Challenge accepted - I will.

And here's some useful advice I found that confirms my views:

If you have willow trees near you, its easy to make a rooting hormone as well, I have made willow water cutting branches into 2 inch pieces, about 1 cm thick and left them to soak for a few days and watered cuttings with, seemed to help but not a magic bullet either.  I have heard you can slow boil this water down into a gel and use it as rooting hormone, but have never tried it.

Thx Chivas - yeah, I vaguely remember you mentioning this in a previous thread. Might try it one day, but for now happy to use the commercial version until I come across any evidence that says I shouldn't.

But generally, and to be fair to Aaron, I understand where he is coming from. For example, I won't use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, slug pellets, etc etc for the same reason. These are long-lasting toxins that can get into the fruit I eat. I will use safe alternatives if I have to - like stinging nettle solution or soapy water instead of a pesticide, for example.

Also, as an experiment, cuttings in bucket 2 will be sans hormone, so I can compare success rates & see for myself if it makes any difference. If I detect none, then I'll stop using it anyway. What would be the point?

Hi loquat1,
Read what is written on the container ...Generally:  Don't breath the product and use gloves - don't let touch the skin ...Safe? still sure ?
Useful yes - but figtrees do root so easily ... But ok, everyone has his own likings ...

Cor blimey mate, what the frack is in your rooting hormones - polonium 210? OK, let's knock this one on the head too:

Some occasional thinking on your part might be helpful.
Some actual research of facts would be even more beneficial for you.

Just to point out,
willow water has TWO HORMONES in it,
Indolebutyric  acid and Salicylic acid,
both are ROOTING HORMONES.
Guess you're not adding to your rooting method now.


If you are anti hormone,
you will need to give up many food,
such as eggs, meats, milk, most grains
and many vegetables.

Are you aware,
that 4 ounces of cabbage has over 1000 times
the amount of ESTROGEN (hormone) in it,
than 4 ounces of beef from cattle treated with Estrogen growth hormone.

Also, gents... don't drink SoyMilk, prolonged use of Soy products especially Soy Milk will cause *Ginekomastia (i hope i am spelling it right) and *ED in males. I'm really serious about this Jack! LOL

*Ginekomastia= developing breasts on males.
*ED= ...well...

Now you made me hungry for some fried Halloumi.

The wealth of misinformation continues.
Prolonged use of Soy Milk does not cause Gynecomastia.

The handful of cases where Soy Milk was attributed to Gynecomastia,
and its really a handlful of examples, less than 5 cases,
were attributed to excessive consumption, on the order of 10 times
a normal amount to consume.
Once soy milk consumption was curtailed in these few individuals,
their symptoms went away.

There is no medical evidence to backup your claims that regular consumption
of soy has adverse effect on males.

You're also going to have to give up bananas and most of the fruit and veggies
you might purchase,
as ETHYELENE GAS,  which is used to ripen many fruits and veggies,
and is also contained in some fruits like apples,
is a GASEOUS HORMONE.

Even more hormones you consume on a daily basis
and completely unaware of.

Sorry to burst your Smart (want to be) Bubble Jack, but here's some more evidence for harms of naturally accruing hormones in plants (SOY in this case) that pose harm to human health...here we go with more reading.

Abstract

( http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy.htm )

...there is abundant evidence that some of the isoflavones found in soy, including genistein and equol, a metabolize of daidzen, demonstrate toxicity in estrogen sensitive tissues and in the thyroid. This is true for a number of species, including humans. Additionally, isoflavones are inhibitors of the thyroid peroxidase which makes T3 and T4. Inhibition can be expected to generate thyroid abnormalities, including goiter and autoimmune thyroiditis. There exists a significant body of animal data that demonstrates goitrogenic and even carcinogenic effects of soy products. Moreover, there are significant reports of goitrogenic effects from soy consumption in human infants and adults.

OK guys, let's call it an honorable draw before WWIII breaks out. For myself, I generally avoid all soy-derived foods for the same reasons outlined by Aaron, with the sole exception of soy sauce. I believe the warnings against excessive soy consumption by men refer exclusively to unfermented soy. 

@ hungryjack -

Hi loquat1,
And what did you airlayer this time with the barrel :P ?

@jdsfrance 

Congrats, you have found  ONE of the FIVE cases,
5 cases out of billions of people that eat soy and have no issues.

Squid!

That looks like my persimmon tree :)

GIBBERILIC ACID,  which is a very strong growth hormone,
use too much and you kill the plants.
Used for grapes, cherries, tomatoes and many other crops.

Give up the wine might be good for you,
because based on your posts,
I assume your sobriety level is inversely proportional to your intelligence level.

Squid you should avoid as well,
it has hormones in it too,
and potentially dangerous ones.
The hormone loligo beta-microseminoprotein  has been shown to cause instant
aggressive behavior in male squid.


Going to leave Aaron on his own now to continue to impart his many
pearls of wisdom. 
Had a few days of desk work to complete
and now its time to get back to the great outdoors and lack of computers.
I leave Aaron to the continued miseducation on growing and life in general.

buhbye JackAss!

Lovely work Pete, something to take pride upon.

HJacks earlier mention of sinking tomato plants deep into the soil at planting has brought me to a question. I received a black mission a few weeks ago that is maybe 10 inches tall but with nary a leaf from the dirt up about 8 inches. When it comes time to up-pot can I treat it the same as a tomato plant and bury it really deep, and will that act to faster improve the thickness of the stem? it is sort of leggy at this point. I'm sure the answer could be pulled out of this thread, but it went all over the place and I couldn't keep up.






regards, 
bill o.

@KK.... I just wonder ,how is your air layer doing ? Are they all root well ?... I got information from my friend that do the extreme air layer like the one you do the fig tree, all end up with the dead mother tree or stagnant mother tree ( after harvesting all the air layers )..... I just wonder is the information I got is true or just bed story.


Ong

Indonesia


Will grow any fig tree that can grow in my country