normal buds might sit for a month before growing. or more. since citrus grows in flushes you might need to wait for the next one before these buds will grow. depends on growing conditions, e.g. mine start another flush approx in 6-8 weeks. also i would pinch off the tips with like an inch of top stem on all branches - i actually pinch more, may be half the new growth, to shape the tree. but i am not concerned with fruit at this stage. but a couple of new leaves will do. this will encourage all side buds to grow, including the new ones. normally with good water/fertilizer there are water sprouts from the main trunk occurring anyway even without pinching. mine produces a fair amount of those since i prune for shape often. i don't remove them, i push them gently to desired angle when they are very young and bendable. and then hook them up with wire clips in position, then prune/branch. i have some dormant buds that developed on 1yr seedling avocado on main trunk very low (3-4 inches) - but they just sit there doing nothing for 4 months. you can also trim off that top growth that is bending sideways. i ordered keikigrow too. and sprayed all my trunks with kelp solution as for reg foliar feed AND watered it in too. seems kelp has a lot of grow factors too.

The most efficient all round rooting preparation is IBA at 4,000 parts per million in 50% alcohol. The gels like clonex are ok in the short term but once opened being water based, will support the growth of bacterial 'blobs' which soon break down the active component. Also light, either sunlight or artificial light will render IBA ineffective in a very short time & is much more critical than temperature. So store your rooting preparations completely dark at room temperature & only dispense a small amount to use, also discard it after use & never return it to the main container as it will rapidly lose its effectiveness due to being contaminated. You can buy such preparations over the counter but it is much more economical & reliable to make your own & is relatively inexpensive especially if several friends share the cost. So to make it up you buy IBA ....Indole-3-butyric acid from a chemical supply house. Mix one gram in 125ml of alcohol, the denatured alcohol used in the household will do (so long as it is only ethanol & contains no methanol) & when completely dissolved add 125ml of clean pure water & you have 250ml of 4,000 ppm in 50% alcohol rooting mixture. This can be used to treat hardwood cuttings, softwood cuttings, air layers etc. There's generally no need to dilute the mixture, you just adjust the length of time you dip the cuttings depending on the 'softness' of the cutting material & the required stimulation. I have been using this mixture for almost 40 yrs & have had only excellent results. The standard test to see if your hormone mixture is working is to cut some tomato leaves.....yes just whole leaves cut near the stem, dip them for 5 seconds & plant as cuttings either in mist/fog or under a plastic bag. At the same time plant a similar number of untreated whole tomato leaves & wonder at the difference! Tomato are particularly sensitive to these rooting preparations & the leaf will be a mass of roots within a couple of weeks if your mixture is active. Of course the tomato leaf will never throw a shoot & will just remain a leaf with roots though sometimes they will live for months & thicken up & show every sign of growing but without buds never can! & yes try never to get any of these materials on your skin or breathe in the vapor as they are highly bio active, easily absorbed & may affect living cells both of plants & animals. Just another point gleaned from a lifetime of plant propagation: when treating most cuttings (maybe except very soft material) plant them in moist medium & mist the leaves if they are softwood cuttings but don't water in until the following day. If you water in the freshly treated cuttings immediately you will be diluting the hormone on the stems & reducing its effectiveness. With hardwood cuttings of course it isn't necessary to mist them as one day before watering in wont matter if the medium is moist.

Hi! This may be too late to post, but just in case you're still curious... I had the same question and learned the answer from a reliable soure (University of Washington). They claim that the talc version of the r/h has an 8 month shelf life, even if refrigerated (which I'm assuming extends it to the max). See link below if you want to read it (PDF) It's on page 5: Beware! It's a PDF file so if you have acrobat reader it may load deadly slow...try getting the firefox free software 'foxit' to open PDF. It's free and about 200 times faster. You can find it on the Mozilla home page. Cheers! Gonzo Here is a link that might be useful: University of Washington info on rooting 'hormone'

Willow water helps plants root because willow naturally roots very easily. This was trimmed a few weeks ago. Willow trimmings in willow water for a few weeks. Next, I put them in a pot and kept the cuttings moist for weeks (Watering once daily and/or misting them a few times a day) New growth on nearly every one. Willow water is a naturally occurring organic rooting hormone made by extracting the active element that causes willow to root easily into the water. Water your plants with this to increase likelihood of rooting. Refrigerate if you aren't going to use immediately. It isn't a fail safe 100% method for rooting difficult cuttings, but it can increase the odds and it doesn't have to rely on man made chemical to do so. I have not used this method for citrus cuttings, but I personally think it will help. I put cuttings in a zip up bag with a very small amount of willow water (too much will cause rot). I hang the bag up in a window that gets some sun, changing the water every week or so. When the cuttings either have white spots/roots or the bottom of the bark is swelling, I plant them in a pot buds facing up. I have tons of willows in my area if you need some materials, message me!