There are two special plants
in my school, a shrub and a tree. Mysteriously they are alone, just one each. While
I understood enough of the tree the shrub remained largely mythical until I
sought help on Facebook.
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| The Shrub (Name: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) |
Now I know their names
and I know both propagated from cuttings. I have already begun working on
multiplying the plants but given my bad track records with plants I knew I was
missing on something.
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| The Tree |
I have tried cuttings
of hedges before with little success, and this time I am dealing with precious
plant. I don’t want to lose this plant. I sort advices from my biologist friend
Ugyen Tshering who suggested about rooting hormones that stimulate root growth during plant propagation, something I never heard before yet something that easily clicked on me. It was my environmental engineer
friend Sangay Dorji who reminded this computer teacher to go to Google and
search on “How to prepare organic rooting hormone” I felt very stupidly
enlightened.
What I found on Google
was what Sangay Dorji already shared. There are two easy ways to prepare
rooting hormone at home besides commercial hormones.
- Extraction from willow leaf
- Honey
Extraction from Willow
Leaf: Collect fresh willow leaves. Pour boiling water on it and leave to brew
for 24 hours. Throw away the leaves and there you have the rooting hormone. It
can be stored in refrigerator for months. Use the liquid for soaking the tip of
your cuttings for a few hours before planting them in polybag.
Honey: Honey is
natural rooting hormone. Just dip the tip of the cutting in honey and plant it
right away. As simple as that.
But the success of
rooting largely depends on how well you nurture them daily. Don’t be stupid
like me- they don’t need sunlight as yet so keep the plants in shade to better
the chance of their survival.
Rumor: Even Aspirin is
said to have the rooting magic in it. Dissolve few tablets in a glass of water
and soak the cuttings in it for some hours before planting them in polybag.
