Sure it is. Many millions of plants were propagated from cuttings before rooting hormones came into existence. The three keys to success are: proper timing in taking the cuttings, a suitable rooting medium, and a means of maintaining 100% humidity around the cuttings until rooting has taken place. Old time propagators used sand, mixtures of peat and sand, or anything else that held moisture but had lots of air space. Containers with good drainage, a glass cover- later a poly plastic one - to maintain humidity and a lifetime's experience to know when to take the cuttings.

Depends on the plant. Yes if the plant is a willow, Jade Plant, or Eastern Prickley Pear. Some plants make enough natural hormones, others need artificial hormones to make them do something they don't do in nature.

People have been growing from cuttings for millennia. Hundreds more plants than just those listed by edlincoln can be rooted perfectly well without hormones.

What plants do you want to propagate?

the most important thing in a lot of commonly available rooting goos.. is a fungicide.. so the darn thing doesnt rot before it might root ...

which would then suggest .. go all hospital clean if you want to try ... bleach out pots.. sterilize the media ... etc ...

ken

At a university I was taking a propagation lab and I found in my student experiments that the fungicide was the most useful ingredient in the popular retail rooting compound at the time [Rootone in the red screw top jar.]