Homemade Rooting Hormone

If you are wondering how to make inexpensive, homemade, and easy to apply rooting solutions, as effective as a rooting hormone, here is an article with photos that will show you how to prepare a homemade plant root stimulator for your cuttings. With this rooting liquid, your cuttings will develop their roots faster, healthier, and at a much higher success rate.

How to Make a Homemade Rooting Hormone

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are basic nutrients that encourage root growth for all plants. To make a natural root hormone that will induce root growth you can use some household items that contain these elements. If your intention is to do a water propagation of plant cuttings, the mixture of these three elements will help cuttings to develop a strong root system.

What can you use instead of rooting hormone? There are some household items that you will easily find in your home with which you can make the homemade rooting hormone. If these items are of organic nature, that can also be your organic rooting hormone. Here is my favorite shortlist:

• banana peels are high in potassium
• coffee grounds contain potassium and nitrogen
• pumpkin seeds, lentils, and nuts have a high amount of phosphorus
• eggshells and toothpaste contain nitrogen

Homemade Rooting Hormone Recipe

This is how I make a rooting stimulant (hormone) for water propagation of my plant cuttings. The cuttings respond much better than in the plain water. See the progress of my fig tree cuttings and how I propagate lavender from cuttings.

Water propagation – Ingredients for Rooting Hormone

Here are some ingredients for powerful rooting stimulants that I found the most useful.

Banana peels for potassium

Cut banana peals in small pieces, add some water and leave it soaking for a few days.

Coffee Grounds for nitrogen and potassium

Collect some coffee grounds and mix it with water, keep it in a small mason jar, tightly sealed.

Lentils, Almonds (Nuts) and Pumping Seeds for phosphorus

Pumpkin seeds, lentils and almonds mixed with water for phosphorus boost

Crushed Egg Shells for nitrogen

Crushed eggshells are mixed with water for nitrogen boost

Twice a week I apply a diluted solution to a container of each cutting. I soak them twice a week for a couple of hours and change the solution to clean and plain water to make sure the cuttings get enough oxygen.

Video

In this video I am making in my kitchen these powerful liquid root stimulators to give a boost to the young roots of my plant cuttings – have a look:

Watch my update video, one month later

Rooting cuttings in the soil- Homemade Rooting Powder, Gel, or Solution

If you are propagating your cuttings in potting soil or rooting medium, you can make a hormone rooting powder, gel, or solution at home. Before you plant your cuttings in the soil or rooting medium, dip the bottom of your cuttings in powder or solution to encourage root development.

Use aloe vera gel, turmeric, or cinnamon powder, few drops of vinegar or a teaspoon of honey diluted in water, a single tablet of aspirin or ibuprofen diluted in water, your own saliva, and similar.

Although all these ingredients are considered as some kind of natural rooting hormones in fact they are effective fungicides and antiseptics primarily used for the prevention of rot in stem cuttings.

Because of their anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, they are widely used as they protect the cuttings from diseases by allowing the natural rooting hormones in the cutting to work properly, stimulating natural root growth.

To Conclude

As you can see these are some inexpensive, homemade easy to apply solutions that are very effective as rooting hormones. If you apply at least one or two of the powders, gels, or solutions your cuttings will respond better and develop the roots at a much higher success rate.