John, Thanks for the info. I have some rooter pots but haven't used them properly. I'll be giving them another try this spring. Paula

Do you think I make some of these using travel soap containers (cut to include a hole for the cane on either side) that click open/closed instead of buying rooter pots?

I think the travel soap containers is an excellent idea. I have the real rooter pots, on their maiden voyage, now. It is taking significantly longer than 6 weeks here to get roots. But I opened one of them up and it looks like something is happening in there.

Patience . . . patience . . . (keep repeating that to yourself and don't open any more pots -- probably not good for them.)

Kathy

All 20 of my rooter pot plants had roots at 8 weeks. I even had a couple like Autumn Splendor set roots at about 4 weeks so I cut it off early at about 6 weeks because the rootball was very large and some of the roots looked to be turning brown and starting to die. Fortunately, it did just fine and I ended up with a 2' tall new bush with about 6 canes!!
But, there were a few that were slower to root that had to stay on longer than the 8 weeks. At 10 weeks I had all of them cut off the mother bush with nice big rootballs.
I gave all of these away to others and so far they are all alive except for one that faded for unknown reasons. I have seen pictures of most of them and they look very good.
I just got five more rooter pots giving me a total of 20 and I plant to hit them hot and heavy next Spring. These rooter pots are alot of fun and so easy to do compared to misting cuttings. And, the resulting plant is so much bigger and more mature that you get a full grown blooming bush in half the time than cuttings do.
Now obviously if you want ALOT of new plants you couldn't put a whole bunch of rooter pots on one bush or else you would have no mother bush left, so in that instance you would need to do cuttings. But for only 3 or less plants i think the Rooter Pots are the way to go for me anyway.
John

I was thinking of those traveling soap containers. Those could work out if you drilled the holes in each end for the cane to go through. I guess you would have to put something around it to make sure it stayed closed well.And,you would need to do something to keep the body of it dark or else they won't root. And another thing to consider is that the rooter pots have that built in water reservoir that helps keep the rooting medium moist so if you used the travel container you would probably have to water it more often than the actual rooter pots.
Really, for only $3 per pot I think they are worth the money. The one drawback I have found is the long plastic tabs on the lids that hold it down can only be bent back and forth so many times and they eventually fall off so I have used tape or a rubber band to keep the lids secure to the pot when those tabs fail.
by the way, somehow I must have double ordered my Lee Valley order where I got the pots from and so I got another set of five as well. That makes my total of 25 rooter pots. Oh well, they are alot of fun so I guess I will have the time of my life come Spring when I start using them, LOL!!
John
John

I finally took my four of my five rooter pots off yesterday, after they had been in place for just over than 3 months. One had one tiny root, one had a bunch of roots and was actually trying to grow a new cane inside the rooter pot (leaves were light pink -- we'll see if they green up now that they've been freed) and the other two just had big calluses but no sign of actual roots. I planted them all and now we'll see if they live.

John, I cannot find Lee Valley Tools on my computer search. Could they be out of business?

Try this:
www.leevalley.com

I am using my new Rooter Pots on my Bouganvilleas and they are well worth the money!

Susie

You can find detailed information about this product on the Rooter Pot website. The website has lots of pictures to help the user understand how to use the rooter pot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooter Pot

Thanks for this information and the sites to look at them. I will be purchasing some pots to see if I can get some starts on a rose we all love. It has been VERY stubborn and we have not gotten any new plants off it after trying for YEARS! Hope to be back with a success story for you all.

Another source for the rooter pots....very economical, is www.hybridpoplars.com , I bought from him last year and intend to get more this year.

Lee Valley has a wonderful catalog and a lot of gardeners swear by their products/tools.. I never heard of rooter pots but will go get my catalog out and look for that product now. Interesting!

I saw them in the LeeValley catalog but it looks too complicated for me to follow. My reading disability gets in the way when it comes to reading directions. I can read them but don't understand what I am reading. Now if somebody showed me how to do it, I can follow that. Will try it another way I guess.

You really don't have to purchase pots. All you need is a 1 quart plastic bag, some string, some potting soil, and some tin foil, and you can do the same thing for literally free! Here is a step by step fully illustrated post in the fig forum here that will guide you! I haven't tried this on roses, but I will!! I plan to try it on other things too!
Suzi

Here is a link that might be useful: Step by Step Air Layering for Rooting

I've tried regular air layering and it is hard where i live(squirrels ripping them apart)so i am going to try rooter pots.they are reasonable and cheap.And i am ordering from lee valley tools they have a good website and meet my budget.thanks John for telling us about them! =P