Starting Roses from Cuttings

If you find a rose that you want to propagate, doing it form a cutting is the best way. Roses generally grow well from cuttings but doing it right will give you the best results. This is a guide about starting roses from cuttings.

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Growing Roses from a Cutting

My husband's grandmother would always take a cutting from a healthy rose bush, stick the cutting cut side down in the ground and cover it with a quart size canning jar. She kept it covered until it began to show growth. You have to do this in the spring, summer or early fall (at least in areas where you receive snow). Worked like a charm every time.

By Pami from Holland, MI

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Starting Roses from Cuttings

How do you start a rose from a clipping?

By Judy

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Most Recent Answer

By frugalsunnie 05/31/2011

You can try it, but be prepared for disappointment-the plant you get from the cutting may be very different from the plant you took the cutting from.

That's because the rose growing in your garden is usually a plant that has been grafted-two plants to form one with desirable characteristics like growth, colour, drought and disease resistance, etc. If there is a man sized fist looking knob down at the bottom of the plant where the stems grow from, you have a grafted plant-this means that your cutting may grow up to be either showing characteristics of any of the plants used to form the final plant.

But it is fun to learn by doing, and you may end up with something really cool, so:

Take a cutting from above the graft, make sure it's around 6-8" but no longer, and that the stem is green and pliant; make your cut about 2" below a very immature bud or leaf start, then use your thumb to rub or pinch off the bud or leaf start to open a path for root formation-your roots will form there and also at the cut.

Dip the cut in RootTone or a similar starting hormone powder, getting a good dusting on the cut.

Poke a hole with a pencil in a small clay or peat pot that you've filled with a rooting mix-buy a small bag, or make your own (ingredients for home made rooting soil are becoming harder to come by due to restrictions and resource depletion-check your library for alternatives, but usually sand, perlite, and vermiculite are used).

Insert your cutting into the hole making sure the cutting is in the pot deep enough for the rubbed/pinched bud/leaf area to be under soil.

Water the soil to even dampness-don't let the soil dry, but don't over water, either. Aim to keep the soil evenly moist.

In a week or so, if your cutting is still green, and looks healthy, you probably have roots. In another week or so you can transplant it to the garden or pot.

Expect blooms the following year.

If you succeed, please post pics of the 'parent' plant, your cutting during the rooting wait, and the first blooms you get from it.

Starting Roses from Cuttings

How do you grow roses from cuttings?

Hardiness Zone: 9a

By Jo Helen from San Antonio, TX

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By Coll3 06/23/2010

My great grandmother used to cut the roses at the base of the stem where it meets the main branch. dig a hole and put the rose into the hole and top with a jar, and then water. Keeping it damp. She never purchased a rose bush. Any given to her were always done this way to expand her garden.

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Staring Roses from Cuttings

I started a few roses from stems, but when I remove the cover, the leaves dry out and I lose the plant. How long do you leave the cover on? Here in Utah, the green house effect gets really hot after May. Any suggestions?

Hardiness Zone: 7a

By littleriver from Provo, UT

RE: Staring Roses from Cuttings

Use new growth from the rose bush for the cuttings. Ensure the plant is disease free and healthy before taking a cutting. Direct sunlight on the cuttings while they are trying to root can kill them. Too much water can cause the cuttings to rot. Only mist as needed. If you do not see condensation on the plastic, the soil is too dry. I have a patio covered with reed fencing. I root plants under it without plastic or compound, keep damp, allow them to grow at least a year then plant where you want them, good luck. (06/27/2009)

By kffrmw88