Best Rooting Hormones To Clone Cannabis 

Look at the size of this thing!” you scream, looking at your friend's cannabis plant that resembles Hulk.

Although you're happy for your friend, you wonder how you can get your hands on this beautiful beast. 

Unfortunately, your friend doesn't have any seeds left, so the next best option is to clone it. After all, cloning plants means that you will have offspring similar to its parents. 

Without further ado, you grab some scissors and get a cutting. But how do you ensure you clone the plant successfully?

As we know, cloning is a hit or miss — sometimes, the roots don't grow. This failure commonly occurs due to grower error. However, the clones may not survive even if you do everything right at times. And, the risk is doubled when you have just one cutting. 

So, what do you do? 

Well, there's a way to minimize this error and encourage a faster, safer root growth with rooting hormones for cannabis. 

Essentially, rooting hormones work as biological fuel for root development in fresh cuttings. This article will explore how you can use commercial and homemade rooting hormones easily to increase your chances of cloning your favorite strains. 

Let's learn more about these rooting hormones for cannabis.

Understanding Rooting Hormones

Rooting hormones, also known as auxin hormones, are essential enzymes and vitamins that encourage faster root growth. Thus, growers also refer to them as “root juice.” 

A successful rooting during cloning is all about the auxins: cytokinins ratio, which stimulates the roots of the cutting. These elements boost the plant's growth and help the applied area transform from stem-cell production to root-cell production.

This is why root hormones are ideal for cloning a cutting, where faster and more vigorous root development is essential.

Rooting hormones typically increase the likelihood of converting a clone or a cutting into a plant with a healthy root system. Moreover, rooting hormones produce better cuttings in terms of both size and quality. So if you're in a hurry for a plant to develop roots, rooting hormones are your best bet. 

Using Rooting Hormones

Rooting hormones are pretty simple to use for cannabis plants. Once you cut the cloning branch, simply apply the rooting hormone on the cut side properly. In addition, make sure you apply adequate quantity and avoid damaging the cut. Then, plant your cannabis clone into your choice of growing medium and water it for a few days.

Types of Root Hormones

Like anything else related to growing cannabis, you have a few options when it comes to root hormones, too. You can choose power, liquid, or gel-based root hormones for growing cannabis. Let's take a look at each of them.

Powder Root Hormone

The powder-based root hormone is ideal for large cannabis cultures and is popular in commercial growing circles. This is because it has a long shelf life, and you only need to use a small quantity of powder to boost root growth.

Powder rooting hormones cover the cutting in thick layers of chemicals that stimulate root growth. To use powdered rooting hormones, cover the tip of your cannabis cutting with the powder and place the cutting into your growing medium of choice. You can also dip the cuttings in some water and then dip it into the rooting hormone, so it adheres well.  

Some popular powder-based rooting hormones in the industry include Clonex and Hormex. 

Liquid Rooting Hormone

Cloning liquid is a versatile root hormone since you can modify it as you like. You can use the cloning liquid in two ways to plant your cannabis cutting.

One, you can dilute a few milliliters of the liquid in 6.0 pH water and then dunk your rooting medium like peat pallet or Rockwool cubes into the mix. Then, you have to place the cutting in the medium. Two, you can dunk the cutting directly into the cloning liquid for a few seconds and then plant it into your growing medium.

Liquid formulations are available as concentrates as well. Therefore, many growers prefer using liquid rooting hormones since it seeps into the pores and provides greater coverage than powder-based and gel-based hormones.  

Gel Rooting Hormone

If you grow cannabis in your bedroom as a hobby, cloning gel is your best option. It is the easiest to use and quite effective, perfect for small cultures. Gel rooting hormones also stick better than liquid hormones, thereby increasing the likelihood of the cutting developing roots.  

Here, all you have to do is dip your cannabis cutting into the gel and then insert the cutting into your growing medium.

What to Look for When Choosing Rooting Hormones

Rooting hormones are pretty cheap and won't dig a hole in your wallet. Depending on the ingredients used, most of them would cost anywhere from $15 to $30 per bottle. You can easily clone more than a hundred cuttings of cannabis with one bottle if you use it appropriately. 

However, not all rooting hormone products are created the same, as mentioned already. In addition, you know that rooting hormones come in three varieties — powder, gel, and liquid — so it's important to choose the right type to increase your chances of cloning the plant successfully. 

Some rooting hormones also contain additional ingredients, including fertilizers to help the plant root well, so make sure you read the label carefully to buy the best rooting hormone.

Ingredients

Most rooting hormones contain additional ingredients, including Napthaleneacetic acid or NAA and Indole-3-butyric acid or IBA. In addition, some rooting hormones may have nitrogen to boost growth. Both NAA and IBA are synthetic chemicals used for stimulating root growth. 

Natural Rooting Hormones

You can buy various rooting hormones for your cannabis plant, but not all of them would be safe or effective. 

Some rooting hormones contain a lot of additives or chemicals, and some off-the-shelf hormones from your local garden center may not work at all for your cannabis plant. So, we recommend you choose cannabis-specific rooting hormones. 

However, if you're interested in breeding, you can even prepare your own organic, effective rooting hormone for almost no cost. Here are the best homemade rooting hormones we recommend:

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a terrific natural antifungal agent, albeit not a rooting compound, but it can be quite effective in ensuring your cannabis cutting's root development. 

In the right environment, your cutting would grow on its own. Cinnamon ensures the right environment by preventing pathogens from harming the developing roots. 

To make cinnamon root hormone, shake some cinnamon into a small bowl, dip the cannabis cutting into it, and plant it into your medium.

Honey

Honey — the magical fluid — is an old-school rooting hormone that's been in use for years. It contains various vitamins and enzymes that boost root development and is also naturally antifungal and antibacterial.

It speeds up the process of root development and protects it from various harmful pathogens and bacteria. To use honey as a rooting hormone, dip your cutting into honey and plant it into the medium.

Willow Water

Used since forever, willow water is perhaps the most popular traditional rooting hormone used to grow cannabis clones. Willow water contains indolebutyric acid, a growth stimulant for roots, which effectively boosts root development in cannabis cuttings.

Here's how you can use willow water as a rooting hormone for your plant:

1. Source a few young pencil-sized branches of willow enough to fill two cups
2. Cut the branches into small pieces and place them in a container that can hold at least 1.5 gallons 
3. Next, boil 1 gallon of water and pour it over the willow bits
4. Leave the mix to steep for an entire day
5. Then, submerge the cannabis cuttings into the mix for a few hours and plant as normal

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is another popular rooting tonics for clones; however, you can't dip the cuttings into it as it is too acidic. 

You need to dilute the vinegar with water. For this, add one teaspoon of the vinegar to 6 cups of water and stir well. Then, dip the cannabis cutting into the dilute mix and plant as usual.

Summary: Best Rooting Hormones To Clone Cannabis

You may have the cleanest cutting tools, propagator, and even some training, but that may not be enough to grow a healthy cannabis clone. Therefore, you must consider using a rooting hormone to promote rapid root development when cloning a cannabis plant. 

On the other hand, rooting hormones are not magical tools to root cutting — you will still need to use the right procedure to help cuttings develop roots. 

And whether you are using rooting hormones from the store or making your own at home, be sure to check its pH and only use what's suitable for the cannabis plant. We all know how peculiar cannabis is!

Hormex and Clonex are two companies that provide rooting hormones in every form, including powder, liquid, and gel varieties. You can choose any form, depending on your preference and experience. 

Lastly, you may not see the results right away, but keep practicing. It takes a few trials before you start seeing results with your cutting reproduction — rooting hormone is just another aid to help you get there.