Pete,

Was this part of the 100% undiluted hormone or do you have results for that test yet?
Experiment with undiluted Dip N Grow, started today. The grouping is as follows

"The test groups are

Hormone undiluted (100%):
    A1...Scoring "single wide slice"
    A2...No Scoring

No Hormone:
    B1...Scoring "single wide slice"
    B2...No Scoring

There are 3 cuttings in each group"

I'm new to this but I'm a fast learner. I would agree that the hormone roots faster but pushes leaves slower. I'm not sure if it makes a difference in the long run. For me, roots roots roots, everything else will catch up. I have 150 potted and another 250 in production. Should be a busy year!

Greg,
No, this was part of this experiment at 10x dilution. this cutting was documented at the start of this experiment at post #2 .

The 100% undiluted Dip N Grow experiment results can be found at Topic it was part of another test. The No Hormone was treated with alcohol only, for a comparison to the hormone treatment.


Aaron,
I can only agree with you. Though I am more concerned with healthy growth than 2-3 week faster rooting.

Pete,
I agree 100% with your results.  I have about 60 or cuttings all treated with 10X DNGrow, with about 20 different varieties.  Every variety has had outstanding root development but very slow leave development.  I have several 24oz cups I had to up-pot to 1 gallon due to getting too many roots and there was just a hint of leave develpment.  In order to keep the cutting from drying out, I had to plant all but the last two nodes in the pots.  I am in central Florida and these all have been garage kept with about an hour of late day sun.  They are all in totes with lids to keep the humidity up.  Yesterday, I had to put about 1oz of water in each 24oz cup as the mix was getting very dry and light.

Update: 4/8/2013

Attached picture of test cuttings, Hormone treated in left 2 trays, Untreated in right 2 trays. Several of the hormone treated have failed to produce buds and a few have dried up, but the roots are still alive. The cuttings have just been watered (sprayed from above). The white marks on the leaves is Diatomaceous Earth.

The cuttings had been repotted to a 80/20 mix (perlite/peat), due to a problem with the original mix retaining too much moisture (it had 15-20% vermiculite).

Alan,
Thanks for sharing your results.

As a rule, I up pot to 1 gallon containers when the 16oz cups are full of roots, regardless of the top growth. I had good success last year with this procedure. I also had been able to up pot to 5 gallon containers within 2 months after potting in 1 gallon containers.  Usually the one gallon containers are full of roots by that time. This sequence of up potting is actually based on constant ambient temperatures above 70 deg F.

I do not use "humidity dome" (clear 30 gallon plastic garbage bag) for more than 2 weeks after placing cuttings in cups. They are exposed to the room ambient conditions as soon as possible. The failure rate of the Hormone treated has been several times greater than that of the untreated at this time. I usually water at least once a week, the ones with leaves are usually watered twice per week. with the clear cups you can easily check to see if they need to be watered.

I would absolutely recommend Hormone treatment for Larger caliper cuttings (over 1 inch diameter), It has been extremely successful for larger caliper cuttings in my trials.

Good luck with your cuttings.

<Edit> From our experience I could say that a more dilute Hormone solution (15x or 20x) may be more beneficial to promote both roots and earlier leaf growth.

After reading the posts on the Root riot successes and the few failures, I decided to try a simple experiment. using some of the info gained from my hormone experiment. There are six (6) different unknown varieties and they have been in storage for at least 6 months. They were stored in zip lock bags with a small amount of shredded long fiber sphagnum moss. They have not been washed or processed in any other way. The top ends were sealed with a dab of wax (wax toilet seal) just before placing into the tray. The cuttings were processed and planted in the tray on May 26, 2013

Picture at day 14... June 9, 2013


1. They were cut to a maximum length of 5 inches, with several 1 and 2 nodes, 72 pieces total.
2. The cuttings were treated with a 15X dilution of Dip N Grow hormone and planted in a standard 72 cell seed starting tray, with a 6 inch dome.
3. A pre-moistened coir based seed starting potting mix (Burpee) was used (had a few 10 qt. bags left from last year).
4. On the second day the cuttings and soil surface were sprayed (misted) with mixture of 1 part Hydrogen peroxide 3% to 3 parts water (a 25% mix).
5.The cover was opened and the cuttings and soil surface were sprayed (misted) daily with plain water, then closed completely (vents fully closed).
6. The tray was kept in a dark closet for 10 days, at 72 - 80 deg F.

Attached pictures of the progress. Currently all cuttings have developed roots.

    

Update: 6/15/2013

Up potting Root riot-not cuttings to 3 inch peat pots and 16 oz clear cups. Picture of typical root growth and 3 inch Jiffy pots in 10 x 20 seedling tray with 7 inch humidity dome. They will remain in the humidity dome for 1-2 weeks only. The coir based seed starting mix is extremely loose (light) and fluffy, it seperates easily from the cuttings.



   

Thanks for the update, Pete.  So this latest experiment did not have a control group, right?  Have you drawn any conclusions of using this method?

Harvey,
You're welcome. You are correct, there was no control group. These are the start of my cuttings for this year.
My conclusion is that this is probably my best technique for use with hormone treatment to date... By misting daily, the cuttings were kept moist with good air circulation. I was able to maintain the high humidity (85%) that was the measured optimal for good growth in the earlier tests (pre rooting in sphagnum moss).

Note Failures in the early tests can be attributed to high hormone concentration (excessive root growth) and excessive moisture in the growing medium, which rotted the bottom end of the cutting, before it was sufficiently callused. This rotting was also experienced by some members that used the real Root riot Cubes. The new potting mix is Coir mix (70%) and sifted perlite (30%), it is extremely light, fluffy and fast draining

The cuttings that were in the lower right of the first set of pictures at 2 weeks (the ones with the air roots) were up potted at 2 weeks and already have roots visible on the outside of 32 oz deli containers and 16 oz clear cups.

I am using this method to start my purchased cuttings (30 different cultivars) and a few new found unknowns... They have been started in 32 cell, 10 x 20 trays, and have been cut to approximately 6" maximum length and treated with 15X dilution of Dip N Grow. Once rooted, they will be transferred directly to 1 gallon containers and grown in a controlled environment (enclosed porch) for 1-2 months before being moved outdoors to larger containers (5 gallon buckets). From my experiments, I have been able to get surprisingly fast growth by keeping the ambient temperatures constant (above 70 deg F) and up potting well before the roots start circling.
My outdoor temperatures currently drops down to the 50's at night and has not made it above 70 deg F for several days, so a controlled environment is necessary for optimal continuous growth. From earlier experience the cooler temperatures actually interrupt (slow down) plant growth.

update: 6/22/2013

Up potted 18 single node cuttings (off cuts to fit under 6  inch high humidity dome), they were left in the 72 plug tray for an additional week.

Attached is a picture of cuttings that were up potted to 16 oz and 32 oz clear cups on June 8.
1. 100% (72) rooted within 3 weeks, were up potted and are currently growing in a 1-1-1 cutting mix, 1 part pine bark mulch - 1 part perlite - 1 part coir all sifted through 1/8 and 1/4 inch mesh. It is an extremely fast draining light mix.
2. 65% (47) have bud break, including most of the terminal cuttings and one node terminal cuttings.

Pictures of purchased cuttings started June 15, 2013, they were cut to 7 inches or less and are under a 7-1/2 inch dome. The room temperature has been maintained at 72 - 82 deg F. (the room has been heated at night, 42 - 58 deg F outside at night)


one node rooted cutting started May 26, 2013. Started in 72 cell plug tray with Burpee (coconut) coir seed starting mix (85%/15% coir/perlite mix) Typical root growth for all 18.


   

Great work!

BUmp