A few months ago, I believe that George Varden posted some detailed directions for rooting cuttings by first allowing them to form callus tissue for a couple weeks wrapped in damp newspaper and plastic wrap. My cuttings have callused–a few even have roots. I am ready to begin planting but I’ve lost my instructions. I know they are in the archives somewhere but I haven’t been able to find them. George, do you know what your entry was under. I’m truly impressed with this method so far and think it could prove very successful. I much prefer rooting cuttings without leaves as keeping cuttings misted is sometimes problematic.
Julie
Hi Julie.
Here is a copy & paste of what I wrote on the thread entitled “species rose?? non viable seeds”:
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Take some semi-hardwood cuttings a few inches long, with a few nodes on them, and remove all leaves and soft side growth.
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Take one page out of a newspaper, wet it thoroughly under the tap and then crush the wet paper in your hand, to wring out all of the water…so that it is just moist but not dripping wet.
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Have cling wrap available.
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After all this prep is done, then re-cut the bottom of each of the the cuttings by slicing through a bottom node, with a very sharp blade (secateurs can be used, but real sharp blades cause less tissue crushing damage… for this I use a box-cutter knife).
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Wrap the prepared cuttings all together with the newspaper into a roll, with all ends covered. Then cover the “cylinder” entirely with cling wrap.
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Keep this cylinder in a dark place like a drawer, and after 2 weeks check for callous formation. You want the bottoms to develop a nice ring of callous tissue creating a nice seal. If by 2 weeks this hasn’t quite happened, recheck every week thereafter. If you find any dead/dying cuttings, just discard them and re-wrap the rest with the same newspaper. Don’t re-wet the newspaper.
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Once they have calloused then plant them in a light propagation mix, and leave the top-most node exposed to the air.
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Water sparingly (I wait till the mix is pretty much dried before watering again).
Thanks so much, George. I have two specific questions:
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By “light” propagation mix, do you mean one thinned with perlite,and if so, what type of ratio of perlite to planting mix?
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Do you keep these cuttings covered with a plastic dome or are they exposed to air?
I’m really excited about this method. It is probably the easiest method I have seen for people without good temperature control and misters. I suspect that by allowing the callus to form first it will greatly reduce losses from rot and with no leaves, it is possible to let things dry out better, further reducing disease risk.
This is a great time of year for me to take cuttings–everything has been put to bed for the coming winter. The plant tissue is still healthy but it will be dead by spring–it is a great way to use up some tissue that would be lost anyway. Also, we tend to be so busy in the middle of the growing season that it is sometimes hard to get cuttings taken. George, I will let you know how things work out and if you are the genius I think you might be! Thanks again.
Julie
I have had great luck with this method. George thank you again, I have about 10 cuttings of the Multifloral var carnea?? that are doing great, one cutting of the polyanthea that I really want/need has starting to leaf out several others are still green but I thank they are goners. Plus several others I just wanted to see what would happen. The only problem I have had is mold, I think some of that is due to the newspaper being to wet.
David
I’ve previously had great success using Whitney Farms Seed Starter Mix as a rooting medium, as long as it’s available to you and you don’t need a ton of it. I even filled peat pots with it and kept it damp. Everything rooted well and I just planted the whole peat pot when ready. Now, to determine what to do now that I’m where it’s cooler and damper and everything I try to root, rots!
Hi Julie and David.
It was a method passed on to me by a nurseryman in the business of propagating roses. So I can’t claim any fame but it is fun to share such things with others here, if it helps some.
I suppose there are so many things you could add or subtract to the basic method. Truth is, I rarely actually propagate rose cuttings myself, as I am not in the nursery business, and my rose breeding obsession is in its infancy here (started 2009). For example, two years ago I was able to propagate quite a few R. fortuniana (supposedly a difficult one to root) using this method, so yea it is an ok method.
Some cuttings will fungus on you whatever you do, don’t worry just throw 'em out…I have used thoroughly wringed-out newspaper so that is is damp, not dripping.
I have not used plastic covers.
I guess the local climate will also dictate things you should do or not do to keep these little fellas alive?!
I personally just use whatever is available as a rooting mix, and it happens to be locally purchased seed raising mix, this stuff seems to be basically a mix of sand and some fine dark “composite” filler material.
I have never used perlite so far. Damping off has not yet been a common occurence for me in this climate, and oddly, I would also have to say that there is extreme fungus disease pressure in my climate on rose plants. Yes this seems rather a paradoxical situation. However, as I am raising small numbers of seedlings, (and only rarely do a cutting), maybe damping off would become a problem if I was raising thousands of 'em… in other words maybe it is just a bias to do with raising small numbers and the true damping off potential might be revealed when larger numbers are raised in the same situation.
Good luck!
I wonder if before you put the cuttings in the moist newspaper if one would dip the cuttings in a 10% bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide if you could nip the fungus in the butt before it gets started.
Hi Adam.
Fungus and dead sticks have not really been a frequent enough problem for me to worry about it, at least that has been my experience.
I wonder if such fungi that are seen with occasional dead sticks are causative of the problem, or whether they are just the result of dead sticks offering a feast for ubiquitous and non-pathogenic fungi found everywhere and anywhere?
I say this becasue I tried a few fig cuttings using this method, and after a few weeks only small amounts of callous were seen (figs heal HEAPS slower than roses!), and I did see fungi staining the cut bases as well…but as the bases did not look rotted, I planted them anyway and there was successful rooting. It makes me wonder!
I believe that dead sticks/failed cuttings can be greatly minimized in the first place by trying to select healthy wood of pencil thickness (or slightly thicker)…if possible try and avoid sickly/spindly wood or overly immature wood (where carbohydrate reserve is low).
This bug/microorganism tangent reminds me of something else…
The guy that taught me about this method actually advised that I try and avoid sterile rooting media/potting mixes which contain no organic matter…He believed that propagation media containing some soil and some decomposed leaf litter mixed in were more likely to give better rooting outcomes on such pre-calloused cuttings.
Even though I have not really bothered to take up this part of his advice, it does come from a nurseryman who makes money on such things.
Also be aware I am not trained in horticulture, I am just reporting what I see and what I have been advised by others more experienced in the business than me.
Ohhhh I meant to also say, “that’s a good question, Adam”!
I probably have about 60 cuttings that callused in 2 weeks–all but one cutting. Not a single cutting shows any sign of rot. I tried cuttings with various sizes of thickness from slightly spindly to more than pencil thick–they all look just fine. I definitely went for the semi-hardwood and avoided the soft tissue. I’m still marveling over the two that actually have roots.
George, I use a commercial grade potting mix for all seedlings and potted plants. When I stick cuttings I thin the mix out by at least 50% or more (usually more) with perlite, but given your friend’s advice, I think I may go with straight potting mix. I am now sitting here with a box of rooting hormone and debating whether or not I should use it. I like the simplicity of your method and I’m tempted to skip the hormone and just see what happens. The other thing I am debating about is whether some bottom heat would help–I do have a small heating mat.
At this point in time I’m tempted to go and take some more cuttings and play around with this a bit. It’s always fun to find a new technique that actually might work and is so easy. If this method works and I end up with a ton of rooted cuttings, I’ll probably hate myself because so much of my light space will be taken up with cuttings and I’ll run out of space for new seedlings. I would love this dilemma!
Hi Julie.
Yea you are asking really interesting technical questions, I am not sure about, but it sure does sound like you are pretty much there already with at least two of 'em!
I guess it would be good to get some feedback from propagators in your climate zone, if you are doing this as a serious numbers/business thing. But if you are just propagating for fun, then I guess you could mess around with these additions/alternatives, and see if there IS any real difference in the final outcome, for your climate/location/situation.
For me, since this rose stuff is currently purely a hobby (I cannot see for the life of me HOW I could ever make serious $ out of roses…LOL), I just go for the least time energy and $ option.
Hi George.
I’m not looking at propagation as a business–I’m simply trying to find a simple, inexpensive method for propagating some of my own seedlings. As soon as you get into bigger propagation numbers it seems that a misting system is useful, but I’m not at that point yet. In the meantime, how much more can I ask for if cuttings start to root in some newspaper and plastic? I’ll let you know if the technique results in fully rooted cuttings without too many losses. Like you said, I think I may play around with the technique a bit–for fun.
I did have one thought. The weather here has turned cold and the cuttings I took were from plants that had lost most of their leaves and were going dormant. I did wonder if that quiescence might have had a beneficial effect on rapid callus formation but it is purely speculation.
Hi Julie.
Fair enough, I kinda guessed you were propagating some of your own babies…that’s all great to hear.
I used this system the first season I played with it in our winter to root R.fortuniana, but I have played with it all round the year and found it still works ok!
I’m real happy if it proves a whole lot easier for your purposes.
Now that I think of it, I once about 12 years ago happened to visit a nursery in the outskirts of Sydney, where the operator (different to the guy mentioned further up this thread) showed me a larger scale application / version of this where he was pre-callousing long canes of rootstock which were destined to make very tall grafted weeping tree-roses.
From memory he was not even using newspaper only plastic wrapping…but it was soooo long ago and I was not there for that purpose, just happened to notice what he was doing!
So the basic principle seems to have some commercial application at least in my country.
I did this method while moving this past late summer on several long cuttings of Yellow Brick Road out of fear that the current commercial market would render this excellent rose extinct within a decade. It was a 100% take and it worked out well because I forgot about them due to the move. They are currently rooting out in 2’ tall x 5" diameter cylindrical vases I bought for a few bucks each. I think I used cactus mix, which is mainly pumice and bark mulch, because I had some left over and I knew it would work. I then sealed the tops with plastic. And, ta-dah, instant greenhouses on the window sill. Its cool cause you can watch the roots grow through the glass 
Next, I need to find something to insulate the glass with though because it should snow any day now =(
I think that it helps that Yellow Brick Road is heavily wichurana influenced. I am guessing that a rose such as Sue Lawley would be far more difficult. This, obviously, should be an awareness to any of us that design our hybrids out in our minds. It is ultimately helpful if the design, so to speak, allows for easy rooting. Anything less would be self-defeating. The design would be pointless since getting it out in the world would be futile. I think this is one of the greatest lessons to be learned from Knock Out’s success.
Thanks a million George!!!
I’m usually terrible at getting cuttings to succeed, but just look at the great start these are making.
Hi Tom. I am real happy for you!!
Hmm, I’m going to have to try this!
Normally, since I often have such bad luck with cuttings rotting, I’ve gone the opposite direction – taking the cuttings in a very softwood stage where the top leaf is still expanding (pinching out anything even younger). I set that type of cutting with its base in just a little water in a cup where it will get light, wait for callus to form (usually pretty fast), and then stick as usual. They frequently spend so little time in the rooting bag that fungus and disease isn’t an issue. However, I think your method is probably better for a wider range of rose varieties that won’t go so easily!
You know, with this newspaper method, the entire wrapped parcel can be sent in the post already wrapped the correct way, and the recipient doesn’t even have to re-do the wrapping upon receipt. I did this last year for someone on this forum, and it seemed to work without hassle.
Also, I wonder if it is a good way to induce white roots in a clean and rapid way. for the purpose of root tip squash/chromosome counts?!