the reason you need or should use rockwell is because if you use soil right from the jump, youll remove the clonex with the first watering...with rockwell...the stem is snug inside the rockwool and will keep the clonex there for a while...imo...hey...works for me with 100% success rate...and you can have as many leaves as you want on a clone...but the more leaves...the longer it will take to root...mine start to pop roots in about 14 days or so...works everytime!