wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:25:41 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

[snip]

I have just received the latest issue of "Gardening Which". It
contains a fairly detailed report of a reasonably extensive test of
various rooting agents. My general impression is that they are not
really worth bothering with.

They tested all the hormone-based agents they could lay their
hands on, as well as a vitamin C preparation. Strangely, they
appear
not to have tried salicylic acid. There are those who say that
this
chemical, in the form of Aspirin or extract of willow bark, are
useful
for promoting rooting. Does any urgler have some quantitative, or
semi-quantitative experience of using this?

My latest thoughts run along the lines that rooting cuttings is
essentially a race between the speed with which the root forming
process takes place, and the demise of the cuting by fungal attack.
My thoughts are strengthened by considering that the sterile
micropropagation process is able to induce growth from tiny pieces
of
plant material, known to be impossible to root by other means,
without
the use of rooting hormones.

This year, I will root some cuttings using only Benlate as a
fungicide, without using hormones.

I cancelled my Which? Subscription a year ago after subscribing for
about 30 years. Mainly because they doubled my subscription charge
paid by direct debit, without informing me first, but also because I
am not sure that their tests can be relied upon. I bought a
Nikon885
digital camera that Which? recommended. A couple of photos of
flowers
demonstrated that the reds are too intense and blues are not intense
enough. The problem cannot be corrected using Photoshop. This
problem
was flagged by a magazine doing independent tests, but not by
Which?

I sincerely hope that Which do not use the same staff for assessing
cameras as for running horticultural tests. {:-((

Franz
--
Martin