CathyBeyer'sMethodforRootingRoseCuttings/Shedd

Cathy Beyer's Method for Rooting Rose Cuttings

Materials needed:

Dip 'N Grow rooting hormone (available at garden centers or through nursery catalogs)
Small glass jar (baby food jars are great)
Water, lukewarm
Artificial soil mix that is fast draining but will still retain moisture (Redi-earth, a rooting/seeding mix available at most garden centers works very well)
Captan fungicide (optional)
2" or 3" peat pots (or clean plastic pots)
Spray bottle filled with fresh water
Pruning shears
Something to maintain high humidity for the cuttings during incubation, such as an aquarium turned on its side with a sheet of clear plastic taped across the front (inexpensive and very easy to work with), or a clear plastic bag, or large jars, or large soda bottles with the tops cut off and the black plastic removed, etc.
Rose cuttings with at least three leaves, bud eyes in the leaf axis beginning to develop but not growing. Use new growth with full size, established leaves. Cuttings should be free of all insects, fungus diseases, and virus.

Directions:

Fill pots with artificial soil mix and drench with lukewarm water. If desired, use a Captan drench (two tablespoons Captan to one gallon of water, mixed fresh) to inhibit fungal diseases during incubation period. Set aside.
Prepare hormone dip solution by mixing 1/2 teaspoon Dip 'N Grow with 4 teaspoons of lukewarm water in a small jar. Set aside.
Prepare cutting by stripping any bottom leaves. Leave the top two leaves in place (they are required to produce a hormone during rooting and to start growth once the cutting is rooted). Locate the lowest bud eye on the cutting--make a cut straight across 1/4 of an inch just below the lowest bud eye. (If using a heel cutting, no cut is required.)
Dip the cutting in prepared hormone solution for 5 seconds.
Stick cutting in prepared pot, inserting it no more than an inch deep. Some growers stick cuttings at a 45 degree angle, which provides more stability to the upper portion of the cutting while keeping the inserted portion shallow, but this isn't necessary.
Place potted cuttings in aquarium or use other device to maintain humid conditions.
Mist cuttings with water. Seal the humidity chamber.
Place covered cuttings outside in FULL SHADE or maintain inside house under fluorescent lights.
Mist cuttings at least three times per day for the next 14 days. Change water in spray bottle at least every other day to prevent bacterial build-up in water. Remove any leaves that are diseased or that drop off during that period. Check soil moisture and water if required.
By the end of the 21st day, you should see roots breaking through the peat pot. (If you don't, place you finger on top of the cutting and gently wiggle it. If the cutting doesn't move, it probably has rooted.) Remove the rooted cutting from the humidity chamber as soon as it has rooted and immediately pot it up in a larger pot. Drench the potted cutting with a weak fertilizer solution (1 scant teaspoon Peters or Miracle Grow per gallon water).
Keep potted cutting in shade and water every day until new growth starts from the bud eyes. After new growth starts, cuttings can spend a couple days in dappled shade conditions and then may be moved to full sun. Newly rooted roses can be planted in the garden any time after new growth starts, the sooner, the better.
Fertilize with liquid fertilizer/fish emulsion at least every other week. Water, water, water. Stop fertilizing at the end of August. Provide extra protection the first winter.
Repeat blooming roses will usually put forth a bloom in about 8 weeks. Old Garden Roses and once blooming shrubs won't bloom until the second year because they bloom on old wood.

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