Oh yeah... I totally knew this... That's why I haven't changed my water in a year. Not laziness at all

I believe it has to do with a growing hornome being produced by the cuttings that pushes root growth. After producing enough and the concentration has reached a certain level in the water, small roots will start to form. I'm guessing that by changing the water on a daily basis pretty much brings that concentration back to zero and the plants need to produce it again. After they have stayed in the same water though for some days and the root production kicks in, it's okay to change the water more frequently since the roots will keep growing once they emerge. Very interesting experiment! Edit: A couple more experiments like this and people will be mad about the monstera Adansonii too smh 😂😂

I love to watch these small (or longer) tests on your channel. Pls never stop the plant abuse

All plants that can reproduce from cuttings release rooting hormone in order to survive and regrow. Combine multiple cuttings in the same container and use just enough water to cover the nodes where you want roots so you don't dilute the rooting hormones. Top up the water if there is too much evaporation. I have been getting much faster results from all of my water propagations of aroids. I successfully rooted bougainvillea cuttings this way as well and will continue my experiments. Thanks for all of your great videos.

I wonder if changing the water once a week instead of daily vs never changing would yield different results? Then it wouldn't be a daily disturbance but you would still be changing it. This was a great and informative video!

An interesting future video: props of cuttings with a comparison of: (1) rooting hormone, (2) no rooting hormone, (3) cinnamon powder, (4) cut ends dipped in honey. Thanks again!

This is so interesting to me because I always read how it’s important to change the water out frequently as it provided fresh oxygen to the plants. I change my water out every 3-5 days and see very slow root growth. Guess I’ll stop changing the water out from now on.

You've brought the joy of propagation back to the old broad. I stopped doing it years ago, unless someone specifically requests something. Now, I'm back to doing it for science. Great stuff here.

I actually take plants that have roots starting and add new cuttings to the old water to get cuttings to start even faster. I only gently rinse the roots off if they accumulate what I call gunk, lol. It's the broken down brown plant material basically. So I change my water out about every 3 months or so but not a 100% change. Do maybe a 75% change in the 3 month mark. I add cuttings to old water a well. It's the hormone that the plants release when they are in growth mode that triggers growth on new areas or cuttings that have nothing yet. Pothos cuttings with roots make fantastic helpers to start other types of plants. I highly recommend them.😊

I've been experimenting with different colored jars for water propagating. So far orange and pink give me the best results, green and blue are the worst. I have an adansonii in an orange jar, no water changes, just topping it off when it gets low. It's gotten huge!

I think it’s down, at least partially, to the hormones in the water. The cuttings build it up in the water over time and encourage it to root. Changing it slows the buildup of growth hormones in the water. My two cents.

When I'm trying to root cuttings I use tap water and I never change the water, I do top the water level off every now and then and I have absolutely no problems when it comes to root growth! Great video my friend 💚🌱

I'm new at this and was excited to find I could grow new plants when i trimmed my philodendron. TWO. MONTHS. LATER... I realized yesterday when the water was so dirty, that I hadn't read ahead and was supposed to be changing the water! There are lots of long roots but I had no idea if they looked right or not. So happy I found your video or I might have thrown them out thinking I did it "wrong". I gasped when you showed the dramatic difference the first time you checked them.

Would be curious to see what would happen if you poured out the old water and poured it back in each day to control for the disturbance created by pouring new water in.

Really appreciate your time and effort. I usually change water frequently for my plant propagation. Now, I will definitely stop. Thank you.

I’ve heard that roots like to grow towards darkness, and so water propagating is better in dark containers. Can you test that next time too?

Love your experiments. It’s how we learn to be great parents to our plants. Just rescued a little plant from a shop that hasn’t watered it felt so sorry for its miserable life so I brought it home repotted it and gave a good watering so hopefully that will survive. It’s called black velvet but just looks like a little stump of nothing. I wish I could save them all lol. Great video too 👍🏻🪴🌱

I do water propagation too. All my plants are growing new roots. I try to change water more often but I am too lazy. Turns out it is not a bad thing.

i changed my jade pothos cutting's water every week and every time i would change it, the white roots that grew turned darker again.. until i stopped changing it overrall and they started growing faster than ever!

That's perfect! I'm so inconsistent with propagation-care that I'm relieved to see that my just-topping-off-with-fresh-water-when-needed probably isn't hurting my props 😊

You could try propagating mint plants it grows pretty quickly. I took cuttings and put them in a jar and I could see roots growing by the next day. it's been 3 to 4 days now and the toots have grown a lot and there's new growths coming up as well

my monstera cutting only started to kick off it's growth when I stoped changing the water, one month in and her roots are growing nicely

Oh my goodness thank you for this video. The dozen sources which said to change water frequently, ideally every day, led me to change every 2-3 days and my pothos cuttings were rooting SO SLOWLY! I cannot believe how astray they led me.

I barely change my water with propagation. It messes with the rooting hormone that the plant makes itself. Unless it’s clearly nasty looking water I don’t change and even at that point I’ll drain some out and add fresh. There’s definitely something going on at a molecular level with the rooting system and not changing the water 💪🏾💪🏾 #teamletitbe

I’ve been having the browning issue with my roots and changing the water every 2-3 days. I’m definitely going to give this a try and see what happens!

Another banger! So totally a thing. I can’t get enough of these vids. I’d blame it on chlorine if it wasn’t well water. It’d be interesting to do the same with room temperature store-bought water from a jug.

This is very validating especially when you have memory issues!!

Wow such a clear difference in this case! I do change the water every 7-10 days, but only to prevent mosquito larvae - unfortunately that's a necessity.

The plant produces enzymes or hormones to grow roots. If you chance the water, you loose it all. (I actually use root hormones at an additive to kick start the whole procedure on big plant cuttings.)

I hope you see this comment even though the video is 2 years old.. I've heard that using an opaque container to water prop will help significantly because it mimics the dark environment roots activate under. I've tried it and it seemingly works for me... I've also noticed that when clear containers get an algae coating, that's when the roots start to explode on cuttings... so I believe it to be true. Not sure if you've had that experiment yet; I'll check; but it's a thought I wanted to put out there anyway.

Ohhhhhh I love this one!!!! And that comparison was insane!!! I heard you say that you want to do more tests.... I was thinking maybe if you filled a jug and left it out so it would be room temp before changing the water. But I am willing to bet that you already thought of this. 🤗 Thank you for another awesome video. XOXO

The video I was waiting for!! Stunned by the results

Wow. Good to know. I just crammed a bunch of long (rootless) Pothos cuttings in a jar of water, and plan to keep them in it.

So lovely to see your videos without an ad in the middle! Thank you for that 🙌🍀

Wow I wouldn’t have expected the difference to be that stark

It's very interesting but it's a bit contradictory to another video of you showing that rooting'pothos'hormones don't help plants to root (sorry for my english I'm French) New experiments to do 😉 I love your channel 👍

Bro... I love you. ❤️ you are legit my inspiration. I like the way you explain things and I just love how you are lighting the path that I want to take and although the destination may not be the same. I just want to say I love you for the spark you have given me.

I bet this is why monstera albo takes SOO long to root, because people say to change the water weekly, and the albo probably doesnt produce as much hormones.

I think that the plant juice gives the water more nutrients. You could test whether it is fertility or horomones by changing the water every day and adding either rooting hormone or fertilizer, depending on which one you are testing for.

Great video. I’ve noticed this too! Leaving it for at least two weeks seems to work for me. Maybe it’s the bacteria breaking down the decay so new roots can come theough

Hey man, great channel... I somehow just broke through the "highly intelligent" KZfaq algorithm to finally see your stuff... I should have been presented with this channel months ago but whatever. Keep up the great content & Subscribed! :)

There is also an inverse correlation between new root development and the volume of water. Root development correlation with water changes and with water volume has to do with hormone concentration being diluted by the water volume. Changing the water has the effect of increasing the volume the hormones are diluted by.

I’m so grateful for your dedication to experimenting with plants! It’s so helpful! Thank you!!

I saw on the Planterina channel that Amanda puts pothos cuttings alongside cuttings of other plants and that makes them root faster. My assumption is that the rooting hormones leach into the water, so it is better to keep the water and not change it too often. Possibly you will get slower rooting if you dipped them in larger water tanks.

Wow this made it so obvious that I shouldn't change water for propagation, and I saw a lot of people recommending to do that

I stopped changing the water in my propagations a few months ago when I learned this and I can tell a HUGE difference. The roots have just exploded! I just too off the water every 2-3 days and I use the spray nozzle on my kitchen sink to fill the water to get a bunch of air bubbles in the water as well lol.

I really think it's the condition for each person's water maybe different. Yet if the person is compelled to change the water they can do so. What was in the vessel or glass can also affect the experiment; a clean vessel vs a previously used container with debris/whatever.

I put my cuttings in my aquarium and cuz I change the water on that once a week and it always has alot of air in the water my plants roots grow faster than the ones on my window getting direct light

How interesting! I did not see that coming. Well, that saves a lot of work!

This is awesome! There're videos that say change watee and others that say don't. You actually presented proof! Thanks for that. It made sense to me that the growth hormone released by the nodes help with root growth, but also that oxygen levels in the water need replenishment so I was conflicted. I think daily or frequent water changes work best for seed germination. I could be wrong, haven't done an experiment

usually i don't change water, just keep with top up and never noticed any problems :)

I don’t change the water very often on my water props, just top the water off every week or so. I think it depends on someone’s climate and how much the water is evaporating 🤔 I will change the water and clean out the vessel when the water gets mucous-like. Have you done a video on well water and/or hard water affecting plants? Curious on what kind of experiment you would come up with. We moved into a house with a well/hard water 1.5 years ago and I would assume my houseplants would be pouting by now if they didn’t like the water.

I also think it depends on the plant. Plants in the onion family don't seem to like staying in the same water for too long.

I haven't changed my African violets water out of pure laziness, and I noticed it's growing much faster now ;) and I always add Pothos to my cutting jars too when I have them.

Given the plants did better without changing the water, does the amount of water have an effect? Like do you get a more concentrated amount of hormone being released into less water or does the more water you have dilute the hormone?

Thanks very much for your hard work. God bless America!!!

I think @thePlasticNerd is correct ! I never change water and after I put the cuttings in soil I use the water the cuttings were in to water the soil . Never fails.

Gardening in canada made a video on science of rooting hormone and why pothos in water speeds up other cuttings on developing roots.

This surprised me. I cant wait to see upcoming experiments. :)

The traditional concern here, (I had been lead to believe) is that constantly changing the water would wash away endogenous rooting hormone and/or micronutrients from the new root tips. Constantly exposing the root tips to high-purity water might also be inducing some kind of osmotic shock.

In conclusion: not changing the water is better for cuttings. Thanks for dedicating your time to do this

Amazing. Thank you for trying this experiment and sharing.

This is the most relevant channel I've found on KZfaq, keep it up! 👍🏻

I needed this video, thanks!

love seeing a new video from you! this one was super interesting too! I hardly change the water in mine, i just top off. and I thought I should be changing out. Now i see i can leave it be so long as im getting the results i want xD

@Techplant I'm the one who contacted you a while ago about the original Christmas Cactus that had the variegated leaves, or sections. I would like to see if I can get them to grow on their own. How would I remove some sections, just break them off at their sections, or cut through the middle of the sections? What medium to use? Rooting hormones? A video would be great!

A fascinating prospective descriptive crossover trial! The root hormone must be being washed away by the fresh water.

It would be so satisfyingly to see a speed up videos when filming the roots grow in the water

Whoa, this explains why mine where doing really good until I switched them to a giant vase, now they’re browning

That's awesome! I think the reason why the do better in unchanged water, is they enjoy stinky things like poop, fishy water... Etc 🤔

Yes I figured out this but I just love how you show it

my wild guess is this has something to do with like chlorine lvl in water (or something chemical from tap water) and it like neutralises after some time. (( only guess probably not true i know close to nothing bout plant and chemistry and i just like watching it :v))

Your experiments are great.

I think aeration with the same water never being changed would be best (just adding to it if it gets low). The plant is getting the rooting hormone and it's also continuing to get oxygen in the water. But if you don't aerate the water like a hardcore grower, definitely only change the water if it begins to get gross or mossy.3

I add water if it evaporates. I'm glad I didn't change it a whole lot for the pathos but I did for this really viney zig zaggy purple plant with purple leaves. I've finally got a little root growing but I won't do it again now that you did this experiment.

Thankyou soo much for the video sir.. it shows more dedication in your work.... But the video helped me alot

So helpful! Thank you

now I'm curious.....would aerating the water daily (with a pipette or something) but NOT changing the water make any difference? Obviously oxygen is important and I THOUGHT that was the reason for changing propagation water so often. So is it the less oxygen over time that increases roots or the algae/cloudiness? I have questions and apparently have my own experimenting to do.....

I remember hearing advice to water your plants with water that has sat out overnight. I think this was in reference to a Stromanthe or something similar because of sensitivity to minerals in the water. I am not sure if this would even apply to you since you mentioned you have well water. Do you think the minerals dissipating over time has an effect on root growth? Great video!

I grew mint cuttings. Didn't change the water at all and got good roots. After few weeks I decided to plant the mint. So, changing the water wasn't necessary.

Very interesting. I wonder if there is *that* big of a difference from my water (city water) and yours. Perhaps the fluoride or chloramines are stunting the growth of my roots? I'm trying to prop some satin pothos and the roots just won't grow. Bright, dappled sunlight in the morning and medium indirect light the rest of the day. Changing water once a week, topping off when I see the water drop below the nodes.

I think it's important to mention that you need a small amount of water if you want to change it rarely. So your vessel should be small, if possible, shallow. That way your cutting gets more oxygen. Personality, I'm never doing a water prop again since they always rot for me. The last straw was when my monstera albo cutting rotted. I feel that I followed all instructions, but there needs to be said more about oxygen, which is what I believe killed it. If you have a lot of water, oxygen will leave it soon, and it will take longer for the root hormones to accumulate in that water. Essentially you will suffocate it before it has a chance to create strong root aystem. I should have changed water often and that problem would have been avoided, as there would be fresh supply of oxygen and no bacteria/fungus buildup. But it would have taken ages. It's also possible to use aquarium air pump, but it's all additional costs. I'll be propping only in perlite, sphagnum moss or soil from now on. Personally I don't recommend water propping for any precious cuttings.

thank you. This was realllllly helpful

Maybe chlorine? It evaporates after some time. Maybe now make an experiment with changing daily boiled water vs bottoled vs not boiled :D

I love your videos and your experiments! Thank you so much!

I suspect you have discovered auxin. The effect of auxin is concentration dependent. This implies you would get different results with different volumes of water. It also implies that you might get same/similar effect changing the water everyday with water that has aspirin dissolved in it, something like 100 mg/L, from top of my head.

Interesting experiment.

A better method would be to pour the water in the no-water-changes plant into a diff container then pour it back, cause there are multiple new variables within the variable of frequency of water changes

Your videos are always outstanding 👏🏽👍🏾🤓🤯😎🥰

I never CHANGE my water. I just top it off when it needs it. I also do it in a way that it's oxygenating the water.

I’ve always wanted to find this out but if having your propagations more spaced out/having more space vs having them in a smaller/less spaced out would help them grow more?

Great experiment and video

Appreciate the shirt and video as always

Great video. Next you should water with activated charcoal & water vs water propagation.

Bro your the man love your work

Good video. Well done, and thank you.

Wow. Good to know. Thanks for the experiment!

you are the best 💚

As always really great experiment!! Good to know!!

What great experiments