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jessicabe_gw

gel2root

14 years ago

Has anyone used this product? My hubby bought me a pack last night from Menards and I was just wondering if anyone has used this.

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Comments (9)

  • 14 years ago

    Looking at the package, it says for softwood cuttings, so make sure you know exactly what "softwood" is as far as roses go, for better chance of success. I'm not sure rose rooting is very successful in the softwood stage. The product may be better for other plants.

    Everyone develops their own method for rooting roses. If it works for you, great! If it doesn't try something else. Best of luck!

  • 14 years ago

    Hoovb is correct that the product is best used for plants other than roses.

    Gel4Plugs is a product that apparently has been used successfully with rose cuttings. That product was developed in Britain, I think, and recently became available in the U.S. It's rather pricey IIRC. I've seen it for sale on EBay.

    Check the following link -- be sure to scroll down a bit and read some of the comments re Gel2Root.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Gel2Root

  • 14 years ago

    Thank you so much hoovb and jaxondel!

  • 14 years ago

    Jessica, since you already have it, why not try cutting some very soft new rose growth, something about as durable and sappy as a coleus cutting as they showed. Try the product with that type to see if it might work. I was given two-four packs of it by a friend whose husband brought it home for her to try. She's a die-hard follower of her tried and true methods so they went into her garden shed. I've not tried them, but thought of the very soft material as soon as I saw the video. I might try that later, when the rally bad heat subsides. Kim

  • 14 years ago

    Someone gave me one of those last year -- was the last thing left on a raffle table at a rose society meeting. I tried it. Did not work.

  • 14 years ago

    well now you have it, Jessica, try it for something like penstemons or osteospermum - not roses. It is not really much use - a bit of a gimmick to see the roots growing (when they do). Also, there are problems transferring the cutting from the gel into soil and the little rootlets do not appreciate the change of material.
    Yes, it was available here around 8 years ago - you rarely see it anymore. Another expensive and totally unneccessary fad. Stick to sand and vermiculite - a cheaper and far more reliable rooting medium.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks Kim I will probably just give one to my hubby to use to see if he could use it with his Trinidad Scorpion peppers to see if he could get another plant from a clipping. LOL (the plants were $10 a peice...)

    Kathy 'last thing on the table'.. thats funny :)

    Campanula I was thinking about the transfer from cup to soil, that is a big difference from gel to well not gel.

  • 14 years ago

    I root soft wood rose cuttings all the time. I actually have had better luck with them than hard wood cuttings. I'd give it a try and see how it works!

  • 14 years ago

    It is basically wall paper paste - you can make your own using ordinary white flour with boiling water (the heat releases the starch in the flour so it thickens) Possibly arrowroot or agar would also work. It can be really alright for easily rooted cutting (the sort which will root in a glass of water such as impatiens, tradescantsia). Not intrinsically bad in itself, just a bit of a waste of money.
    Removing the rootlets from the gel is more or less the same as pricking out seedlings - it is nice to be able to keep some rooting material intact when moving but often, the root comes out intact but free of the rooting material. There will be a small check to the plant - in roses, this is a time of maximum danger so I never expose the newly formed root to the air but transplant keeping the rootball intact.
    As for type of cuttings, I tend to go for the middle road, semi-ripe cuttings (with a bit of woody heel) rather than the soft tips, and have almost totally abandonned hardwood cuttings apart from some tricky types.