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Rooting in a gel
About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst
amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? What was the gel which was used? [Franz Heymann] |
Rooting in a gel
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 20:20:14 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote: About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? What was the gel which was used? plant gel see http://www.plantgel.com/ ignore the God Bless America stuff.......... -- Martin |
Rooting in a gel
"martin" wrote in message ... On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 20:20:14 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann" wrote: About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? What was the gel which was used? plant gel see http://www.plantgel.com/ ignore the God Bless America stuff.......... Thanks for the URL. However, in the meantime, I have used Google to discover that there is still a kit available in the UK. It got quite a good write-up in the June issue of the RHS journal. It is called "Gel2root", and is available from Fothergills. The gel contains both a rooting agent and a sterilising agent. I have ordered a trial pack and will report when I have some results. [Franz Heymann] |
Rooting in a gel
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 21:11:43 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote: "martin" wrote in message .. . On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 20:20:14 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann" wrote: About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? What was the gel which was used? plant gel see http://www.plantgel.com/ ignore the God Bless America stuff.......... Thanks for the URL. However, in the meantime, I have used Google to discover that there is still a kit available in the UK. It got quite a good write-up in the June issue of the RHS journal. It is called "Gel2root", and is available from Fothergills. The gel contains both a rooting agent and a sterilising agent. I have ordered a trial pack and will report when I have some results. Most kids put it on their hair nowadays :-( -- Martin |
Rooting in a gel
"martin" wrote in message ... On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 21:11:43 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann" wrote: "martin" wrote in message .. . On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 20:20:14 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann" wrote: About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? What was the gel which was used? plant gel see http://www.plantgel.com/ ignore the God Bless America stuff.......... Thanks for the URL. However, in the meantime, I have used Google to discover that there is still a kit available in the UK. It got quite a good write-up in the June issue of the RHS journal. It is called "Gel2root", and is available from Fothergills. The gel contains both a rooting agent and a sterilising agent. I have ordered a trial pack and will report when I have some results. Most kids put it on their hair nowadays :-( If they wash, they don't need the sterilising agent, and if they have hair they don't need the rooting agent. {:-)) Franz |
Rooting in a gel
On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 06:35:59 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote: Most kids put it on their hair nowadays :-( If they wash, they don't need the sterilising agent, and if they have hair they don't need the rooting agent. {:-)) telling them that it makes them go bald makes them think twice about using gel. "did you use gel when you were a kid?" "when did you go bald?" -- Martin |
Rooting in a gel
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Rooting in a gel
Jane Ransom wrote:
Possibly because people realised that, to root cuttings, you don't need gel or rooting hormones or anything else. All you need to do is do it at the right time in plain ordinary soil I was wondering along the same line... the 60% success rate in gel sounds pretty bad, depending on what was being rooted. I get nearly 100% on several varieties of Fuschia stuck in "Pro-Mix" (soilless compost mix; not even Innes secret formula #3.7a), as long as I don't forget to keep it damp! Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at www.albany.net/~gwoods Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1200' elevation. NY WO G |
Rooting in a gel
"Jane Ransom" wrote in message ... In article , Franz Heymann notfranz. writes Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? Possibly because people realised that, to root cuttings, you don't need gel or rooting hormones or anything else. All you need to do is do it at the right time in plain ordinary soil - well compost and sand if you want to be really finickity!!!!!! Many years ago I did a trial run, rooting Lithospermum cuttings in a gel, cutting compost, sharp sand and garden soil. The samples were not large enough to make a quantitative comparison, but for what it is worth, the gel came out best and the garden soil was worst. What I found most attractive about the gel was that the cuttings needed no attention at all other than looking to see if they had rooted. Moreover, this inspection could be done without disturbing the cuttings in any way. It occurred to me that one ought to try and replace the commercial gel with a thick wallpaper paste, made up with water plus a few drops of Benlate sterilising agent and a drop or two of liquid rooting hormone. Somehow, there were always something else to do, and this experiment was never done. Perhaps one of our readers is sufficiently experimentally minded to give it a try. Franz |
Rooting in a gel
Franz Heymann wrote:
About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? Rot.. Its just not widely available on the domestic market.. How do you think they flood the market with 'new' cultivars? esp slower growers like roses.. They use micropropagation primarily which is effectily what you're describing though using only a few cells. Then they wean and grow on.. I spent a few days in a microprop lab at UCLANC where they carry out commercial contracts a few years ago.. I still have the roses that I grew from that part of the course module! 'Pink Perpetue' What was the gel which was used? Its ususally an agar gel base which you can buy in any health food store or catering supplier.. Its a suitable vegetarian alternative to gelatine. It comes from an algae/seaweed I believe. I still ahve the notes and the 'Recipes' here.. We used V8 (again, health food store, its basically carrot juice) as the nutrient supply.. Though we DID use synthesised plant hormones to encourage root cells. Not all plants have enough from such tiny samples. Of course if you are using normal size cuttings then it won't matter so much. If you look up mocroprop there are plenty of sites with 'heath robinson' type setups.. Orchid growers use it a fair bit I believe. Certainly the supplies I obtainable.. A company called 'Wilder' in the US used to do a full kit. I've seen the ready prepared 'gel pots' for cuttings where you just stick them through a foil lid quite recently! // Jim |
Rooting in a gel
"Kay Easton" wrote in message ... In article , Franz Heymann notfranz. writes Thanks for the URL. However, in the meantime, I have used Google to discover that there is still a kit available in the UK. It got quite a good write-up in the June issue of the RHS journal. It is called "Gel2root", and is available from Fothergills. The gel contains both a rooting agent and a sterilising agent. I have ordered a trial pack and will report when I have some results. let us know, not just how well they rooted, but how well the transition from gel to soil went. It isn't always easy to transfer to soil cuttings which have rooted in water, so I wondered whether there may be the same problem with gel. Yes, I will. The previous time when I tried it, there was less problem than with transferring cuttings rooted in cuttings compost or sand, because the gel cuttings pulled out of the rooting medium with a protective ball of gel attached to the rootlets, and there was no problem potting a cutting up into a compost with a pre-prepared hole and filling it just gently with soil. After a few waterings the soil became properly consolidated. Franz |
Rooting in a gel
"Kay Easton" wrote in message ... In article , Franz Heymann notfranz. writes Thanks for the URL. However, in the meantime, I have used Google to discover that there is still a kit available in the UK. It got quite a good write-up in the June issue of the RHS journal. It is called "Gel2root", and is available from Fothergills. The gel contains both a rooting agent and a sterilising agent. I have ordered a trial pack and will report when I have some results. let us know, not just how well they rooted, but how well the transition from gel to soil went. It isn't always easy to transfer to soil cuttings which have rooted in water, so I wondered whether there may be the same problem with gel. Yes, I will. The previous time when I tried it, there was less problem than with transferring cuttings rooted in cuttings compost or sand, because the gel cuttings pulled out of the rooting medium with a protective ball of gel attached to the rootlets, and there was no problem potting a cutting up into a compost with a pre-prepared hole and filling it just gently with soil. After a few waterings the soil became properly consolidated. Franz |
Rooting in a gel
"Jim W" wrote in message news:1fzp4l3.1epg14x1ugs0ioN%00senetnospamtodayta@ macunlimited.net... Franz Heymann wrote: About a decade and a half ago there was a sudden burst if interest amongst amateur gardeners in the rooting of cuttings in a gel. Then, quite suddenly, it blew over and if you now talk about it in a garden centre, you are confronted with an uncomprehending gaze from the attendant. I experimented with it in a small way and was quite successful, achieving something like 70% success rate in the cuttings I tried. It was a neat way of avoiding having to see to the proper watering of the cuttings, and it made it possible to see the development of the roots without having to upset the cuttings in any way. Why has the concept disappeared from the scene? Rot.. Its just not widely available on the domestic market.. How do you think they flood the market with 'new' cultivars? esp slower growers like roses.. They use micropropagation primarily which is effectily what you're describing though using only a few cells. Then they wean and grow on.. I spent a few days in a microprop lab at UCLANC where they carry out commercial contracts a few years ago.. I still have the roses that I grew from that part of the course module! 'Pink Perpetue' I am fully aware of its use in commercial circles. It was its apparent departure from the amateur field that I was bemoaning. What was the gel which was used? Its ususally an agar gel base which you can buy in any health food store or catering supplier.. Its a suitable vegetarian alternative to gelatine. It comes from an algae/seaweed I believe. I wonder why it has to be something expensive like agar. Why not thick wallpaper paste? I still ahve the notes and the 'Recipes' here.. We used V8 (again, health food store, its basically carrot juice) as the nutrient supply.. I am missing out on something here. I thought that commercial gel propagation was done under as sterile conditions as possible. My problem is now that carrot juice is a complex organic liquid, and its constituents have to be decomposed into simple inorganic substances before the plantlet can make use of it. What does the decomposing in a sterile environment? Though we DID use synthesised plant hormones to encourage root cells. Not all plants have enough from such tiny samples. Of course if you are using normal size cuttings then it won't matter so much. If you look up mocroprop there are plenty of sites with 'heath robinson' type setups.. Orchid growers use it a fair bit I believe. Certainly the supplies I obtainable.. A company called 'Wilder' in the US used to do a full kit. As far as I know, it is literally the only feasible way of propagating Disas. I've seen the ready prepared 'gel pots' for cuttings where you just stick them through a foil lid quite recently! Yes. I mentioned in another post that I have come across a source and have ordered some. Franz |
Rooting in a gel
Franz Heymann wrote:
Yes. I mentioned in another post that I have come across a source and have ordered some. Must've missed that.. Y can still ahve fun making you're own if you wish though.. Try Agar and up to 5% V8 carrot juice.. As long as it starts off sterile (eg clean heat cleaned containers) and is set hot then cooled) there is no reason why it might not work OK.. As I said the tricky bit is weaning as plants grown like this may have less 'normal' bacterial/fungal colonisation already in place compared to conventional cuttings. // Jim |
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