rooting hormone

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if I already have a plant cutting in the soil, can I sprinkle a little rooting hormone on the soil to encourage the roots to grow to take hold in the soil to take up nutrients or maybe mix a little in the next watering?

Waste of time, it will just go mouldy and maybe harm the plant causing it to "damp-off". Hormone rooting powder is best applied to bare cut stems before planting them. Many plants root quite well without the rooting powder anyway.
Just take care not to overwater, but to keep the soil just moist. Covering with a polythene bag can help rooting by retaining moisture, but it should be removed daily to let fresh air in.
A lot depends on what plant you are actually trying to grow from a cutting.

spider plant, christmas tree cactus

Spider plants and Christmas cactus do not need hormone rooting compound anyway. They root very easily. Keep both in a well lit position and keep the soil moist. Don't use the polythene bag for these. The biggest danger is with the Christmas cactus these tend to rot fairly easy so don't overwater.

Hopefully the spider plant cutting you potted would have had a few bare stubby roots on it anyway. This will root very easily.

The Christmas cactus plants sometimes put out fine roots at the leaf nodes (joins) and provided you have buried a leaf node it will root from there, but may take a little longer than the spider plant.

My mother tells me you can use honey instead of rooting powder.