Where did you see it advertised, what was it's name?
I would hesitate to use anything that would not let air into the rooting area.

I think it was in the Gardeners Supply Catalog.

I found Garderners Supply Catalog online, and looked up the Gel Rooting Media. It appears to be just 6 cells, filled with water holding polymers with a bit of rooting hormone in the water. At $13.95 for a 6 pack, my opinion is that they are VERY expensive. Plus, if it really is polymer based, there is no way air can get to the root system. All the stuff that it takes to make one of those items cannot cost more than a dollar.

If you want to go that route, get some plastic cups, fill them with water, and root the limited few plants that will root in water. Things like forsythia, or Confederate rose will root in clear water, as long as you change the water about every other day.

Otherwise, mix sand/peat, or perlite/peat, put that in a flat of 2-3" cells, dip you cuttings in hormone of your choice, and put a humidity dome on the flat. All for about $3.00 for 36 cells.

It is useless with roses. They all went black. And I paid shipping. So don't go for it-there are other ways to educate!

I like to use the rooting gel. It is not watering crystals, but a yellow gel. You can use it. It works well.

Hi all,
This is the English stuff Gel2Root. Per their FAQ page
gel2root has been formulated specifically for softwood cuttings and houseplants. It is not suitable for hardwood cuttings or ericaceous (acid loving) plants such as azaleas and rhododendrons

Here is a link that might be useful: The manf.'s homepage

This is a see-through version of what was in some gardening magazines many years ago. Back then it was nothing but perlite with 1/4 strength soluable fertilizer to grow house plants in any kind of bottle, jar, vase, etc. It was during the Macrame craze, so it was a way to have plants "hanging" all over the house, and it worked if you were working with the right kind of plant.

You could do the exact thing with this idea by picking up some of the Water Crystals in a craft store...hydrate them using the 1/4 strength fertilizer water...drain any excess and put in clear containers. Some plants are happy to live in water...especially with a bit of fert.

Don't confuse the rooting hormone gel with this.

Here is a link that might be useful: List of plants that will root & grow

Thanks so much for the information. I was hoping to root
oak leaf hydrangeas. I guess that is classified as hardwood.
It sure is hard to root. I have tried a dozen times and
had no luck at all.

Hello Posey,
The Gel2Root UK Patent (#GB2229716)covers the gel...wherein the concentration of indolebutyric acid or salt thereof is from lx10-7 to 5x10-6. That's only 0.1-5 ppm IBA within the growing medium.
However, for the OL-Hydrangea, according to this UTenn Extension paper,"Propagation: Fairly easy to propagate using softwood cuttings and 5000 ppm IBA" (most probably as a dip not in the growing medium.)
Good luck with the cuttings.
Cheers,
-Janine

Hello,

Was just investigating this stuff today for softwood
cuttings. HereÂs a website that sheds some light.

Hope this is helpful.

Lenvt

Here is a link that might be useful: RHS test of rooting mediums and gel2root

Posey,
I found the article above interesting, and was not surprised that those particular plants rooted well in that medium. I also see that they were not successful with the viburnum, and noted that the mfg. did not include woody stemed plants in the instructions.
Your Oakleafed Hydrangea is in the woody stemed plant category. I propagate Viburnum Macrophilium and Oakleaf Hydrangea each year, by taking new growth cuttings as it begins to mature a bit, treating them with 3000 or 8000 PPM IBA, and placing them under automated mist.

Because of the leaf size on both, I remove all but the top few leaves. I do them in June, and the OL usually roots in just a few weeks. The Oakleaf will also put on some "new growth", behind the flowers, that comes much later in the season. Those can also be rooted, but they are much slower.

In place of a mist system, you can also use a clear plastic humidity cover. Keep careful watch, and add water when condensations quits forming on the plastic. Keep them in the shade.

This Gel is available in Canada at LeValley.com in their catalog.

Hello all,

I just received my rooting hormone from mortonproducts.com
in 2 days (UPS). They have IBA in several strengths and
sizes in 2 oz. to 1 pound. I'm getting ready to try to
root my oak leaf hydrangea one more time!

Hi, wish I'd thought to check this forum before I ordered. I was just checking the internet. So I ordered some on sale. I am having terrible trouble getting hibiscus to root, so I will try the gel.

So far, some other types of plants are doing well. Some dracaena cuttings were a total failure.

For hibiscus, I've been using the found-in-the-box-store type of rooting powder. I've been using softwood cuttings on small plants (only thing I have). Should I be using stronger strength?
Thanks

I've also been hunting for info on this topic, so might as well share ...
I haven't been successful in finding any detailed qualitative info on the rooting gels in the commercial sites, (not that I'm surprised - I'm sure it's proprietary), but what I gleaned from a couple of academic sites implies that it's often an agar gel, used to hold hormones/nutrients around the stem. The concept seems to be a further development from the tissue culture industry, and seems to be finding commercial use largely in the propagation of plants to be grown hydroponically.
One paper from Africa suggested a combination of agar and (predominantly) cassava flour gel worked well. I'm also wondering whether konjac (konnyaku) flour could be gelled at the proper thickness and serve the purpose.
From what I've seen, it appears that the gel method might work for woody plants (as well as herbaceous), but not by using the usual timing and cutting type. If I felt like experimenting, I'd try an actively growing tip cutting, definitely still soft, and see what happened (just for grins).
Based on the warning not to use the Gel2root system for ericaceous plants, I'd assume that it either has a relatively high pH from the beginning (medium or additives?) or else it degrades during use causing a rise in pH.
If anyone feels like playing around with some options, feel free to email me. I'm not a professional chemist but I think with reasonable care this could be pursued by amateurs.
Robin

Those who are trying to root Oak Leaf Hydrangea might want to explore this method. Works great for mop heads, but I would use a 2 liter soda bottle or something similar as a humidity chamber and keep them inside near a North window while it is this hot. Mine rooted well under mist, but I know that the principle should work with a humidity dome. You do have to keep them out of the sun with a dome or you'll end up with stewed hydrangea. I have a window full of mop heads right now that are looking really happy.

Also, I used straight composted pine bark soil conditioner for a rooting medium as was suggested by roseyone in another post called "Found a cheaper rooting medium" over on the Rose Propagation forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Hydrangea