Hey guys,
I plan to try rooting hormone with moss or perlite for rooting cuttings. I will soak the moss or perlite and put it in a jar, then I dip cuttings in rooting hormone and "Lay" it on the wet moss or perlite without actually sticking the cutting in the moss or perlite so that the rooting hormone doesn't fall off. Then i close the lid of the jar to create a humid environment. What do you think? also, shall I choose moss or perlite? thank you.

What are you trying to root? Do you mean sphagnum moss, milled peat moss or the little green moss growing on rocks? Hopefully one of the first two.

If you read books on propagation, you will discover many plants have unique requirements, some very simple and some incredibly complicated. So, depending upon what you are attempting to root, it may work or it will not. All you can do is try.

Lucy68 said: What are you trying to root? Do you mean sphagnum moss, milled peat moss or the little green moss growing on rocks? Hopefully one of the first two.

If you read books on propagation, you will discover many plants have unique requirements, some very simple and some incredibly complicated. So, depending upon what you are attempting to root, it may work or it will not. All you can do is try.

Thank you very much for the reply. I plan to root pothos and philodendron cuttings. by moss, i mean sphagnum moss. hopefully it will be easy. I also have perlite.

I don't grow either plant but I know pothos is easily rooted in just about any medium, even water.

I think the philodendron is a little more complicated. I know there are others in this forum who grow (and root) both. Hopefully one of them will join this conversation and give you more guidance.

When I use sphagnum moss, I either use it in the long strands it comes in or chop it up and mix it with perlite.

Neither are complicated, and neither require rooting hormone.
When you take cuttings, you should take the cuttings that already have one or more adventitious roots at a node. The existing roots are the only roots you need to root a plant. If there are no adventitious roots, just place the node(s) (its always best to have at least 2 nodes) down in the moss and leave it alone. It will produce a root from the node. BUT its better to already have an adventitious root.

Aroids only root from nodes. If there is no node, there will be no root, and no new shoot to make a new apical meristem to carry the growth forward.

Rooting by laying the cutting across the moss is not necessary. It won't help anything. Some plants do root this way, Ti plant trunks, stem cuttings of Costus ginger come to mind. But aroids have better success with the cutting down in the moss.

You can use perlite with your moss to make what we call 'dirty moss'. It does give the cutting more substrate to work with, but its not necessary. It's a personal preference.

The most important thing you need here is PATIENCE. Don't be pulling the cuttings out of the moss to see if they are growing. Just leave them alone. And keep the moss DAMP. NOT WET.

This Philodendron Golden erubescens was grown from stem cuttings by the method I described above.


These Philodendron Florida Ghost ws also grown from cuttings that were placed directly into soil mix, bypassing the moss. This is also totally acceptable, and what you use (moss, dirty moss, or soil mix) depends on your personal preference