I've seen that method....you have to buy Root Hormone, right?

I tried the plain water because I've seen people swear that it works fine for honeysuckle.

Gardeners took cuttings successfully for millennia before rooting compounds were invented. So no, you don't have to buy them. But they can help.

OK, so I'm 2 months into my little project and the 3 honeysuckles I'm trying to root are doing fine....new leaves and one's even starting to bloom, but absolutely no roots.

Just keep them in water?

I've read you can eventually just start adding a little dirt to the water until they're actually "planted" in soil, but I can't picture they'll grow roots at that point.

I've read you can eventually just start adding a little dirt to the water until they're actually "planted" in soil, but I can't picture they'll grow roots at that point. Perfect example of a bad idea. Roots that form in water are physiologically VERY different than roots that form in a solid medium. The difference is what prevents plants from transitioning back and forth between soggy and well-aerated. In most cases, roots formed in water do not transition to soil, so you have a cutting, partially drained of energy reserves from pushing new roots that are lost in the transition. Cuttings started in a solid medium at the same time a cutting is started in water will be miles ahead of the water cutting after it's transitioned to a solid medium, if it makes it.

Al

In absolute agreement with Floral and Al - water raised cuttings are prone to all sorts of problems whereas right now is the ideal time to take hardwood cuttings.

A few years ago, it was all the rage to use a kind of transparent gel for rooting cuttings...and yes, indeed, many roots formed...until the moment of transition from gel to soil which invariably sounded the death knell. Those products vanished from the market remarkably quickly.

You mean Clonex?

I've never noticed such a problem. How was it used in these cases?

The main concern for me is that rooting hormones are a hazard for us humans.

But yes, I agree with the others. Just take some hardwood cuttings. Here in Australia, June is the best month for that. So over there, that means now, or very close to now.