The original idea offered me used paper towels, which was too cost ineffective to my sensibilities. Paper bags might work, I don't know. I haven't experimented with them. I don't know how damp they would be nor how malleable once wet without shredding. I have discovered there are various qualities of newsprint out there. The ones which appear to have the longest fibers, hence the greatest durability for squeezing have been The New York Times and USA Today. Both were saved for me by friends. The local paper in the South Bay where I most recently demonstrated the method turned into mush when wet. It was like wet lint and turned into huge spit wads when wrung out. I have used the small, local, multi page ad mailer with good results. Whatever you use should hold moisture without dripping and should be able to be tightly firmed against the cuttings to provide good contact when wrapped. It appears, like firm soil contact stimulates rooting, firm damp paper contact stimulates callusing and rooting. My last two batches came out earlier than the two weeks; were held under just under 70 degrees and had the damp paper very firmly pressed around them and all had greatly callused. They were much further along than the preceding batches which weren't quite as tightly wrapped and which were held a few degrees cooler. As long as your paper is soft enough to get firmly pressed against the cuttings when wrapped and doesn't remain too wet or too dry, it should work. Give it a try! It would be interesting trying some of the same cuttings, at the same time, in the same place, prepared the same way using newspaper, toweling and the wrapping paper to see if you discern any differences. That would make a very interesting experiment! My wrapping window appears to have closed. The roses are far too developed due to the heat. This last bunch were from cuttings I collected in the next valley north where they are a few weeks behind where my area is due to elevation and distance from the ocean. They were obviously less heat pushed and had experienced several rather stiff frosts where mine experienced no frosts and virtually no "winter" in comparison. Kim

A couple of things about Oasis: It is the nursery industry's standard method of propagation, and can by purchased in sheets already pre-formed with a hole in each square. I found some on eBay after learning I had to buy a case of sheets from nursery suppliers. You can also buy big blocks from any florist, and I like it better because it's deeper and the cutting is more secure. Oasis is designed to wick moisture up to cut flowers, and I think it's more important to make sure the foam never dries out than worrying about it standing in water. (Of course, I live in the desert, so nothing stays wet for long.) Different species are willing to root at different times of year, according to the hormones in their systems, which is why some refuse to root when they're blooming, but will root (from woody cuttings) when their dormant, and others root anytime (soft cuttings, tip cuttings). You can experiment till you want to cry, or look up the specific plant and see how and when the professionals propagate it. My greatest discovery is Tea Tree Oil, a fungicide and bactericide, available in health food stores. A few drops in the water ABSOLUTELY prevent mold, fungus, and other diseases. It works on humans; I figured it would work with plants, too, and I haven't seen mold or damping off since. Good luck!

This time of year, I put the little 'greenhouse' containers outside under a bush in dappled shade. I have a particularly convenient azalea bush that serves my purposes. It is not necessary to water the container. Enough rain water usually gets in (since it's outside) to keep the media moist. As long as there's condensation inside the soda bottle, you're good. As soon as the cutting shows good roots along the side of the milk jug, I start to wean it by removing the bottle cap. After a week or two of this, depending on the weather, I remove the bottle and begin to transition the cutting from its dappled shade location into sunnier spots. You can transplant the cutting out of the milk jug when it has a good rootball. It's a half-gallon pot, after all, and in time the cutting should produce enough roots in this container to the garden. If you want, you can pot it up into a gallon container ... but I have never found this necessary. The most important part of propagation is to take healthy cuttings and make sure that they are well hydrated before sticking them. When in doubt, wrap your cuttings in a damp paper towel, put them into a plastic bag, and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. Good luck. Connie

there is a plant propogation book i have wherein the author describes his own mist system. that author has a large black coil of hose in the roof of his greenhouse so that water can be heated before reaching the mist nozzles. that's at least one vote for using warm water and keeping the cuttings reasonably warm as they root. just thought i would toss that in! lol. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mosaic z8 LA (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 11:59 With such a setup you could probably root roses under mist all winter here in Louisiana. And then as an added bonus, you could save on your power bills all summer by using it to steam your veggies :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: tammyinwv z6/WV (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:05 i have been unable to find the mist heads even within an hr from my home.Someone mentioned here they found them for .50 each.would anyone be willing to get me a couple and mail them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: wild_garden virginia z6b (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:32 at my lowes store the mist heads where in the indoor gardening area next to the register, i doubt the people at lowes would have even know what to look for. it was with the drip irrigation supplies, as i said in the indoor gardening area next to the big outdoor area where they sell trees and things. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mist heads supply source Posted by: RoseHawke 7b AL (My Page) on Mon, May 12, 03 at 10:37 For you folks that haven't been able to find the heads locally, try going to this site: Dripworks or here's a direct link to one of the pages with some heads:Misters . I just a couple of weeks ago ordered some irrigation supplies from them and received them quite quickly. About 4 days if I remember correctly. Haven't had a chance to put it together yet, which is probably just as well as the flood we had last week would've probably washed everything down the creek ;-). I also have the Melnor timer, and it does seem a bit confusing about its ability to do a mist cycle, but what you're doing is programing it to do one cycle (on in the am; off in the pm) and punching in a choice of watering pattern, in this case the off for 10" on for 2" pattern. I believe the idea behind the pattern was/is actually to help prevent water run-off when doing overhead watering by allowing the water to soak in between the on phases. I bought this particular timer though because when I looked at it my mind said "Ah! Mist!" (heh), even though the reason I bought it at the time was to keep a new patch of zoysia sod watered until it rooted in. My batteries did last all season last year, but it was only opening that valve 4x a day for 3 weeks, and then 1x every 4 days for a couple of months. I can see where a misting pattern of opening and closing that valve many times during the day may eat batteries, but as ShamanSherpa pointed out, it's still cheaper than a $100+ misting timer! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: patclem z7 (or 6) TN (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 03 at 8:32 Regardless of how much water it wastes, etc, I decided to experiment with misting. I am TERRIBLE at rooting cuttings. I've tried baggies. I've tried jars. I've tried special cutting trays with plastic domes. I've had one rooted cutting out of probably 50. I had the same problem finding true super-fine mist systems in the south. None at Lowe's, none at HD. They're not popular here because they don't have the same evaporating effect they have in less humid areas of the country - they make you wet here. Here's where I found mist heads. They didn't charge me anything for shipping. They were super-good to deal with online. Web Page - Phone/Fax 888-693-0578 Local/Fax (719) 495-2266 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W401; Product: Monarch Misting Nozzles M-1; Amount: $7.40 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W519; Product: Reducing Tee for Monarch Misting Nozzles; Amount: $4.40 You have to go to Lowe's or local hardware store and get a hose adapter, timers, 1/2" PVC, PVC caps, etc. I have mine set up with 2 mist heads, and about a 6' diameter section of my grass is soaked! I don't have mine on a timer yet. Results? I don't have any yet, except none of my cuttings have turned black yet. PS - I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH THIS BUSINESS IN ANY WAY! Here is a link that might be useful: Mist Heads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: fuselighter 7/WA (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 03 at 21:41 I am so excited about the misting bed. I went out and bought all the supplies today. Total cost was about $15 (my husband had PVC and elbows left over from installing the sprinkler system). I would like to go to an intermittent system eventually, but for now I am going with continuous. The water bill is not an issue because we have an irrigation system (there is an annual fee but it is not based on usage). I set the whole thing up in about an hour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: debbinard Z4CO (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 10:54 Shamansherpa -- I could not open your picture! I live in Colorado, it gets very warm middle of June (up to upper 90's) and stays low humidity. We are on outsidewater restrictions 2xweek, so I'm not sure this method would fly. Am wondering how visible this is, or if inside is an option under lights. At any rate, I would like to propigate some rose cuttings now (is this a good time?) My daughter in law is moving and would love some plants from a rose with sentimental value. Is the rooting hormone used just the usual or special for roses? Thanks Deb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 13:48 Deb, Maybe you could call your water extention office and see if you can get special permission, exsplain to them how little water it uses. Yes you use rooting hormone, there are many available. Dip and grow I here is supposed to be really good. I got some of the more exspensive stuff from a friend whom bought it threw rose imporium on line. But you can always use something like dip and grow. Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: rose_enthusiast z7 TX. (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 15:47 Hi there Deanna! It seems to me you've managed to help a lot of people with your invaluable info. And I would like to thank you for inspiring me to start a misting bed to root my cuttings. I have one question to add to the many others you've been getting though... What rose company is it that you get your rooting hormone from? Is it Rose Emporium or the Antique Rose Emporium? I would like to purchase this product as well, since you and this company are using this to successfully root your cuttings. Thanks Again, Carlos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 1:31 Carlos, Thank you but we should all thank AngieAnders, she is the one who did all the research and work to discover this method and then post it here for us last year! She truly diserves all the credit. I just wanted to keep any new people aware that have just started rooting this year. Best of luck all and don't forget to post your sucess! Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: epiphany z5b PA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 9:28 I found the Arizona Mist system which is by Orbit as mentioned at Wal-Mart. It has 12' of tubing, end cap, six misting heads and hose adapter for $14.95. Of course, it is once again cold and wet here,......all of a balmy 56°. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: auntnana 6 TN (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 03 at 13:06 I ordered the misting heads mentioned above from Dripworks last year and they don't put out a fine mist as much as they do a fine spray/droplets. And even though I had a pressure regulator on there, I kept having a problem with the heads blowing off! (Their drippers work perfectly by the way so it's nothing against the company) I ordered foggers from Misty Mate this year and they put out a super fine fog. Perfect for propagation. They are a litte more expensive than the ones from Dripworks but worth it. And if you ask they will ship the misting heads for $1.50. I went to HD and bought a 10-24 tap and drill set (3.00) and drilled holes in my 1/2" cvpvc and the heads just screwed right in! I bought a Melnor timer at HD for $39 and it has 1 minute spray options so I've got it set for 1 minute every 10 minutes. Can't remember the model number but it's not the one on the HD website. I hope to finish my new propagation box soon. I built one on a stand this year so I can move it around easily. Wouldn't you know, HD has plastic sheeting made just for greenhouses that I used! It's not the real thick heavy stuff either. It's only 4mil and is crystal clear see-thru! Hopefully I'll be finished this week!