[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I have been using a lot of hormones lately (in liquid form), and they have been very helpful to initiate new growth. But it does not seem to matter if you use growth hormone (kinetin) or root hormone (indol-3-...), they all seem to stimulate new growth. Unfortunately, that is all they will stimulate. The rooting hormone that is supposed to stimulate roots, and no doubt does in other plants, does not stimulate roots in orchids when applied to the base of the plant, but suppresses them . I get the same effect no matter whos rooting hormone I use (all with indol-3-acetic acid [sp?]), so it is not a mix up with the manufacturer. I have to assume that the hormones in orchids that cause roots to start are a very different hormone than in other plants. And it is clear that when the new growth starts making new roots, there are plenty of these orchid rooting (real) hormones thru out the plant, as new rooting begins on old roots too. Wish I could get the correct rooting hormones for orchids, I could have saved a great many plants that did not last long enough to get to the rooting stage, and quite a few that got the wrong hormone and never did root until they withered away. Using hormones to cause an eye to start is very practical, but you have to wash it off and certainly don't add more after the eye starts to grow. By the way, I don't have any experience with the hormones in lanolin, so don't know what to do to optomize that product's use.