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Propagation From Cuttings

by Dr. Malcolm M. Manners

Once you've taken cuttings of old roses from a cemetery, old house or vacant lot, what's the nextstep? Most roses are easily propagated by rooting cuttings. Here are some tips for success:

Age -- Make sure you take cuttings from firm but young stems. On a repeat-flowering variety,

that would be stems on which the flowers are fading or from which the petals have just fallen. Ona once-flowering plant, you can use stems from which the flowers are fading in the spring, orsimilar-age wood from subsequent growth flushes throughout the summer or fall.

Leaves -- Roses root best if the cutting has some leaves still attached, to provide sugars from

photosynthesis as well as root-promoting hormones. Some varieties will root from leaflesscuttings, but it's better to allow two or three leaves to remain. Keep a spray bottle of waterhandy to mist over the cuttings while working on them, to keep them crisp, since wilted cuttingsoften fail to root.

Cuts and "wounding" -- Roses can form roots at any point along the stem, so the exact site of

the cut is not important. Many people "wound" the base of the cutting, either by making 1/2- to1-inch vertical slits through the bark, or by slicing a strip of bark off one or two sides of the baseof the cutting with the clipper blade. Difficult varieties often benefit from such wounding, sending

out roots all along the wound.

Rooting hormones -- You can root most rose varieties without the use of hormone

preparations. This is because rose cuttings contain auxin (indoleacetic acid -- "IAA"), a naturalroot-promoting hormone. It is produced by the leaves and growing buds or shoot t ips andaccumulates at the bottom of a cutting, where the roots will form. But some roses apparentlydon't produce adequate supplies of auxin and are difficult to root. If they produce any roots at all,they are few and weak. So, many growers apply a commercial hormone preparation to stimulatethe production of strong roots. These products all contain synthetic auxin, usually indolebutyric

acid (IBA) and/or naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA).

Moisture -- One of the most important factors in successfully rooting cuttings is maintaining

Propagating Roses From Cuttings http://www.rkdn.org/roses/propagate.asp

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Propagating Roses From Cuttings http://www.rkdn.org/roses/propagate.asp

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