I have never boiled it, but i have used water that i rooted willows in to root other plants. I read a study many years ago which showed that cuttings treated with both willow water and rooting hormone rooted better than either used by itself, and so i used that method and had good luck with it mycellf. I've know a good number of other people to use willow water for rooting. Everybody i've know has used water that willow had soaked in, with no boiling water involved.

Rootone would work. They used to use 5-IAA(5-indole acetic acid) for help in rooting. There's an alternative out there. An old hippie alternative was to urinate in a cup and dip the cuttings in them and it speeds the formation of roots. Kind of "gross", but it works.

Willow is really amazing. I use the newer growth of the willow in a blender full of water and either water my transplants with the conconction or stick my cuttings straight in the water. Any willow species will work. I don't see any need to boil if you blend the roots up enough. you will see the chemical reaction in the water. It gets all foamy and fizzyy. Rooting hormones should really be avoided. Thanks for looking for an alternative. I accidentally bought some rooting hormone thinking it was organic, natural, etc. and when I called the company to request a complete list of there ingredients they told me they couldn't give me that information. Good luck.