To my eye you are over doing it, but the bigger problem is that you don't appear to be cutting immediately below a node. Trim your cuttings such that one is right at the bottom. Slice through the tip of the bud at that node (if you can get to it), then lightly scrape the bottom inch or so of the stem on two sides 90 degrees from the bud.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "the area of the basal," but you do want to wound the sides of that bottom node. That's where you're most likely to get roots.

Ok I got the terms mixed up basal= node. But I did read you don't strip off the node or cut into it, so I have always left a gap there. So the scraping of the section between the nodes is not necessary? Do you cut off the node completely? Pictures of this process would be great. I know once I get closer to 100% sucess than 30% I will be plastering what I did to get my succcess. Pictures anyone?

It's not making sense by what you mean by: then lightly scrape the bottom inch or so of the stem on two sides 90 degrees from the bud.

Are you scraping the length of the stem like in my pics or around the circumference of the stem itself? How do you guage 90 degrees from the node? The node hits 2 axises...

I'll try to get some photos up for you tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks Roseyone

Here you go, pkapeckopickldpepprz.

Hi Rosyone. The first picture is what I am assuming you have done in your picture #2, basically fileting the top layer of cane up to and slightly underneath the bud itself. Honestly I've never heard of this being done on every method from George Manners and others. Which is why as I said before pictures are the best illustration to doing something like this as I have probably been doing it wrong for months, just based on not getting the explanation down to actual procedure.

This next one is the procedure I have read is what you want to do. I mentioned 2 slits in my other post and that's basically my own modification to the recommended 1 slit in the bottom. I guess either way might work, but my purpose is to find the best way to prep cuttings for success. Thanks.

When you say slice through the bud, I don't see any cut to the bud in pic 2.

The green on green plus the tiny size of the bud may make it hard to see, but the cut is there.

Are you cutting a sliver (like you are fileting the cane) under but up to the bud? Either that or maybe you are trying to say what I have seen before (but question if it would help with rooting) is cutting 2 slits about 1/2" in length on the bottom of the cane?

No, "slice through the bud" means exactly what it says. (Borrowed your pic. Hope you don't mind.)

I mentioned 2 slits in my other post and that's basically my own modification to the recommended 1 slit in the bottom. I guess either way might work, but my purpose is to find the best way to prep cuttings for success.

I don't cut any slits in the bottom. I know some people do, but I've never found it to be necessary.

Also since you mentioned it is important to cut immediately under a node, it doesn't look like you scraped under the node, only on the 2 sides of the cane...

Exactly right. I cut below a node, then scrape all the way to the end of the stem on the sides only.

...maybe I can't see the scraping since you didn't go down to the white wood only the superficial green fibers.

I scrape through the bark to expose the cambium, which is where the incompletely differentiated cells that know how to generate callus and roots are found. Think of them as plant stem cells. Scraping all the way down to the mature white wood is counterproductive. Wood wants to remain wood, and if you expose more of it than the remaining cambium can scab over, it's likely to become rotten wood.

Ah, so I have learned a few things, thank you very much. So just to be clear you are basically cutting the top off the bud leaving the stump, correct? Somehow out of everything I;ve read it was never put as simply as that. God I spent all this time over analying it and no wonder the success rate wasn;t so great. I'm sure this will make a huge difference, and explain why most of my cuttings rotted as I scraped down to bard wood mostly.

Correct. I slice through the bud for the same reason I scrape the sides: to expose a high concentration of undifferentiated cells that have the potential to become whatever my soon-to-be rose plant needs for them to be.

What do you do after all this slicing and scraping? Rooting hormone, set in water, put in ground, put in potting soil?
I just got some rose cutting in a swap and one of them is thick stemmed like the ones in these pics. The others are thin stemmed climbers. What should I do to root the climbers that is different from this? Those stems don't seem big enough to do this to.
Thanks,
Carol B

Carol, the diameter of a cutting isn't all that important, so long as it comes off a healthy plant and is fairly representative of the cultivar. Thin caned climbers usually root just fine from thin cuttings. Where you run into trouble is with spindly cuttings from a rose that should have stout canes.

Assuming the trader sent you full length cuttings, you can always trim them below the lowest node and scrape the sides. If the axillary bud at the bottom node is too small to work with, then don't worry about it. I use a singled edged or half of a double edged razor blade to prepare my cuttings and find them much easier to work with than a large blade, especially on small cuttings.

Best I let someone else tell you what to do next. Describing the intermittent misting system I use wouldn't be a lot of help to someone just starting out in rose propagation.

When I score a cutting, I go straight thru the last node on the cane. (so I score over the top of the node bump and take of the top layer of tissue there) Lots of roots originate from that spot for me.

I usually score about 1/2 inch or so from the bottom of the cane.. and I score the cane on 2 opposite sides (not all of the way around the base)

Marleah