Best Tips For Taking Cuttings of Rose Plant

Growing Rose from stem cuttings is not a much hard task. Below are the tips which can be useful in the process.

Season

Best timing of rooting cuttings is spring or starting of the summer, when the weather is warm but not too much hot. You can root cuttings at other times of the year too, but it may take longer.  A few types such as Rosa gallicas may root more successfully in autumn. 

Timing

If potted in May or early June, some varieties will have roots in as little as two weeks. Nearly any variety can be rooted in three to four weeks at that time of year. At other times the process takes longer- up to seven or eight weeks. There are many ways to tell whether a cutting is rooted or not. You can tug lightly on it, and if it resists being pulled out of the pot, it likely has roots. Also, roots growing out the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot are another indication of successful rooting. A more simple way is to watch for new leaves on the cuttings. Rooted cuttings have new leaves growing on them whereas un rooted cuttings do not.

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. On a once- flowering plant, you can use stems from which the flowers are fading in the spring, or similar-age wood from subsequent growth flushes throughout the summer or fall.

Leaves

Rose can be rooted from leaf less cuttings or cuttings having 2-3 leaves on it. However leafy cuttings has more chances as leaves provide food prepared from photosynthesis as well as root- promoting hormones. Keep a spray bottle of water handy to mist over the cuttings while working on them, to keep them crisp, since wilted cuttings often fail to root.

Making cuts and Wounding

While taking cuttings, make cut just above a leaf node. Clip off all leaves leaving 2-3 on top. Dip the cutting in rooting hormone. You can use honey too as a natural rooting agent. You can “wound” the base of the cutting, either by making ½ - to 1-inch vertical slits through the bark, or by slicing a strip of bark off one or two sides of the base of 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 rose varieties without the use of hormone preparations. This is because rose cuttings contain auxin ( indoleacitic acid – “IAA” ), a natural root-promoting hormone. It is produced by the leaves and growing buds or shoot tips and accumulates at the bottom of a cutting, where the roots will form. But some roses apparently don’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 stimulate the production of strong roots. These products 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 adequate moisture, both in the soil and in the form of humidity in the air. Place the cuttings in pots of moist sand or potting soil, then cover them with a plastic bag, mayonnaise jar or inverted two-liter soft drink bottle with the top cut off, creating a small tent or “greenhouse” to maintain high humidity around the cuttings. 

Light

Roses root best in bright light. But when using the mini-greenhouse method, it’s important to avoid overheating by giving some shade from hot, midday sun. Put the cuttings in bright shade, such as against the north wall of a building or under a tree, to allow rooting without too much heat build-up.

Once the cuttings are rooted and have been removed from the rooting area, harden them off for a few days by putting the pots in a cool, shady area. Moving them immediately into hot sunshine may damage or even kill the plants. Once they have a goof, large root system and putting out new growth, they can be moved into brighter light.