MB's Tips on Rooting Roses from Cuttings

This is a concise guide to rooting rose cuttings at home, using a simple process and readily available materials.

The first step is taking cuttings, followed by preparing and sticking the cuttings.

The third and most important step of the rooting process is monitoring the moisture in the rooting medium: Too wet and your cuttings will rot. Too dry and your cuttings will die.

For those who want more information on propagating, the American Rose Society web site offers a number of excellent, in-depth articles. I especially recommend Malcolm Manners article, Roses From Cuttings.

For information and photographs on building a rose rooting setup with mist box and growlights, check out this article by rose hybridizer George Mander.

Taking Cuttings

1. Select young stems on which the bloom is fading or the petals have fallen, or in the case of once-blooming varieties the stem needs to be young, yet mature enough for the plant tissue to be slightly hardened. Cuttings made from stems that are too young will rot.

2. When taking cuttings off a bush, cut stems that are at least 12 to 15 inches in length. This gives you enough stem to make at least one and possibly two prepared cuttings. Do not remove leaves.

You may not be able to take long stem cuttings from some roses such as minis and OGRs. In that case, try to cut stems at the point where they join the larger cane.

3. Keep your cuttings moist. Put them in a bucket of water or wrap the base of the stems in wet paper and put the bundle in a plastic bag. Keep them cool. Don't set them in the sun.

4. When you get home, put your cuttings in a bucket of water. Optional: add a shot of seaweed to the water. About 1 ounce seaweed per gallon of water is fine.

Preparing Cuttings for Sticking

1. Do not let your cuttings dry out!

2. Eight to 10 inches is a good finished length for a cutting. Clip the tip off the stem, leave 2-3 sets of leaves.

3. Roses are not too picky about where the stem is cut. You can make a cut just below a bud and leaf node, or you can cut through a smooth area of the stem.

4. Wound the base of the cutting by making two shallow vertical slits 1/2 to 1 inch long.

Rooting Hormones -- To Dip or Not to Dip

1. Most roses will root without it, but using a rooting hormone -- such as Dip-n-Gro, Rootone, Hormonex II, among others -- increases the percentage of cuttings that will root.

Sticking the Cuttings

1. Fill a 1-gallon pot half full of potting soil. Use a potting soil that drains quickly. Moisten the soil. The soil needs to be damp, but not soggy wet. Wet soil leads to rotted cuttings.

2. Stick the cuttings in the soil about 2 inches deep and firm the soil around the cuttings. You may stick more than one stem per pot. A one-gallon pot will hold up to 20 stems.

3. Be sure to label the cuttings, especially if you put more than one variety of cutting in the pot. Use a permanent marker to write the name of the rose. A piece of duct tape or a strip of plastic tape makes a handy and inexpensive label. I also like to write the name of the cutting on a strip of duct tape and stick it to the side of the pot.

4. Place a sawed-off 2-liter Coke bottle with the cap removed over the cuttings. This creates a mini greenhouse for the cuttings.

5. Set the pot in a spot that is bright, but that does not receive direct sun. Bright light helps the cuttings root quickly, but direct sun will roast them.

6. Check the moisture level in the potting soil every day. You want the soil to be damp, not too wet and not too dry.

7. Once a week, tug on your cuttings. A rooted cutting will resist. If the cutting doesn't resist, go ahead and pull it out of the soil. You want to see if the cutting is still healthy. If it has rotted, fling it out. It's a good sign if the stem has formed tiny white bumps on the end. This means the cutting has calloused and will soon develop roots. Restick this cutting!

8. If you keep your cuttings outdoors, they usually root within a month in spring and fall. They take longer in winter. Our summers are usually too hot to root rose cuttings.

Care of Rooted Cuttings

1. Be gentle with newly rooted cuttings. Keep the bottle in place for a week, then tip the bottle for a week to allow more air circulation. Remove the bottle and let the cutting harden for a week by setting the pot in bright shade. Direct hot sun is the kiss of death.

2. Wait 4-6 weeks to put your cutting in a larger pot or to use it for budding or grafting. This gives the cutting time to develop more roots and toughen up.

3. Your baby rose will probably bloom within a few months. Still, plan on keeping your rooted baby rose in a pot for 1 to 2 years, depending upon the vigor and growth of the rose. This gives it time to develop a good root system and grow large enough to survive in the ground.