or powder just --- water

Click to expand...

Lmfao hell yeah, if that ain't 'sticking it to the man' then I don't know what is! Can you post a pic of the aforementioned 'shoebox'? I gotta try this, cause if this works (and I'm sure it will cause I've been suspecting the same thing lately...) this is the way to go.

But how do you get the water to splash just right under the cut ends? And I need an option with like, 30-40 sites as well. It'd be kinda nice to have say a 12 site model, and also maybe a 36 site model (could be 6x6). The bigger one for the usual runs, and the smaller one for on the fly cuts from one or two strains just randomly so I don't have to mess with the bigger one if it's occupied.

d.c. beard said:

Lmfao hell yeah, if that ain't 'sticking it to the man' then I don't know what is! Can you post a pic of the aforementioned 'shoebox'? I gotta try this, cause if this works (and I'm sure it will cause I've been suspecting the same thing lately...) this is the way to go.

But how do you get the water to splash just right under the cut ends? And I need an option with like, 30-40 sites as well. It'd be kinda nice to have say a 12 site model, and also maybe a 36 site model (could be 6x6). The bigger one for the usual runs, and the smaller one for on the fly cuts from one or two strains just randomly so I don't have to mess with the bigger one if it's occupied.

Click to expand...

the stem of the cut is fully submerged underwater (about a 1/2in to an 1in)
i dont have any pics of it but give me some time ........
it's more or less like a mini dwc

this is not my pics but this is the same setup

(re. to darken in the shoebox rez)



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http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/9070100_13521.JPG


for more info

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=26473
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/196684-my-homemade-bubble-cloner.html

Sweet, did you make those inserts? Like out of foam or something? You know you should try sterilizing it and next time use distilled water properly Ph'd and throw a little liquid rooting compound in the mix. I hear that'll make roots even faster.

Oh and what type of survival ratio do you get out of that?

I'll second plain water. I've tried every rooting hormone I've come across except clonex (it's too expensive) and nothing works better with MJ then plain water. I rarely lose a cutting.

I have quite a few DIY bubblers of my own, the're fun to make, but for some reason I'm such a simple minded person I prefer the cup of water method. I've actually lost fewer clones in a cup of water then in bubblers, though that's probably because I experiment a lot.

Willow trees have the stuff in it that makes aspirin..... aspirin sets off the plants SAR which sends out its natural defence. Marijuanas natural defence is THC and sticky sticky resin. Try it out during flowering

a friend of mine swear up n down its about as good as you can get Jeffdt1966