Hormone rooting powders/gels will speed up the process, but are not essential and a softwood cutting, in a good gritty compost, will root in two to three weeks if taken in early summer.
Always use Hormone Rooting Powder; it contains fungicides and greatly increases rooting rates.
Take as many cuttings as you can fit in a pot but do not allow leaves to touch each other.
Also, I was told to simply "dip it in rooting powder and stick it in some soil". Well, I understand the rooting powder part but what types of soils will work best for getting these cuttings to root? And where can I find these different components?
Softwood: Take stem tip cutting in summer, use semi-hardwood cutting a rooting powder improves rooting. Rooting time 4-8 weeks.
Hardwood: Take hard wood cutting in winter use 6-8 inch cuttings.
I prepared a tray with a mixture of grit and sand and peat. The damaged bark was dusted in hormone rooting powder. The tree was then laid sideways and secured down in the tray still with the original root ball attached.
Make sure that the plant you are going to use for cuttings is in good condition, free from disease and pests and has been watered a few hours beforehand. Soft-tip cuttings are the best, it is not necessary to use hormone rooting powder.
Thick cuts can be either preserved with cut-paste or preferably dusted with hormone-rooting powder as it normally also contains a fungicide that will help prevent infection to the root.
 See also: Bonsai, Pot, Compost, Plant, Species
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