Rooting gel for stem cuttings
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This ROOT!T cutting gel is poured into the planting hole before inserting the stem. It coats the cut, protects it and supports the emergence of the first roots, in a pot of potting soil, a rockwool cube or a cutting sponge.
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The summary
- Format: a rooting gel in a 150 ml dropper bottle, for stem cuttings.
- How to use it: it fills the planting hole and surrounds the base of the cutting as you insert it.
- Which medium: cutting plugs and sponges, rockwool, germination cubes or potting compost.
- First roots: 2 to 4 weeks of rooting in a warm spot, under a humid dome.
Gel poured into the planting hole to root stem cuttings
ROOT!T rooting gel is dropped into the planting hole, then the stem cutting is pushed in and ends up coated by it. It suits rooting plugs, rockwool and potting mix, with First Feed to moisten the medium. The 150 ml bottle stays in the nursery, away from the water of a pond.
A stem cutting has no roots and no significant reserves: until the first roots emerge, its cut remains an open wound and it depends entirely on the moisture around it. ROOT!T cutting gel tackles this fragile period. Poured into the planting hole, it surrounds the base of the stem, seals the cut tissues and protects the emerging roots, while feeding them at the same time. You thus gain consistency across a batch of cuttings, provided you keep the medium moist and the temperature mild.
✂️ A gel poured into the hole
Most rooting products are applied by dipping the base of the stem in a hormone powder. This one was designed to do without that and is placed in the growing medium: thanks to the dropper spout on the bottle, you fill the prepared hole, then insert the cutting, so that the gel envelops it without any air bubble remaining around the cut. It is designed for ROOT!T cutting plugs and also suits germination cubes, rock wool, seed compost and a free-draining compost such as the high-porosity grow medium with mycorrhizae. For a complete start, the sponges or compost are pre-moistened with water containing a starter fertiliser at 5 ml per litre, then the cutting is placed in its gel.
🌱 Taking a good cutting
Success is largely decided before you even open the bottle. Take your cuttings in the morning, when the stems are full of water, from vigorous shoots without flowers. A softwood cutting measures 5 to 10 cm: cut its base just below a node, where the plant's natural hormones that trigger root formation are concentrated. Then remove the lower leaves, which would rot in the growing medium, and pinch out the soft tip to limit water loss. If you cannot insert the cuttings straight away, keep them in a closed bag in a cool place for a few hours.
Preparing the growing medium
Moisten the plugs, cubes or compost before you begin, without soaking them.
Open the hole
Use the hole provided in the cap, or pierce the compost to the diameter of the stem.
Fill with gel
Pour in enough gel to cover the whole part of the stem that will be buried.
Inserting the cutting
Push it in straight away: the gel spills over slightly and forms a small dome on the surface.
Germination cubes for uniform cuttings
The Root Riot germination cubes already have a central hole that takes the gel, and their tray of 24 holds a complete batch. Rooted cuttings are then transplanted with their cube, without touching the roots, into a pot of potting compost or a hydroponic growing bed.
The gel does not replace ambient humidity
A cutting without roots loses water through its leaves faster than it can absorb it. Keep the medium moist, cover the cuttings with a dome or a mini greenhouse and avoid direct sun, otherwise the stem wilts before the roots appear.
🌡️ Heat, humidity, light
Softwood cuttings root best with a bottom heat of 18 to 24 °C, provided by a heated mat or a heated propagator. A closed dome keeps the air around the leaves saturated with moisture; open it for at least ten minutes or so twice a week to refresh the air and prevent mould, and remove dead or rotting leaves every week. The light should be bright but indirect, because sun through a window quickly overheats a closed dome. Under these conditions, the first roots generally appear within 2 to 4 weeks, and you can see them pushing through the plug or the cube. Then acclimatise the young plants to the open air over about a fortnight, opening the dome a little more each day, before transplanting them.
🐟 Cuttings for aquaponics
In aquaponics, taking cuttings lets you multiply, without seeds, the herbs that thrive in the grow beds, such as basil or mint: a stem taken from a vigorous plant roots in a cube or plug, then joins the system once its roots protrude from the support. You then place it in a net pot wedged in place with clay pebbles, its roots dipping into the water of the grow bed. The gel stays in the cutting support, where it has done its job: it is not meant for the system water, and the bottle is never emptied into the fish tank. The article on herbs in aquaponics shows this stage, and neoprene discs hold the stem when the cutting is rooted directly in the water of a cloner.
Technical specifications
The gel
- Capacity
- 150 ml bottleDropper spout for dosing hole by hole
- Use
- Stem cuttingsThe gel goes into the hole, not onto the stem
- Action
- Closed cup, roots protectedIt also feeds the young roots
- Supports
- Plugs, cubes, rock wool, compost
- Directions for use
- No rooting hormone powderThe gel replaces soaking the stem
- Recommended medium
- ROOT!T rooting plugs
Conditions for success
- Cutting
- 5 to 10 cm, cut just below a node
- Bottom heat
- 18 to 24 °C
- Atmosphere
- Mild and moistUnder a dome or mini-greenhouse, aired twice a week
- Rooting
- 2 to 4 weeksThen 2 weeks of acclimatisation before transplanting
2 further specifications are available in the detailed view.
In the box
- 1 150 ml dropper bottle of ROOT!T cutting gel
Directions for use, media and action of the gel based on British retailers' data sheets; container size based on the distributor's data sheet. Cutting length, bottom heat and timings based on the Royal Horticultural Society's guidance.
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Frequently asked questions
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6 key questions
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