Organic Rooting Hormones, Aspirin uses for plants, etc..

Hawthorn

Just stumbled upon an article that's very informative!!

It details creating your own rooting hormone tea from willow twigs and possible uses for Aspirin in treating ailing plants..

A MUST read for anybody who hasn't read about this before!

http://www.bluestem.ca/willow-article1.htm

Advertisement

Hawthorn

Now that I've done some more searching, it appears that this topic has been covered pretty extensively before, however this appears to be the only reference to making "willow water" via steeping overnight. Which I must say makes it a much more readily available remedy in my mind. Not only would steeping be a faster method, but it probably produced a more potent "tea" than the alternative methods of just placing twigs in a bucket of water and allowing them to root out. Unless you wanted to grow the twigs into trees some day.

PatArizona

G'day Hawthorn...

Just some mumbling, bumbling thoughts from the feeble mind of this seventy-something year old Ol' Sage...

"WILLOW MAGIC...tonic called 'willow water'...". This sounds like "snake oil" rather than something I would subject my bonsai to.

"...growing tips of willows contain high concentrations of IBA, depending on the quantity used and length of time you soak them. Any willow (Salix) tree or shrub species will work...". Very, VERY scientific, I must say. NOT!

"...gardeners reported all sorts of plants growing remarkably better when given regular doses of tiny amounts of aspirin (1 part to 10,000 parts water; larger doses actually proved toxic)...”. "Tiny amounts" and "larger does" just don't cut it for me when it relats to "proved toxic". Not for my bonsai.

"...Aspirin thus is an activator of ‘Systemic Acquired Resistance’ (SAR)...". Maybe my feeble mind and my failing eyes let me down, but, I don't see any logic that leads to the conclsion that "...aspirin thus is an activator...".

"...1:10,000 solution (3 aspirins dissolved in 4 gallons of water)...". I'm not a chemist, however, my feeble, inquiring mind wants to know...how does the 1/10,000 and 3/4?

And, "...Steep twigs in a half-gallon of boiling water overnight….You can also use lukewarm water and let twigs soak for 24-48 hours...". These instructions are very murky...unclear. Do you BOIL for...how many hours? And, how do you keep the water lukewarm...for 48 hours?

Finally...although none of my bonsai are world class, I wouldn't even consider subjecting them to any of the above...NEVER!

Again...Just some mumbling, bumbling thoughts from the feeble mind of this seventy-something year old Ol' Sage...

Pat

__________________
BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

hortriot

Spraying it onto cuttings does work, willow water that is.
Soaking cuttings in it overnight also works, I have trialled it and have achieved good results.

Pat, are you talking about spraying it on your trees?

That would make history.

Have you tried dipping cuttings in honey?

__________________
another day, another leaf

Hawthorn

Pat, read here: http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr...unesystems.html

The facts surrounding "willow water" are well known and have been shown to be effective for a number of things, for probably hundreds of years now.

3 aspirin to 4 gallons of water does not make a 4/3 mixture by ANY stretch of the mind.. Sorry, but maybe you SHOULD have studied some chemistry..

3 aspirin contain probably 600mg of aspirin's effective chemicals.

4 gallons of water weights 33.32lbs = 15113697.768mg

That's a 600 to 15113697.768 ratio, by weight..

Which reduces to 1/25189.46 and should prove to be more than a safe mixture as they cite 1/10000 as safe.

I'm sorry, but steeping things in water isn't rocket science.. Ever made tea before?

Hawthorn

hortriot,

I hadn't heard of using honey as a rooting hormone, I do know however from my studies into making Mead, that honey is a very interesting substance. One of the few that science cannot completely explain. It's a dynamic substance, and is almost constantly undergoing chemical changes, one of these chemical changes that occures produces as a byproduct Hydrogen Peroxide, which is why people find honey helps to prevent infections on skin abraisions.. This is also why honey is one of the only substances you can make into alcohol without having to worry about contamination during the mixing and yeast activation stages. You can brew honey wine and you don't even have to cook anything!! (I've done it, YUMMY!!)..

Honey as rooting hormone, I'm pleased to hear it, but not really surprised(Nectar of the gods and all)!

PatArizona

G'day Hawthorn...

Just me, the mumbling, bumbling seventysomething year old Ol' Sage...with additional thoughts from the feeble mind...

Please accept my sincerest apologies for submitting a post that you took as a personal affront...my intent was to have these comments directed at the article that you referenced...not at you.

However, I would like to make this comment regarding a piece of your response. "...maybe you SHOULD have studied some chemistry...". Isn't that akin to somebody telling you that "...maybe you SHOULD have studied some ceramics engineering...". N'est-ce pas?

Back to the discussion at hand...

I said "...how does the 1/10,000 and 3/4?...". My bad. That should have read "...how does the 1/10,000 relate to the 3/4?...". In your response, your math lesson cleared that up for me very nicely. Thank you very much.

Then you said "...steeping things in water isn't rocket science...". If you remove the word "rocket", that's exactly what I was getting at.

Understand Hawthorn, what I am saying here is NOT that there is anything wrong with "willow water"...simply, it is not for me or for my bonsai.

Further, I see nothing in either of the referrenced articles that refers to bonsai. Bonsai being in it's own little world of extremely limited growing space and extremely limited amount of soil...in which to grow.

So...as I said in my previous post...although none of my bonsai are world class, I wouldn't even consider subjecting them to any of the above...NEVER!

Did I say NEVER? Well...that could change, I suppose.

Finally...these are my thoughts...right or wrong. As for you...whatever floats your boat.

Pat

__________________
BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

PatArizona

G'day Hortriot...

You said "...Pat, are you talking about spraying it on your trees?...".

I'm talking about any application that might come down the pipe.

Thank you for asking.

Pat

__________________
BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

hortriot

Hi Pat,

When you say the pipe, do you mean any/all information from the internet? or something else?

__________________
another day, another leaf