Warning: That free plant guide PDF wrecked my propagation setup

I was chatting with a guy named Mike at a local nursery in Portland last spring, and he handed me this free PDF on rooting cuttings. Told me to dip them in honey as a rooting hormone. Three weeks later I lost a whole tray of 12 fig cuttings to mold. Ever had a random tip from a stranger backfire like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

reesel506d ago

Honey's basically sugar water in a jar, not a rooting hormone. That guy Mike probably never actually tried it himself.

emma_dixon706d ago

Honey's got some antibacterial stuff in it, yeah, but it's not the same as real rooting hormone. Grab a bottle of rooting powder from the garden center, dip the cutting, and you'll have roots in two weeks. Way more consistent than hoping honey does the trick.

wells.olivia5d ago

Honey as rooting hormone is just one of those internet myths that won't die, like putting aspirin in water for cut flowers or using cinnamon on seed starts. People hear one thing from a random guy at a nursery and run with it without checking if it's actually true. But this goes way beyond plant stuff honestly. It's the same pattern everywhere now with life advice in general like someone swears by a weird fix for their car or a home remedy for a cold and suddenly it's gospel. The problem is when we skip the real science or the proven method because a stranger sounded so confident and friendly about it. Those fig cuttings are a tough lesson but at least now you'll question every free tip before you go all in on it.