Roses

They're one of my favorite plants. They make incredible gifts.
Who wouldn't love to be remembered through the smell and beauty of a rose?

They're great for marking fantastic memories (birth, marriage, special events, friendship, etc) and have been lauded throughout history. They're beloved by many and easy to propagate! In the tutorial that follows, I'll walk you through when to propagate, what you can expect, how to do it, as well as other basics with some pictures Ini took today as I practiced this art.

Rose de Rescht on our homestead last summer.

You can take rose cuttings from your own bushes, that of a friend or family member, or from an abandoned old house or cemetery and get roses for basically free!

Autumn Damask Rose Leafing Out April 6, 2018 | Zone 6b Ozarks

When To Take Cuttings

As you can see in the above picture, many of our roses at the homestead are starting to leaf out. Sadly we lost a few varieties this year (I'm guessing from the drought last fall) as they weren't totally established yet (they are only a year old).

Taking a cutting from the Autumn Damask Rose

You can take a cutting in late winter into early spring and even summer after the first blooms appear. It is best to take the cuttings when there is some leaf growth. The energy of the plant is vibrant and waking up after the dormancy of winter.

Because of this, it makes it easy for the plant to root. In the following paragraphs, I'll walk you through how to get great success with rose cuttings taken during these times. (Some people also propagate roses in fall after the last flush of the season, but I don't have experience with that.)

Mixing Soil Medium

Coconut Coir, Perlite, and Reused Potting Mix mixed up in the wheel barrow

First things first, make sure you have a light, easily drainable soil medium already mixed before you take your cuttings. You don't want your cuttings to sit too long between cutting and putting them in the mix. Here I used a mix of Perlite (20%), Coconut Coir (40%), and reused potting mix leftover from starting seeds last year (40%).

You can also use sand, peat moss and healthy soil. This is basically just a medium for the plant to grow roots into so we don't want thick or heavy particulate mix including clay or boggy soil. Drainage is very important.

Filling Pots with Medium

Once you've made your mix, prepare ahead of time by filling the pots and setting them aside. It's also good to gather label tags (we reuse yogurt containers for this purpose), a sharpie for labeling, sharp pruning sheers, a knife and rooting hormone.

How To Take Cuttings

Taking a cutting

Take a cutting from the top or side branch (not middle) of a rose bush that is leafing out. Take a 4-6 inch cutting that has at least 3 nodes. Nodes are where leaves come from.

Cut at a 45 degree angle on the bottom and make sure you have sharp cutters otherwise you'll smash the bottom of the cutting and have less of a chance for success.

Prepare the Cutting for Planting

Once you have your cuttings and have gathered your materials together, cut a little incision going up from your 45 degree cut at the base of the 6 inch cutting. Cut just the outer sheath on the stem.

Next, dip in rooting hormone. This greatly increases your chances of success. Rooting hormone is found really anywhere plants are sold. If you don't have this product, you can infuse a willow branch in water overnight and the water will have the naturally occurring rooting hormone contained in willows. You can also grind down an aspirin as that has similar properties. Be generous in your dip.

Plant the Cutting

This is a fun part! Take your root-hormone dipped cutting and poke your finger into the soil mix. This enables a lot of the rooting hormone powder to stay on the base of the cutting. Insert the cutting into the soil and press the soil around the cutting to insure that it's all touching.

Make sure that at least 1-2 nodes are beneath the soil. You can plant 2/3 of the cutting beneath the soil. Take off any leaves at the bottom that would be under soil. You can leave a few top leaves.

Water it in and you're nearly finished!

Keep Them Moist

At this point, label each of the varieties you take cuttings from as you go along. They're hard to identify otherwise. Store them in a humid yet cool place in indirect sunlight. Some people make little plastic tents over them to this effect. You can take sticks higher than the rose cutting and put a baggie over it so it's not resting on the cutting. This helps retain moisture.

We'll put ours in our high tunnel until it gets too hot, then leave them in a slightly shaded area.

6-8 Weeks

During the next 6-8 weeks, you want to make sure that your cuttings don't get too hot and also that they stay consistently moist. You don't want them to be sopping wet, but they need to have constant moisture. This insures that the cutting stays alive and has its best chance of producing roots!

You know your rose is successfully forming roots if it starts to leaf out!

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to ask any questions. This is a fairly basic method with incredibly satisfactory results!

I also must say that you cannot legally propagate any rose that still has a patent on it, so please do your own research to make sure you're in the clear!

What are you excited to take cuttings of this year?