I might try this product when planting trees. It seems like adding a little of this $3 product to roots might be worth the $.

https://www.paintcreeknursery.com/other-products.aspx

Been using it for quite some time. It works! I hand plant a couple hundred trees every spring. So far this spring we have wetter conditions. April 23 our trees come in. Sandy upland soils dry up quick. I buy more gel than needed, mix a thin batch to put in my carry bucket, that bucket hold seedlings I am planting right then. This keeps roots wet while my slow picky self gets every tree planted right....Trees not in the bucket for immediate planting are in a cooler under wet burlap. I have a milk jug cut out with gel in it, I spud or dig hole, pull seedling from big bucket, dip roots into gel then using a paint stir stick slip into the ground. The stick is used to uncurl roots to bottom of hole. Don't mix it too thick....The stick can be used to stir roots in gel also, it's so thick dipped roots sit on top of gel. My trees come from our soil conservation district, they also sell the gel packets along with fertilizer pellets for the fruit and larger trees. Tip, I been using my "Dirt hole auger" on a cordless drill more and more for the seedlings.

Probably planted around 40,000 grape roots when I was younger and we always used root gel. Learned to wear a good waterproof apron when riding on the planter putting gelled roots between your legs or you had big problems down there the next day lol

I’ve used root gel a lot, really helps with survival of newly planted trees. The coal company I worked for used it extensively with reclamation plantings.

I guy on the tree planting crew gave me this warning….don’t ever inhale any of the dust when mixing up root gel. If the powder makes it into your lungs, it’ll make the same gel and swell. Big trouble there.

I wasn't aware of that.

I mixed up some root gel tonight for the first time. It went well but I haven't used it yet. I may try it tomorrow because I have to plant some white spruce. I wish I would have tried it earlier this year on some of the trees I planted as my survival rate would probably be higher. I wonder if this is what the state forest uses. They don't water their trees and they seem to have a high success rate. I assume it will stay good in the pail until next year as long as I keep it sealed

Thanks. That makes sense. I heeded your advice & wore a mask & mixed it outside carefully.

1 package just did the 50 four year old white spruce I planted earlier this month.

Add It to your fox or coyote urine and It will last forever at the set. And a little goes a long ways.

Hmm. Interesting. I might try that at a bobcat set too

I drew a bobcat tag but am not sure if I will try Beav's trick. I do have some root gel left. By the way, I am happy with how the root gel worked on my tree seedlings this year. Going forward, I will be using root gel on all bare root trees.

Grew up on a wholesale nursery. In addition to a hundred acres of "field stock" (ornamental shrubs in the ground) we also produced "liners" for other wholesale nurseries. Liners are rooted cuttings that are 1 year old. Picture a 6" long stick with a giant bundle of roots on one end. Other nurseries would purchase these to put in the field for 2-3 years until they were ready to go to the retailer. I don't know how many we did but it was millions of "liners".

We used rooting compound on almost all varieties. There were a few that rooted so easily we didn't need to use it. We used a powder, not a gel. Same stuff, less mess.

We plant in late March through early April. Never knowing if you're going to have a wet spring and summer or dry............every tree we've planted for the last 40+ years has had root gel. It's very cheap insurance.

From whats been posted here, I don't think The gel and rooting hormone powder are the same thing. I've used the powder to establish roots for years, with mixed results. It sounds like the gel protects the roots and keeps them from drying out as bad, am I wrong? I have never used the gel or seen it advertised.

You're correct. The gel they're speaking of looks like the granules you can buy at big box stores to soak up plumbing spills. I've gotten it on bare roots seedlings.

It's not rooting compound.

Thanks for the reply, warrior.

Beautiful Pictures

I've been thinking about this all afternoon, and want to ask what good the gel does on a wet year? I have very heavy clay soil where I live, and have trouble with root rot at times. Have lost quite a few fruit trees and some ornamentals to it when we have a wet spell after planting. I can see where the gel could help to keep them from drying out, but does it have some properties that I'm not getting about helping through wet times? I am basing this off of Struts reply above!

AJE nothing as per root gel comes up on the link, or in other products?

Thank you.

We take a certain extra amount of pride in the quality of trees we produce. The scenery in the background ain't too hard to look at most days, either.

I started planting trees tonight for the year and I opened up my container of root gel from last year. It's no longer gel, it's liquid. I used it anyway, figuring it's better than nothing. I was kind of wondering if it would remain intact from last year. I got good use out of it. I used most of the container up last year. It sure was interesting planting trees in the snow tonight. I've never had snow during tree planting season before. It was nice.