Great idea for a thread, thanks Randy! Haven't had much luck with propagation so far but i'm game to try again with this list. I have a Nearly Wild in a particularly challenging location that only gets worse each year.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Molly.
I especially appreciate your comment about fall cuttings being the best time to attempt rooting cuttings here. I made a mental note of that.
Fantastic that 'Maggie' roots easily for you ... such a great looking rose when I've seen it at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden.
And I see 'Cornelia' showing up again as easy to root.

Randy

Jeri, 'White Pearl In Red Dragon's Mouth' roots like crazy? That is great!

mauirose, try a cutting of your struggling 'Nearly Wild' in a good location ... I promise you, my neighbor's specimen looks great all the time (it's in full sun). FYI, he waters it a lot.

Randy

The first one that jumps to my mind is New Dawn-----When we moved to this house over 20 years ago there was a New Dawn already growing----I now have many around the property and they are all from this one plant-----I also brought a cutting home with me from Martha's Vineyard which turned out to be Dr. Van Fleet (it only blooms once)
I've had luck with some other cuttings but New Dawn has been the best----I will try to think of the others--

I'm happy to hear about Nur Mahal------

I've also had luck with Lafter----- which grows wrll here in the Northeast.

Interesting post Randy-----

Florence

Randy,
My experience is along the lines of everyone else's here. I have most of the better-known Pemberton Hybrid Musks and have successfully rooted them all. My rates of success vary, but almost all of them are easy. As others say, Teas and Chinas; also the Wichurana ramblers. Like Molly, I take most of my cuttings in the fall and let them grow for a year; in our mild winters this works well for most varieties. Now if I could just figure out how to get Noisettes to root....
Melissa

Melissa, the first OGRs that I rooted a few years ago were the noisettes: Fellenberg, Madame Alfred C., Blush Noisette, Celine Forestier and Champney's Pink Cluster. I start all of my cuttings in 16 or 20oz plastic or styrofoam cups with large drainage holes in the bottom and I placed a ziplock bag over the cuttings, with duct tape holding the ziplock in place right below the top of the cup and did NOT cover the container's bottom. This allowed escape of any excess condensation that occurred during warmer days in the fall. I didn't do this because of any special knowledge regarding rose propagation, but because that is the way I received my first rooted cuttings from a generous fellow rosarian. I no longer put ziplocks over my cuttings, since most of them are not for me, but to share and it's faster to skip that step. I have not tried rooting noisettes since then, so I don't know if they would do as well without the cover.
Hope this helps,
Molly

Jeri, 'White Pearl In Red Dragon's Mouth' roots like crazy? That is great!

*** Isn't it tho?
I think it's a downright miracle that such an ancient and lovely rose can be passed along so easily from one Rosarian to another.

Jeri

Fantine-Latour
I got it as a found rose(It was Ballard Library for awhile) a broken off bit that I snagged while on a trip to town with friends. I had been told rooting roses was hard so was I surprised when every little bit rooted.

patricia

(Peeks shamefacedly from around a door) Cramoisi Superieur--and everyone says Chinas are easy--and a Darlow's Enigma from a cane that broke off an established plant. Oh, and I think I have a tip-rooted Alexandre Girault. EVERYTHING else I have tried rooting myself--by various methods in various seasons--has utterly failed. *Exit, stage right*

Randy, I know a guy that has rooted a cutting of Red Cascade that had only one, yep one, bud eye. He laid the cutting down and it rooted on one side and sprouted on the other.
My best result has been with Clementina Carbonieri. Every cutting I have stuck has rooted.
I tried to root SdlM in a pot several times without any success. A couple of winters ago I stuck some cuttings in the soil next to the parent plant in December. They all rooted, go figure!

"...I now have many around the property and they are all from this one plant..."
Florence, that is exactly the kind of experiences I had in mind when I started this thread.
I wanted to hear about a rose like your 'New Dawn' that wants to be a part of your garden so much that it roots easily for you!
Yes, if you ever decide to root your 'Nur Mahal', hopefully it will be as easy as it has been for me ... basically just stick it in the ground and water (shady spot).
Sounds like from others comments here that it's in the hybrid musk "gene."

Melissa, I can't think of a type of rose I'd rather root that those ... Pemberton Hybrid Musks, teas, & chinas!

Molly, thanks for sharing those tips on what works for you in rooting cuttings. At what stage should one stop covering the cup with the zip lock bag? After how many weeks?

Jeri, I'm picturing 'White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth' growing next to 'Ducher'.

Patricia, I really like the pics I've seen of 'Fantin Latour', so it's nice to know it roots well. And it is said to be one of the rare old europeans to do well in the south. And its namesake was incredible ... I saw a real original painting by Fantin Latour with my own eyes at the Kimball Art Museum here. Stood two feet from it. It was a masterpiece. Even my daughter stood in awe of that painting.

remontant, no need to peek from around the door. That's exactly what I'm after ... hearing about the rose that roots for you, when all others won't. Cramoisi Superieur & Darlow's Enigma, huh? That's excellent.

Randy

Hi, Hamp!
There is 'Red Cascade' mentioned again.
Every time a success with 'Clementina Carbonieri'. Wow, easy to root and a beauty too.
SdlM directly in the ground, huh? I would have thought that one would be tough, and apparently it is using the container method. In the ground, that's the way I've rooted Mrs Dudley Cross (two times) & Nur Mahal (four times), and it's such a pleasure to be able to do it that way. After all this time, I still think the blooms (and ESPECIALLY THE BUDS) on SDLM are on a level all to their own.

Randy

OK, I have enough problems trying to minimize my pot ghetto and here I find myself having to try to find cuttings of White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth!

Randy, I used clear plastic cups at that time and could easily see the roots that formed. That eliminated my tugging and guessing if the cutting had rooted. When enough roots formed, (you must use your judgement on that one), I loosened the duct tape from the cup, kept it loose for a couple of days, then completely removed the ziplocks late in the evening. I then kept the freshly rooted cuttings in shade for a couple more days.

Molly

Molly, we also like using clear plastic cups with holes drilled in the bottom.
We love KNOWING that there are roots (or not).

Jeri

Thank you, Molly & Jeri. That makes sense to me.
I remember one time thinking I hit pay-dirt with 'Reine des Violettes', only to find there were no roots at all on the cutting, even after what I felt was a looong time (neither me nor my mother ever had success with rooting that fine rose so we let The Antique Rose Emporium do it for us).
Next time I root a rose, I will use a clear plastic cup with holes drilled in the bottom.

Randy

When I first started growing roses, I tried quite unsuccessfully to root some of my own. A friend showed me her method, and I have had wonderful results ever since. The whole thing is based on the idea that the top part of a 2-liter soda bottle will fit inside the bottom half of a 1/2 gallon plastic milk jug, making a little greenhouse. I had practically a whole basement full of these on shelves under grow lights last winter. The milk jugs are fairly transparent, and it's very easy to see roots growing along the sides and bottom of the jug. (Now I'm rooting most of my roses under mist in the greenhouse.)

{{gwi:221091}}

To answer Randy's initial question .... one rose that I'm quite surprised by is White Pet. I took cuttings of it in late November when the weather was quite cold and the plant was very leafless. Each of the 4 cuttings is already showing roots at the bottom of the pot! (I use 2 1/2" clear orchid pots -- thanks, Mike.) It looks like some of the other polyanthas I have may be just as easy to root. I have two unknown ones that I rustled that are rooted, too.

In case anyone wants step-by-step instructions to the milk jug method of propagation, go to my web site below. I have a photo tutorial to show you how I do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting Roses Tutorial

I have had BR Cant root in water before, after the spent bloom fell off. Carefree Beauty is an easy one for me. I had one that bloomed about 8 weeks after rooting.

hartwood, thanks so much for the great photo tutorial! I have done the pop bottle method with black gallon pots, but like the milk jug better so the roots can be seen. I am going to try this.

A rose that roots very easily for me is Permanent Wave - and it grows quickly.

I havent tried this method, but plan to, re rooting. Get a large clear plastic tub, put a layer of gravel for drainage[maybe acquarium gravel?] on the bottom, put the rooted cuttings in clear plastic cups on this gravel and put the tub lid on. I have bought the tub but havent tried this method. I was thinking it might be a way to root more cuttings in a moist environment and would be easy to move around.
Judith

Hartwood, thanks for your careful tutorial. I shall start saving plastic jugs!

Just getting started with trying to grow from cuttings. So far I've tried one batch in ziplocs, which failed miserably (I think there were some new lifeforms in all that mold!) and one batch in a tall translucent plastic container with a removeable top. So far I've gotten one plant to root--after 2 attempts I think that's pretty exciting!--Felicite Parmentier. I figure if she can root in spite of too-wet starting mix and my lack of experience, she's probably a good one.

Oh my goodness----How could I forget my Zeffys--(Zephirine Drouhin)
I've lost count of how many I've given to friends and I think I have about 5 around the house-----She roots easily.

I have a spot by my porch that gets just the right exposure and I use 5 gallon water bottles---Now my young neighbor is using that spot and she is excited to be able to root roses----she is also young enough to be able to dig lots of holes----LOL LOL

Florence

How about Polyanthas? Years ago, I lived in a little cottage behind a big house. The neighbors had a Climbing Cecile Brunner growing over their henhouse and all through the wire fencing around the henhouse yard. It was amazing! I took a cutting - and I knew NOTHING about roses or cuttings. I put it in some soil in a flowerpot, and it grew. Put it in the ground, and it GREW. I had to move away around that time, but friends of mine moved into the cottage, put up a trellis, and that Cecile Brunner ended up climbing up and over the roof! It looked like a travel poster for England.
I figure if a non-gardening young woman could do that in such a haphazard way, that rose must really have what it takes.

Hartwell, that's excellent. I saved the link to your website as a favorite. Now, I've just got to finish drinking that half-gallon of milk in the fridge!

jb, I've grown Carefree Beauty before, but never tried to root it. I should have knows it would be a good candidate, since it does so well here. Mrs BR Cant rooted in water? Dang, she really wanted to live.

Judith, let us know how that method does. Sounds interesting.

Me too, remontant.

Lol, Lucretia, I can just picture your ziplock bag full of "new life forms". I'll have to pull Felicite Parmentier up on Help Me Find to read about that one.

Florence, that is nice of you to let your neighbor use that special spot to root roses.
I should have known you'd have a history of rooting your favorite rose ... Zephirine Drouhin! Great to know that another thornless rose besides MDC roots easily.

organic_tosca, sounds like you not only rooted a rose, but created a house-eating monster in the process! If that polyantha rooted easily, maybe my 'Marie Pavie' would too. Really like that little smeller ... I think I'll try that one some day.

Randy

Lucretia -- Mel Hulse used baggies for years -- 'til he discovered Terrariums.
Check the link below for a propagation pdf.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation Methods

Lots of good ideas there, Jeri.

Randy

Thanks Randy!

It was a fun thing to put together.

Jeri

If you need a bunch of milk jugs and soda bottles in a hurry (we don't drink soda, and milk comes here by the gallon) go to your local recycling center. Tell the guy there that you're doing a special project, and ask him if you can have some jugs and bottles. That's what I did last fall, when I got a box of cuttings in the mail (thanks, Nick) and I didn't have enough jugs and bottles saved up. Wash them in hot, sudsy water and they're ready to use.

Connie

Randy, I've had the same experience with DdB and MJS as several others mentioned. I haven't tried any in several years (got enough of them, now) but for a while every twig that I stuck in the dirt around the motherplant of Duchess de Brabant and Madam Joseph Schwartz rooted.
Josephs Coat and Katy road Pink root pretty easily.
Lady Banks Yellow roots easily at the right time of year, I think it was in the spring they did so good. My Lady Banks White is still in a pot, it rooted to the ground, when I moved it I left some root and it grew into a plant taller than me while my back was turned.
Excelsa roots easily here. I think the others of that type might, too, that's the only one I'm familiar with.
Louis Philippe usually roots easily as does the local wild rose, don't know what the correct name for it is.

Forgot to mention the Cherokee Rose, R. laevigata. That one started rooting in water for me, way back when, before I ever even thought about propagating other roses, when I had brought some home from the woods, to put in a vase.
Donna

The ones that root in water are really easy - so far we have Cherokee Rose, and I have had BR Cant do it a few times. Any others?

Seven Sisters, Mutabilis, Cherokee, Lady Banks, Swamp Rose all root fairly easily. I haven't had good luck with the ziplock or jar method, but rooting in sand and coir works fairly well.

Some great information, Jeri. Thanks!!

I think the planting media was too wet in my ziplocs the first time around. Plus I had problems with them sagging--due to wind outside, cat inside, in spite of the wooden sticks in them.

We found it was a lot easier to judge moisture in baggies if the cuttings went in small pots inside the baggies instead of just into medium. Then if too much water accumulated in the bottom, it was simple to dump it out.

Good quality, properly inflated baggies shouldn't sag. Whether they can stand up to cats who think they are toys, I don't know. Our cats tend to only play with stuffed animals or things that roll. Fifty years from now, people will still be finding marbles in this house.

I'm coming to the conclusion that in rooting the biggest *uncontrollable* (therefore unreproducable) factor is temperature. There are roses that like heat, and can be quite difficult to root unless they are rooted during the summer in a hot climate. Then there are roses that don't like heat, and won't root under the same circumstances.

This is a great idea for a thread Randy. I'll have to print this one out.

I've had the best luck so far with Sombreuil, Climbing Old Blush and Rosa palustris scandens. No luck at all with the baggie method. I've had success with layering, sticking cuttings in potting mix and putting the cuttings in shade, and sticking cuttings in the ground in winter.

Jerijen----thanks for the interesting link------I learned something----
Florence

How is Grandmother's Hat to root? I accidentally broke off a small branch of her today and want to root 3 cuttings.
Judith

My rose guru suggested that rootings (esp. of the warm weather roses like teas, hybrid teas, chinas) depended on the temperature at night. When the night temps stay above 70, he would say "go for it". He also suggested to always use a seeding mixture - that is sterile.

His method is what I have always done - small plastic pot, into a zip lock bag with sticks to peg it and placed somewhere out of the sun.

My LaMarque "cousin" rooted in 2 weeks, I was hardening him off in the sun, and accidently whacked him in half with the hose this summer, stuck the whacked off little branch back into a pot with zip lock and 2 weeks later if had rooted also. Vincent Gotsiff roots awful easy for me too.

Jeri - your pdf was great - who was your model? Great suggestions -- loved the linen bag -- I am going to go and look in the linen cupboard right now.

Patty

This is a great discussion!

Patty -- The "model" is my DH -- who was not actually "modeling," but
working at putting up cuttings.
He is MUCH, MUCH better at it than I am -- probably because he is an engineer by training, and very meticulous about procedures.
:-)

Jeri

Jeri,

I just read your propagation pdf - Very nice!
I have one quick question for you..

Your willow water vs hormone powder - What works best?
And do you take your cuttings in the Spring/Fall or does the season matter, since we are in mild California?

Thanks for the hard work compiling your step by step report.

Daun

Daun,
I read this very thread last night. I'm doing fine with the plastic storage box method. Love that I don't have to disturb the cuttings looking for roots. If I need to remove the fallen leaves, I use long chopsticks. One box I put the last cuttings on an angle so they would fit in the box with shorter height.. Of four cuttings, one is a strike. My boxes have four quarter-sized holes drilled out on top and on the bottom. At first, not too much water. I just pictured in my mind how stuff roots out in the garden when we are not paying attention. The soil is usually like a sponge, wrung out. Now is the scary part - removing the little plants to pots before it gets hot. I am gradually exposing them to real air that is dry (daytime only). This is so fun! Thanks to Jerome for the cuttings.
Mary

Your willow water vs hormone powder - What works best?
And do you take your cuttings in the Spring/Fall or does the season matter, since we are in mild California?

*** To be honest, Daun, rooting powders have never done much for us.
The rooting GEL, now, I think that works.
We use gel, AND willow water, and Nature's Nog (which is a root stimulant). Overkill? Maybe. But we think, if it works, don't fix it. :-)

Mary, We had problems transferring the little plants from the terrarium soil to little pots, so now we use the little pots in the terrarium, and eliminate that problem.
AAMOF, we use transparent plastic cups with holes drilled in the bottoms.
No more wondering if a cutting has roots.
If they're there, we can see them.

Jeri

My hubby moved my "Maggie" rose last year and it broke in to...guess what, now I've got 2 beautiful "maggie's"...yippee! I'm thinking it must be super-easy to root. (actually, I remember when I got it I was told it was easy to root)
I was wondering how to root rugosa's....I have a Blanc Double de Coubert, Hansa, and Thérèse Bugnet...the BDdC and TB are doing super...Hansa is doing so-so, but it's not in as good a spot as the other two so I will probably move it soon.
I would love to have some more of the BDdC. Would they be good candidates for layering?
Michelle

Thank you for this thread, it has been so informative.
The only rose I have been sucessful at rooting is Gardens of the World.

Jeri I have printed out your guide (Clay is an impressive model :-) and was wondering when (spring, summer, fall) is the best time to root cuttings. I live 30 miles inland from Los Angeles, so it gets pretty toasty...
Thanks
Deron

I don't often find the time to do cuttings in pots (you have to water them, repot them...)so, when I prune in the winter, I always stick a few cuttings at the base of the rose that I just pruned. That way I don't have to label them (I know they are the same thing as the "adult" rose). I don't water them, I don't check if they do well or not, and most of the time I don't even move them when they take, they just make a bigger shrub. My success rate is excellent and they cost me zero effort.I always have more cuttings than I need (mostly to give away). I guess that if everybody did that you could always walk out of a garden where you found a rose you loved with a cutting of it!

cheers

What an awesome idea!! thanks for sharing.

Michelle

I really like the method of sticking your cuttings under the rose after pruning...

I am currently enrolled in a propagation class at our local college. My lab experiment is with hardwood cuttings of Mons Tillier cuttings from February 2009.
I filled a flat with perlite, stuck rose cuttings dipped in powder 3% hormone into the flat. Placed the flat inside a mist chamber with heat on the bottom of the table. As of yesterday - 85 cuttings total - 5 has roots and 80 is black (rotted) and dead....
Not a great sucess.
I started over with new growth softwood, tip cuttings and will see how sucessful that will be.
It is always good to hear from everyone on what works for them!

Hi HodgePodge!

It seems to us that some roses root best at one time of the year, and others root best at different times.
Pruning time is sort of traditional, but I think that may have more to do with the availability of material than the success rate?
My friend Barbara Oliva (Sacramento City Cemetery group) once told me:
"If you don't succeed in rooting a certain rose, you may be trying to do it at the wrong time, or by the wrong method FOR THAT ROSE."
I thought that made sense.
Of course, in spring (as now, in CA) you do have to wait until some of the blooms have faded, to get suitably mature material.
But I think for the most part you're smart to do it when material is available, and don't worry about the season.

Jeri

Delta Daun,

If your 'Monsieur Tillier' is the same as our 'Archiduc Joseph', I think you would find it easy to root outdoors in the ground. I take cuttings in the fall after the weather has gotten cooler and moister after summer, protect them from bad weather (which may not be necessary) and see in the spring whether they've caught. No rooting hormone. You might have success with semi-ripened wood in the summer after the first flush: it's so dry, sunny, and windy here in the summer that I've avoided this time of year, but I imagine it's moister where you live. I suspect that Jeri's friend's idea is correct: some roses catch at certain seasons, and then the gardener has to have the conditions for propagation at that season. I've never had much luck with Noisettes, for example, which many people say are easy, and I think that may be because I don't take summer cuttings. This year I'm going to give it a try, though.

I got cuttings this year in February and tried to root them in plastic bags with correctly mixed potting soil, in a cool greenhouse. They almost all died, just like yours. Obviously we both need to find a different method: this was a new, experimental way for me and it was a crashing failure. Once you work out a successful method you'll be off and running. I've rooted probably a couple of hundred roses successfully by now, and dozens of different varieties. Good luck!

Melissa

Melissa,

I agree with you. Hardwood/semi hardwood Tea's do not need the heat to root. And having it in a misting system just made the stem rot.
Sticking the cuttings in an outdoor or unheated greenhouse is really the way to go. Fall cuttings are more successful for me than winter, dormant hardwood cuttings. Our California growing season is very close to your mediteranean conditions. Yes, it is trial and error...
Propagation is a miracle in itself and I will continue to experiment with my roses.
It is the knowledge we all share with each other that makes us all more sucessful in our propagation pursuits.