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Re: cuttings

** Reply to note from WWBANKSTON@aol.com Fri, 15 Aug 1997 20:34:31 -0400 (EDT)
>   
> Hello I am new on the list. A friend of mine gave me 4 cuttlings of
> her beautiful pale pink climbing rose, and I have once before started
> them in the ground with a glass jar over them for a year, and out of
> 15 cuttings 1 took root, I do not know what I did to get this to start
> rooting. Can you help advise me as how to go about this, I recieved
> the cuttings today and have them in water untill planting,, thank you
> Catherine

Wrap them in a damp paper towl, put them in a ziplock bag and put the
whole in the fridge then follow these instructions:
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                    The Rose Rustler's Tool Kit

    Rose rustling is great fun!  Whether admired in a bouquet, a
friend's garden, or found on a Sunday drive, knowing that you can
clone the rose that takes your fancy expands your love of your
rose growing hobby. Hardwood rooting is a classic amateur method
of propagation, but is available only in the winter when you
can't see most roses bloom.  Grafting requires ready root stock
and is mostly suited to professionals and experienced amateurs.
Softwood rooting is available when you see the rose blooming. 
    Though only 2 1/2 years into the rose hobby, I have had
extremely good fortune in turning softwood cuttings into growing
bushes planted in gardens. In the last year I've started 100s
cuttings with near 100% success with cuttings that meet the
specifications I'm giving you and good success with less select
cuttings.
    Remember that all roses started out as seedlings on their own
roots so grafting is not essential to their growth.  Old Garden
Roses, English Roses, shrubs, and miniatures are generally good
candidates for rooting cuttings because most grow vigorously on
their own roots.  Most modern roses such as Hybrid Teas and
Floribundas are sold budded on to different rootstock. Most grow
well on their own roots; a few do not.  A few varieties, old
(such as Spinosissimas and some other roses with dense prickles
- near impossible) and a few modern roses are very hard to
propagate and may take many tries to gain success. 
     Please remember that asexual reproduction of roses still under 
patent protection  (now 20 years) is illegal, especially if for sale.
    This technique stresses three goals - Simplicity, successful rooting 
of your softwood cuttings, and ease of transfer of the rooted cutting 
to your garden.                                                 

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES:

    *   A very bright interior window ledge or table in front of
        the window with no direct sun.   I am having success
        outside under a covered, shaded deck in our warmer
        climate (overnight temperature above 45 degrees).
    *   One gallon ZipLock type storage bag(s).
    *   Bypass shears.
    *   A very sharp pocket, paring, or budding knife, preferably
        not stainless steel.
    *   1 gallon or more container of water.
    *   Sterile potting soil.  For bags, you want a mixture that
        holds together well when damp.  Ingrediats should be of
        fairly fine texture.  In California, Supersoil works
        especially well. 
    *   Spray bottle of about 16 oz. capacity.  Put in 1/8
        teaspoon Miracle Gro for Roses, K-Mart's cheaper clone or
        Peter's 20-20-20, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda to prevent
        fungus and mildew, and a few drops of dishwashing liquid
        to make it cling.  Fill with water. The mix should suds a
        little when shaken.  If not, add more dishwashing liquid.
        If you make a gallon, use a teaspoon each of fertilizer
        and baking soda.
    *   Rooting powder or liquid.  Useful, but not essential.
    *   A garden marking pen and labels.  Home Depot sells a
        small kit of 40 labels and the right kind of marking pen. 
    *   Notebook and pen with waterproof ink.
    *   10" wooden skewers of the type used for shish ke-bab.
    *   1-gallon plastic planting pots.  You know; those black things!
    *   14" saucers.  Cheap, plastic terracotta color ones from
        Home Depot work fine.
    *   Patience!

SELECTING THE CUTTING:

    The ideal in order of priority:
    1.  A stem with a flower, spent if possible.  A flower bud
        with no color showing is too young.
    2.  Include five - 5 leaflet leaves on the stem. 4 leaves are
        acceptable.  Note.  For this and the remainder of this
        article, "5 leaflet leaves" includes cultivars that have
        7 or more leaflet leaves.
    3.  A heel at the bottom. This is the place where a branching
        cane grows out of a main cane.  Cut right up against the
        main cane.
    4.  Soft, flexible wood, 1/4" in diameter or less.
    5.  Disease/virus free.
 
   Nature doesn't always give you the ideal and all of the above
guidelines can be broken if necessary, but try for the ideal.
Keep the cutting damp until ready to use.  Wrap loosely with a
wet paper towel and put in a plastic bag. Keep cool. Refrigerate,
if possible.  Use within a week .

PREPARING THE BAG:

    *   Write the rose name or found location and date on a new
        baggie with the gardening pen.  Note all known information
        about the rose with date in your notebook.  If you are
        more diligent than I, you  can keep notes on your
        cuttings' progress to learn for future  propagation
        efforts.
    *   Fold the zipper part down a couple of inches to keep the
        zip groves clean.  Put 3 cups  of potting mix into the
        bag.  No more.
    *   Pour a scant cup of water into the bag.  Grab the bag
        above the potting soil and knead the water into the soil.
        While doing  this, tuck the bottom corners of the bag in
        as far as they will go easily. The mass should look like
        a ball.  When thoroughly mixed, test for enough water.
            -   If water leaks out when the bag is inverted, and
                squeezed,  it is too wet. Squeeze out the excess
                water.
            -   Put the bag top upon a flat surface.  Press the
                top of the soil down to form a 1+" deep, round
                pancake. Stick a  finger into the soil in the
                middle.  If the soil breaks apart, you need to
                add water and recheck.
    *   Set aside on a flat surface.

PREPARE AND INSERT THE CUTTING:

    Snip off the stem 1/2" above the top-most 5-leaflet leaf.
Strip off the bottom leaves, leaving one large or two regular
5-leaflet leaves (they are required to produce a hormone during
rooting and to start growth once the cutting is rooted). 
    If the cutting does not terminate in a heel, locate the
lowest bud eye on the cutting--make a cut straight across 1/4 of
an inch just below the lowest bud eye (the "bud eye" is the
swelling right above the junction of the leaf with the cane.)
Here are several guidelines for unusual cases:
    *   Lateral stems with mature leaves off the main cutting
        cane.  Cut (don't try to break) these off very close to
        the cane.  The bud eye they came from can still produce
        more breaks. 
    *   Broken lateral buds with immature leaves on the upper
        part of the cutting.  Leave the highest one alone.  It
        will grow.  Carefully cut off any others with your
        shears.
    *   Very small leaves at the top.  Leave 3 leaves.
    Break off the thorns on the bottom inch of the cane being
careful not to disturb any minute buds. Note that there are many
tiny buds above a heel.  Carve 2 or 3 shallow cuts through the
bark from 1/2 - 3/4" above the bottom of the cutting to the end of
the cutting.   Avoid cutting any bud eyes.  THe cutting will form
a whitish callus along these scores and along the cut end of the
cane.  This is where roots emerge.
    Dip the bottom inch of the cutting in water and then rooting
compound and knock off any excess. Place the cutting in the hole
you made with your finger with the leaves running the same way as
the zip grooves at the top of the bag.  Press the potting soil
around the cutting.  It is best if the cane is slanted from one
side of the bag toward the other.  Be careful in this process to
avoid letting thorns puncture a hole in the bag.  If this
happens, use another bag.
    Unfold the top of the bag to be ready to close it. Spray the
inside generously with the spray bottle you prepared.  If any
foreign material got on the zip groves, wash it off with the
sprayer.  Close the bag from one side to the other leaving an
inch unclosed.  Be sure you do not catch leaflets in the zip
grooves. Breathe into the bag to expand it like a balloon and zip
it up completely. Put the baggie  in bright, indirect light
preferably inside. Direct sun will scorch and kill the cuttings.
    From now on, handle the bag from the top.  Set it down only
on a hard, flat surface (not your knee.) The idea is minimum
displacement of the cane and new roots.
    Note:  While not recommended, it is possible to root 2 or 3
cuttings in a single bag if you are pressed for space.  Sorting
out roots during potting or later planting will be a potential
source for loss.  I have found that with 4 or more cuttings some
usually die.

WATCH IT GROW:

    Now comes the fun!  Roses are very individual.  They all
perform differently.  New growth may appear in 8 days ('The
Fairy') or it may take over 3 months ('Belinda' with a hard
cane.) Some will form a lot of roots without breaking a bud; some
will become tiny bushes in the bag with no visible roots for some
time.
    Most of the care needed is an occasional bag reinflation. The
bag provides the complete humid environment the cuttings need - a
mini greenhouse. Don't worry if some of the original leaves turn
yellow and drop so long as the cane is green.  Remove the dead
leaflets and any mushrooms or fungus.  If the soil cracks at the
cane, gently move soil into the crack and firm it in place. Give
the inside of the bag several shots out of your spray bottle
before reinflating the bag. 
    Some of these dummies think they should bloom in the bag!!!!
Watch carefully for buds and nip them immediately.  If you don't,
you may lose the rose or set it back months.
    As long as the cutting cane is green, any of the original
leaflets or new growth is still alive, or roots are apparent and
vital, your rose is alive. Don't despair!

HARDENING:

    When to open the bag?  This is the tough one.  Here are some
conditions that should work:
    *   Roots show on the bottom of the bag and you have 2 or 3
        five leaflet leaves of new growth.
    *   You can't see roots, but new top growth has approached
        the top of the bag and is not spindly or growth lower on
        the cutting looks mature.
    *   There are strong roots on the bottom of the bag for
        several weeks and a bud eye has swollen but not broken.
    Opening the bag to harden the plant is the most critical time
in the process.  If you lose the rose, it will probably be at
this point. Be sure that you have time to care for the rose on
the day you open the bag and the day after.  It doesn't hurt to
put off the "coming out" until you have time. Patience!!!
    Open the bag for about one inch for about 3 hours the first
day. Use a skewer stuck through the opening and into the soil to
hold the bag vertical.  Check the rose every hour. If the new
growth droops or the leaflet edges brown, close and blow up the
bag, wait a few days and try again. If the rose is unaffected by
the opening, close the bag after the 3 hours. The next day,
double the opening period and the size of the opening.  Keep
watching carefully.  Keep up these increases each day until the
bag is completely open.  Backup a step if the rose can't take it.
After the bag has been completely open a day, fold down the zip
part.  Keep in place another 4 days.  Give it a shot with the
sprayer every day.

POTTING AND PLANTING YOUR TREASURE:

    Now you will see the reason for the way I told you to tuck in
the bag corners.  If possible, do this on a plastic/newspaper
covered table outside.  Put a layer of peat moss or 5" square
piece of nylon net in the bottom of your 1-gallon plastic pot to
keep the potting mix from leaking out the drain holes. Fill the
pot one-half full with potting mix.  The potting mix need not be
the type you used in the bags.  Place the pot in a saucer   and
wet the soil until it runs into the saucer. Indent the soil in
the middle.
    Here's the hard part.  Holding the bag over the pot, slip
your hand into the bag under the potting soil centered under the
plant. Slide the bag from under the soil mass and your hand while
keeping the potting soil root ball as intact as possible. Slowly
work the root ball and the plant into the pot with the stem
centered and at the same angle it was in the bag.  Some potting
soil will break off, but don't worry.  Once the mass is into the
pot, add the soil that broke off and gently firm it into place
maximizing the plant position without significant root
displacement.  Make a tag with the info from the bag. Stick the
skewer in the side of the pot and hang the tag on it. Later, when
you have a solid cane, you may place the tag there, but don't
block buds.
    Return the potted rose in its saucer to the same location you
had it while in the bag.  Keep water in the saucer to a level
where some air can enter the top of the pot drain holes. This
keeps the potting soil "sweet."  Leave it there about 4 days.
Your eyes will tell you when it is happy enough to move.  If your
weather permits, 50's nights or above, move it outside. Start in
a bright, dappled, shaded location with a little morning sun and
slowly move it during a week or two into full sun.  Depending on
your climate (I'm in USDA zone 9b, Sunset 17), you may need to
move it inside at night for a while (I don't).  Your eyes should
be the judge of how strong the rose is and how fast it can
progress.  It ain't rocket science, just judgment and, Hey!
patience.  If you have a lot of gallon pots with cuttings, an old
plastic garbage can lid can be a saucer to seven.
    After a week or so of success in full sun, continued growth,
and given warm weather, plant it in the ground or large container
as you would any other potted rose giving regard to the variety,
vigor, and its requirements for space and sunlight. Always plant
it or place it in a larger container if roots show at the drain
holes.
    Through all this and for the first month in the garden, make
sure it gets water every morning.  All of this timing depends on
watching the rose.  Proceed if the rose is growing and gaining
strength, back off if it droops or the leaves brown.  And, just
like teenagers, some try to flower too soon!  Pinch off buds
until you have a good strong plant, at least 3 months.  (You may
cheat and save one bud to see the first bloom!) 
    Fertilize with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer or fish
emulsion at least every other week.  I've also found that misting
each morning with the fertilizer/baking soda mix definately
promotes healthy growth. Stop fertilizing at the beginning of
September in cold country; later in warmer climes. Provide extra
protection the first winter.
     Repeat-blooming roses will usually put forth a first bloom
in about 8 weeks.  Old Garden Roses and once blooming shrubs
won't bloom until the second year because they bloom on old wood.

     Growing roses from cuttings is not hard. Both the process
and the results are fascinating and the roses you grow are
somehow more yours to enjoy.
     This paper expands on instructions contained in the Rose FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) available on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ars.org. and help on the the Internet newsgroup
"rec.gardens.roses" where you can find rosarians like Sam
McGredy, Brent Dickerson, Cheryl Netter, and Bob Miller.  I also
acknowledge my debts  to rosarian friends Tom Liggett, Michael
Tworek, and Lorrie Freeman who provided added details and
insight.  These instructions are  tailored  to our area (USDA
zone 9, Sunset 15, 16 and 17)

MelHulse@Netcom.com
June 7, 1997

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Regards,

    Mel
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