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michelle_co_gw

Two + months into making my first cuttings (photos)

michelle_co
17 years ago

Here's a photo update. I hope this is encouraging for anyone who wants to try rooting roses. :-)

I started my first cuttings ever on June 19. There are now 20 residents in my pot ghetto, cuttings that rooted and most all have good top growth going. The exception are the Canadians. Some of them seem to take a while to start growing leaves (makes sense to me).

The ghetto. It's in full sun and I have to water twice a day minimum if it's hot out.

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These are newer cutting that have rooted, but will not be transplanted until they are fully hardened off AND have more roots.

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This is Mary Rose, I have three copies. Two rooted fast, one of them is still sulking in a soda bottle. This cutting is about 3 weeks old.

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These are the newest minis. They are 2-3 weeks old. Don't know how well rooted they are, but they are out in full sun all day. When they start showing more top growth, they will get large pots.

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That's my update. I have about 10 cuttings still in bottles. If everything takes, I will have approx. 40 rooted roses from cuttings this year. There are about 10 more cuttings I would like to take this year, and that will happen in the next week or so.

Overwintering them - I am not sure about. That's the next big challenge for this novice.

Happy Gardening,

Michelle

Comments (13)

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    That is a remarkable achievement, michelle, thanks for the encouragement. Mine don't seem to be doing much, started 33, some have lost their leaves, some not, some kept a few, will wait to see if some sprout new growth and deal with the next step if and when it comes, plan to put them in gallon pots, get a humidifier and try to overwinter them in the sunroom.

    I'll have to look up your method again because that is a very impressive success rate.

    I have some in cups the same as your pink ones, one each is in a ziplock bag in north window and six are outside covered by bottles. I started 3 kinds on the 7th, 8th, and 13th of Aug, they are taking their sweet time about it.

    It is hard to see through the misty bottles what they are doing. The ones that have lost all their leaves some still have green stems, the weather has been unseasonably cool after that horrid heat spell, maybe that is a good thing, I don't know.

    The ones that seem to be doing the best are getting no sun at all, and I used the wrong rooting combo for the ones started on the 7th and 8th, made a mistake, hope some come through anyway.

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    They look good. I have about 8 cuttings going so far and all look like survivors. My biggest issue is finding a good location because i have no partial shade in my yard. I have a shed facing west and have some cuttings there getting indirect sunlight.
    I pull on the cutting to help verify root growth

  • gardengal1111
    17 years ago

    what was your method? would love to know.desiree

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    i use 2 gallon pots and 3 liter soda bottles

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    Any method that works is fine with me. The 2 gallon pots seems like overkill concerning rooting medium unless you use potting soil, in which case you can let them grown on undisturbed.

    Are there such a thing as 3 liter soda bottles, I thought they were 2?

    I know george mander uses a potting soil he prefers now; I'm torn between coir and trying to find some of his potting soil at this point.

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    vess soda comes in 3 liter bottles. I have used plastic cups when using the baggie method but I use what is available and can leave them in the pots longer

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    What medium do you use? I was impressed with michelle's getting some of hers to root in 21 days.

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    I don't use anything special I mix Miracle grow potting soil with a little peatmoss. I don't know if the method of propagation determines soil makeup. Those who mist their cuttings versus my waY where i water the soil and place the bottle top and let it go but I use this same soil mixture when planting all of my roses.

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    Well, your way you can let them grow on for quite awhile in the pots, most of the other methods require repotting and probably rather quickly after they root or they will not get much nutrients. I'm just guessing, but adding a little peat probably helps.

    My 33 don't seem to be doing much of anything, but I lost my last ones. The latest have been in 27 days, 26 days, and 21 days now respectively. Some lost all their leaves already, some are still green and on, some are turning yellow, one under a mason jar in the ground is still green (ran out of pop bottles), the rest like that the leaves turned brown and fell off (cooked) but some stems still green.

    I'm just thinking what to do next if these don't take. The ones that look the best are in cups like Michelle's only buried in the ground, covered with 2 liter pop bottles in 1/2 peat and 1/2 pearlite, recommended by George Mander since most of us can't get what he uses easily anyway. The first two of the latest sets, I mixed up the wrong stuff, but they don't look as if all is lost yet anyway.

    My first cuttings I tried pure Canadian gold potting soil but didn't cover them, a few started putting out new leaves after longer than 21 days, but then I overwatered them (I think) and the heat did them in.

    I'm repeating this ad nauseum. The waiting is kind of tedious, each day I look to see if there is any sign of new leaves. Three are in the north window in ziplock bags, one lost all its leaves but stem still green, one lost part of its leaves, top leaves just one yellow spot, and one lost all of its leaves but the top ones which are still green, no sign of new growth or roots on any inside or out and I am not about to tug on any of them.

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    i very seldom water my cuttings and if i do it is with the bottle on. My cuttings get morning sun and that is it. I am no expert but I think soil is one part of propagation process so don't get hung up on that. I know people in my area's rose society and they have no secret soil for growing cuttings

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    I think I might try my next ones inside in either ziplock bags with cups with coir, the peat/pearlite, or a different potting mix with peat like you or on drip trays with pop bottles where I can bottom water. There is a lot of room in my dr partly shaded by tree east side windows and it is brighter indirect light throughout the day than the north side kitchen window, with the roof overhang, it is too dark; if I put them on the narrow sill, they are likely to fall off. I've got the east window nearby blocked because of the morning sun coming through. I can string a whole bunch in double or triple row along the floor and the big table would hide them.

    The temperature is more constant inside than outside.

    It was interesting you mentioned morning sun. I have tried to keep as much direct sunlight away from mine as possible, keep old screens over the current ones outside until the sun moves around, then move them for the rest of the day. The ones that have kept the leaves the longest and stayed green are more shaded by a tree. Now it has gotten unseasonably cool, so I don't know how that will affect them.

    Maybe it just takes some knack. I'll be surprised if I ever get any rooted and nursed along to maturity.

  • belleville_rose_gr
    17 years ago

    so where do you live I am in the St.louis area. My problem with slips has been trying to find an area that gets some sun but not all day. I have no trees around so my yard is in full sun I place my slips under my deck and they get some sun in the morning. I do water occassionaly when it gets very hot I now have them in my shed where it is warm but they receive indirect sunlight. I have pictures but I can't figure out how to get them uploaded. I can e-mail you some if you like to see

  • aliska12000
    17 years ago

    I am in the Quad Cities north of you on the Mississippi. A friend from St. Louis was here on a visit a couple weeks ago and said the grass had turned brown, the heat gets horrible down there, worse than here, it was bad enough here but our grass didn't go brown, now there has been rain, and it is greening up again in Ellisville? where she lives.

    I thought any unfiltered sunlight was bad for cuttings. The shed sounds like a good idea to me. I'm thinking of asking for some more to start like I described above on freecycle, can't hurt. I don't want to raid the three bushes I've used any more this year.

    Pictures. I am so used to it now it is a breeze to upload to my own domain, but it was a royal pain to get the hang of, and to upload them here is easy but they have to be too small so they don't look so good. I had to resave several times before I got them small enough, decided forget that, saw other people were posting nice photos, so learned how to code to embed in the post.

    It would be easiest just to email me, but eventually you will want to learn to upload photos. I have my own site like I said, also have some free space that comes with my isp but there are several photo sites like pbase, can't think of any others offhand, where for a small amount per year, you can host your photos. There may be some free sites for that on the web. I think picasa might have something, there are tons of them.

    I hope your photos are a nice size, not to big, not too small, not too many. My kids were sending them to me right out of the camera and even with dsl, I finally had to jump on them to learn to size them down some.

    aglessREMOVETHIS@earthlink dot net

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