I have stuck in quite a few cuttings and used my good old mix of peat and sand.

I admit that I have not done a great job watering my cuttings this year, so if anything they are drier than they have been in years past. I cover the cutting with a plastic cup to form a mini greenhouse...

Most of my cuttings are turning black from the soil line on down. I honestly cannot figure out why. There are a few ideas I have:

1) The dilution of Dip and Grow rooting hormone is too high
2) There is not enough sand in the mix
3) There is some additive in the sand that is causing the
problem.
4) It is just the wrong time of year to try to do cuttings
here (oregon, 7b)

I replaced the peat and sand this year once already due to having rotting problems, thought maybe I had bad contamination going on..

Sigh.......... it just gets frustrating to stick around 100 cuttings and 85% or so that I have checked are black when I pull them up rather than having roots or even callous.

Any ideas or suggestions, other mediums to try, etc.. appreciated.

Marleah

Lance

thanks for the ideas. I peeked at all of my cuttings since I didn't want to spend weeks waiting just to find out they were all rotting again. Lots of rot still. What was funny is that certain areas of my rooting box the cuttings looked great, other spots not good at all, so probably the sand/peat ratio wasn't right in some spots, better in others.

I also have a suspicion that maybe I am using too strong a dilution of dip -n- grow. I am switching back to rootone powder that I have used in the past.

I guess what is so frustrating for me is that I thought I found my magic mix of what I needed. One year I easily rooted over 100 roses. This year I have maybe 9. (I haven't been very productive this year, but I have stuck in a lot more cuttings than 9).

I am trying a plastic storage container with coconut coir to try to use as a rooting medium and see how that does. I figure it can't hurt.

The other thing that just doesnt make sense to me is that this year I have done the worst job keeping the rooting box watered like I have in the past. But I would think that would mean less chances of rotting. More chances of drying out and dying, but not rotting.

Oh the dilemma :)

I never was able to get roses to root using the baggie method ever.

I will give the coconut coir a shot and see what happens.

Thanks for the ideas.
Marleah

If you can, try a misting setup next year. I set one up this year and it was so easy to manage and deal with. The only rot issues I had were with a rose variety that tends to develop fungus issues - even in my dry climate. It rooted, but the leaves look really bad. I will be SO suprised if it doesn't develop rot. Maybe watering with peroxide and water would help? I don't know.

Cheers,
Michelle

what set up did you use to get your mister going? I have looked before at home depot etc and don't find the patio misters that the hotter climates seem to get. Did you order off of the internet or rig something up on your own?

To the other poster (sorry I cannot go back and look at your name while writing this question :) )
re: the cloning machine. Did you have it under lights for the 16 or so hours recommended on the site? Is it a contained unit (with a lid, etc...?) The information on the website is criptic to me and not full of all needed details. Looks like it retails for around $150?

Thanks,
Marleah

Our HD finally got in the timer that does misting. I hooked it up to a standard drip line with only one mister head on the line. The mister head was from HD, I am not sure which one exactly - a pot mister of some type. It worked well for being very simple to setup. Cost was maybe $45 for the whole thing - the timer being the expensive part.

Cheers,
Michelle

Not any rot so far (knock on wood) and some that were newly stuck are showing much earlier signs of callous and some have roots that I managed to save from the sand/peat box I had started them in.

Fingers crossed.. and it is nicer not to have to deal with all of the little cups I have been using. Just popping them into a storage container and putting the lid on for moisture/greenhouse effect. I probably have 40-50 cuttings in one box.. so a great space saver.

We will see how things fare a week or 2 down the road.

Marleah

Here a comment by Ram Shoor :
"Brilliantly illustrated. Best illustration seen on the web"

You will find lots of info there.
Good luck George

Sterile potting mix (soil less - often called seed starting mix) Get it nice and wet

I don't use the baggie method of rooting because the baggies are not stable - you move them and you can mess up your forming callous and roots. I root cuttings in containers with holes in the bottom (plastic pots, 2 liter coke bottles, clear solo cups which I love because you can see the roots forming). if the mix is too wet it will drain and if the cuttings look like the soil is not wet enough you can set it in a tray of water to soak up moisture.

immerse cuttings in a mix of some sort of water soluble fertilizer (weak solution), a fungicide of some sort and some super thrive.

dilute your rooting powder in a cup of water

prepare the cuttings; swish them around in your fertilizer/fungicide/superthirve

dip ends in hormone water

stick your finger in wet dirt. insert cuttings and firm around them and then - put a zip loc bag over the top - gallon zip locs fit on gallon plastic pots and sandwich size ones will fit on a solo cup that you have put drain holes in.

Stick the whole thing in the shade on the ground and walk away. DO NOT FIDDLE WITH THEM. About once a week check for moisture beads on the inside of the baggie - if you don't see many - set your pot in some water to rehydrate.

OH YEA - DON'T GIVE UP AND HOLD YOUR MOUTH RIGHT.

Connie