Rooting hormone is a product containing a synthetic auxin, most often indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and sometimes naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), in a gel, powder or liquid. Auxin applied to a fresh wound stimulates the formation of adventitious roots, so treated cuttings root sooner and more evenly.
In practice
Dip the freshly cut stem base into a small portion of product (never back into the stock container, which spreads pathogens), tap off excess and set it into the rooting medium. Cannabis is not a hard-to-root species; many cuttings root in plain water or rockwool without hormone, but hormone usually shortens the time and evens out the batch. Concentrations for softwood cuttings are commonly in the low thousands of ppm for quick dips and lower for gels.being reviewed
Willow water and honey are folk alternatives; evidence for them in cannabis is thin.
Don't confuse with
- Root stimulator (feed): a nutrient or biostimulant product for rooted plants, not an auxin for cuttings.
- Cloning solution: often a mild nutrient plus sanitiser for aeroponic cloners.
A class of plant hormones, chiefly indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), that drives cell elongation, apical dominance, bending toward light and root formation.Rockwool is an inert growing medium spun from melted basalt rock into fibres, sold as plugs, cubes and slabs, that holds water and air in fixed proportions.A biostimulant is a product claimed to improve plant growth, uptake or stress tolerance by means other than supplying nutrients, such as seaweed extract, humics, amino acids or microbes.Cloning is propagating a plant by rooting cuttings from it, producing new plants that are genetically identical to the donor.Aeroponics grows plants with roots hanging in air inside a dark chamber, wetted by sprayed nutrient solution; low-pressure (LPA) systems use ordinary pumps and spray heads.A cutting is a piece of shoot, usually a tip with two or three nodes, removed from a plant so it can be rooted into a new, genetically identical plant.A cloning dome is a clear lid over a tray that keeps humidity high around unrooted cuttings or seedlings, reducing water loss until roots form.
