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rooting pictures from end of July

michelle_co
17 years ago

Photos from today. Here are a few examples.

This one is Red Cascade, stuck 7/11. It lost all the old leaves and grew new ones.

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This is Sally Holmes, stuck 6/24. The old leaves are ratty, but new ones are forming.

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This is a Cabot, stuck 7/1. Old leaves are ratty, no new leaves yet.

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I have about 7 cuttings in this state (decent roots showing). There are 6 that have roots and are not showing through the cup yet. And a few new ones that are still in the sealed up pop bottles.

So the loss rate is ~10 cuttings. 7 have good roots, 6 are developing roots, and 3 are new cuttings.

Cheers,

Michelle

Comments (23)

  • elks
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congrats.
    It'll soon be time to repot them.
    Steve.

  • minnepiper
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    so how long before they can be planted outside? i live in minnesota. can cuttings be taken, rooted, and planted all in one growing season up here?

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I live in southern il. and I was told by a member of our rose society i should plant the pot into the ground and cover with dirt. Now this applies if they have been hardened off if not then my understaning would be to bring them inside

  • michelle_co
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am not sure about your zone, but these are now all potted up in 6"-8" pots and are all leafing out nicely. They easily could be in the ground - some of the bands I received from vendors were this size. However, I am going to overwinter them in a cellar and plant them late next Spring. Maybe I should plant one in the ground as an experiment. :-)

    Happy Gardening,
    Michelle

  • chefcdp
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Minnepiper,

    You will have to use some kind of winter protection to get the rooted cuttings through the first winter(at least) here in MN zone 4a.

    The pots get put in the ground and plants grown from dormant hardwood cuttings that have had a full season to grow can be treated like regular plants and covered after they are dormant with compost and leaves. Small plants from current season softwood cuttings need more care.

    This year I will be covering the softwood cuttings with bottomless gallon milk jugs and covering the jugs after freeze up with compost and leaves. 2 or 3 liter soda bottles will also work.

    I keep threatening to build a cold frame, but every clear space somehow gets planted with roses so I have to "plant" the milk jugs and soda containers amongst the roses.

    I have to say that most of my sucess has been with relativly hardy roses such as the Buck roses and I have not tried many of the tender HT's. They should work as well since I lose more cuttings to the drying winds in the spring than I do to the cold of winter.

    Regards,

    Charles

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    After it's time to pot the cuttings, what size pots do you use? I want to overwinter mine in pots if they root and plant them outside in the spring.

    Gallon pots seems like overkill, but I will use them if need be. They will be heavier to lug around if I have a lot, find a spot for, bigger hole to dig in spring, and take more potting soil.

  • elks
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This might interest you, Aliska:

    'During the summer, I have spoken to own-root nurserymen who repot in larger and larger pots (1 and 2 gal) once the cuttings have rooted. They say, "Give the plants a chance to establish a root system before planting them in an established bed." I recently visited a friend who had begun doing the same this summer, and his plants were huge, easily the largest cuttings I have ever seen from an amateur, almost like a two-year grafted plant.'

    Steve.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Article This Is From

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks, Steve. Good article. Didn't score, was afraid to because I might botch it, plus more work, new at this. If any of mine root, I'll have to repot them because what they're in now has little or no nutrients.

    I'm thinking of potting them up in gallon pots and putting in my sunroom for the winter. Maybe I can take the caps off and keep the bottles on? Somebody on another thread told me it might work if I get a humidifier. I don't know yet. If they are too leafy and inside, pop bottles would not be a good thing.

    BTW, the north side of my house gets sun from the east in am and I don't want to disturb the lilies of the valley on the other north side. So I have them on a partly shaded east indentation under the eaves, partly protected by two old screens until the sun moves around, then move the screens away til nightfall. It's a good-sized area, have about 20 or more cuttings there now, three in north window in ziplock bags.

    I'm having a hard time finding some threads I've posted to for some reason.

  • michelle_co
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi,

    I ended up putting mine in 1 gallon pots and they are living outside. I am going to overwinter them in the cellar. All of the newer cuttings will stay in my sunroom over winter. I am going to get a humidifier - have wanted one anyway (the air is so dry here).

    Here is another picture of the Red Cascade that is at the top of this post. It's gotten bigger, and it is getting ready to bloom.

    {{gwi:1242052}}

    The soil mix I use keeps the pots very light. I mix it using half of the rooting mix (peat/coir/vermiculite) and half Supersoil potting mix. I also added a little Osmocote, some small alfalfa pellets, and a few Soil Moist granules. Soil Moist helps alot in my dry climate, but might be overkill for yours.

    Anyway, the pots stay very light with this mix. They hold water well yet the soil stays 'airy' without getting waterlogged. The rootlings seem to be doing very well in this mix.

    One of the biggest bonuses with using the peat/coir/vermiculite mix for me is how easy it is to get the cuttings out of their first pots without breaking up the root ball. That has been very nice. I am the Queen of breaking the rootball and losing all the soil, and yet every one of these has stayed in tact for the first move. I have been VERY pleased about that. :-)

    Happy Gardening,
    Michelle

  • michelle_co
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Aaah, one more. This is the Sally Holmes, also shown above. She's putting out new leaves and not looking so tiny and ratty. :-)

    {{gwi:1242053}}

    The Cabot shown above hasn't grown ANY leaves yet - nor have any of the Cabots that rooted. They look healthy, but are taking their sweet time leafing out.

    Happy Gardening,
    Michelle

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the update. I was looking through this again. That first one lost all its leaves and grew all those new ones and roots in 20 days if you took the pic the same day. Amazing.

    Do you use equal parts of the three (can't go back to read it or I might lose this)?

    You've made a believer out of me. Thanks for the update and explanation for your success. Gallon pots it is. If mine root, I'll have to find some more as I only have 2 or 3. I just counted all mine. 33, three different roses, some used a few more cuttings than others because it was hard to find the right kind.

    I might leave the ones under the Mason jars in the ground for the winter. Depends on how they seem to be doing. Ran out of pop bottles. It was a little too early for fall cuttings using the jars, but we'll see what happens with them.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Michelle, I can't thank you (and George) enough for your help and encouragement. I brought all mine into the sunroom except the ones under the Mason jars, over 30 in all. It's touch and go with the one rose variety (about 4 or 5 in various stages there), I've got several potted up now, no new leaves, but old ones are still clinging and they had a lot of roots showing. The the big surprise was that three cuttings from a rose I stuck in the wrong mix and lost ALL their leaves, I figured what have I to lose now, so mixed up a batch of vermiculite and peat and restuck them all in that. Two of those have healthy little leaves that look just like yours, one is ready to pop, and a few look like the nodes are starting to swell. I did buy a humidifier, but put a pan of water out because you have to clean the humidifier once a month with vinegar. Phew! I took the caps off the bottles so they won't cook in the sun like they would if left on (I have them on the east side, but the sunroom has a lot of windows and they get quite a bit from the south and west at various times during the day); they seem to like a little. Now if I can just get them through the rest of the winter. I'm going to forget the coir and misting for now and stick to this method because it's easier. With the peat/pearlite, soda bottles, and dispans like you use, right light and temperatures, I think I will have better luck from now on. Just for fun, I'm going to see if some will root in water, change it regularly. Who knows? Of the 30 some that I stuck, many are goners, but I'm pleased that some are finally doing something. They seem to like the sunroom better than the north window in the kitchen or outside now, in summer it might be too hot in there.

  • timde
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hello, Your cuttings are awesome! Is it better to stick these in what season? Then when will they be able to be transplanted to the ground.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Seems like any time during the growing season is good. They seem to do better with stable temps before it gets too hot or too cold. Was hoping Michelle would show up and give us an update about how her little new roses are doing.

  • pkapeckopickldpepprz
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How much light do cuttings need before they root? East facing light preferred? What temps are ideal? It's still 70's-80's here in FL during the day low 60's at night. I have 3 St Patricks cuttings I dipped with Root-tone and stuck in 50/50 peat moss/vermiculite in a small 4" pot on a tray with a humidome plastic dome for humidity. Hopefully in a month these will show roots.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    George Mander told me not to use peat/vermiculite. It doesn't hold water and maybe other problems, too heavy he told me. I got several cuttings I had stuck in that to root when I restuck them in peat/pearlite, used plastic cups with two drainage holes in the bottom, bottom water when needed, and covered with a soda bottle. I tried a bunch with that method, dumped out all the first mix into a bucket. Anyway, my north window was not bright enough, they can stand a very little dappled sun but not too much or they will cook enclosed, once you get them a little ventilation, they can stand a little more sunlight. 72 is ideal. You should be ok with 70's 80's (mine inside must get up to 80 at times). Your humidome should be ok. Here I am the least of the successful rooters passing info along to you, but the experts haven't been around for awhile. I have several in my sunroom now in various stages. Most died. I still have to get them through the winter. I started mine outside and the ones that did the best were under a tree on the east side, I stuck them the last couple weeks of August after a heat wave ruined all my first ones. A little sunlight filtered through. Hope this helps. I tried to use at least 8 cuttings because of my loss rate. The ones that are doing the best are one that I potted up and one variety I restuck after they had sat in your mix for at least 6 weeks, three of those have leaves and a couple more green stems look hopeful. I decided to ventilate the green stems where all the leaves fell off by taking the bottle cap off. Too many of those turned brown and are goners.

  • pkapeckopickldpepprz
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Aliska. So it's better to use peat/perlite than peat/vermiculite? I will give that a try. Maybe the vermiculite keeps things too wet. I know normally this mix I use I have a high failure rate due to stem rot.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, you know some say coir, rave about it, get it in the reptile section of Petco stores works so well. I haven't tried that yet, will do one more batch next year if all goes well with the peat/pearlite and see if I get a higher rate of success.

    I had my cuttings in peat/vermiculite buried in the ground with cups like Michelle's with the two holes, so with the bottles on, they were only getting bottom watering. When I brought them in for the winter, I noticed when I poured it off into a bucket it was so dry, and I had watered them regularly. I potted up the ones with the baby roots and quickly lost them. Three I tried in ziplock bags only in cups in the north window. One died, the other two developed hairy brown roots about 1/2 inch long. I potted those up, and they quickly died.

    I can tell you I will never use peat/vermiculite again unless I mix something else in with it.

    I hate for you to go on my recommendation alone. The main thing is that as long as they aren't ventilated, and they have to have humidity until they root, they will quickly cook in the sun. I found that out the hard way the first time I tried before I found this forum 3 years ago.

    If you do decide to try the peat/pearlite, mix it up the night before and pour very hot water over it, stir, and let it set overnight. Squeeze any excess moisture out of it. Mine seemed just right.

    I guess it's common to lose some if they do root when you pot them up. I left the bottles on mine for awhile, then took the caps off, left them that way about a week, then took the bottles off all together on some. About ready to pot some more up now, am waiting for the roots to get more of a mass, at least some are developing healthy-looking leaves like Michelle's which I hadn't had yet. But sometimes you will get new leaves and no roots for awhile.

    Good luck! If the leaves all fall off, so long as the stems stay green, there is still a chance. Sometimes you kind of have to wing it. Read what everybody says, then adapt. The people who are getting the most success consistently apart from Michelle and her dishpans are using lights, misting systems indoors. George Mander uses a special potting soil called Sunshine Mix Aggregate Plus #4 for rooting medium. It's Canadian, and I couldn't find any. I may go the lights/misting route eventually.

    You might want to poke around his website and not only the article posted at the link. He is an expert with many years of experience, trial and error. He took the time to personally email me to get me on the right track.

    P.S. I did stick some directly in the ground and covered with mason jars and will leave them alone until spring. I looked through the glass, and two still have green leaves, one looks like new leaves. Those I believe I stuck August 13. There are about 8 of those, some still have green stems, and it looks like I've lost some. I was going to cover them with leaves. Maybe I'll just leave them be; they might need light at times.

    Here is a link that might be useful: George Mander's site

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Michelle, I was looking through your method again. What do you use in the cups and in what proportions?

    I thought I read elsewhere that you set them outside in dishpans, bottom-watered when they started to dry out. Is that right?

  • greenhrs
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Can you ship seeds to France? Could you ship some for me this summer? I'll send some from local roses and email pictures.

  • irish_rose_grower
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Michelle, you seem to be really good at rooting roses. Is there another thread where you list how you do your cuttings? I see Aliska said she was looking through your method. Thanks
    Maureen

  • irish_rose_grower
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Michelle, if you see this pls send me some tips on rooting.

    Thanks
    Maureen

  • michelle_co
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi, I just found this thread is active. I will try to write a short page for my website of what I tried for rooting and post the link soon.

    :-) Michelle

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