"How does everyone feel about trading unrooted rose cuttings? Is this a good way for you to get new roses?"

People trade unrooted cuttings through this forum all the time and have great fun doing it. So, that would be a yes.

"Do you think this is a good way for beginners to get roses?"

Absolutely, if you are willing to learn and have patience to grow the young plants on to maturity. Remember, it can take up to 5 years to get a mature specimen of some varieties when grown from a cutting. The great advantage is that you may have opportunities to acquire varieties that are difficult (or impossible) to obtain from commercial sources!

"How many cuttings live to maturity and how many cuttings die."

That depends on a lot of factors, including your skill level, in what condition the cuttings are when you receive them, how difficult that particular variety is to root, etc etc. In ideal conditions, nearly 100% of them will root. If conditions and circumstance are not in your favor, you can expect you will not get a single cutting to root sometimes. To start, it would be best to request cuttings of varieties that are easy for beginners.

"How long did it take you to get good at propagation."

If you follow some of the simplest techniques (there will be a link provided at the bottom) you can get pretty good at it on the first try, providing the cuttings are in good health and taken at the right time of year.

"Was there a learning curve associated with it."

Well, yes. Few skills worth learning in life do not have some learning curve associated with them! But its not going to be too intimidating, I promise you.

"Do you think ebay is a good place to get cuttings?"

No. Because most times people will charge money for them, and you will find many people on this forum are quite willing to mail you cuttings for free or for the cost of postage. No need to go to eBay for that!

"I could go on and on with questions but I think you get the idea. Having been there I feel sorry for all the people that get rose cuttings and then watch them slowly die. I would love to hear some more thoughts on this subject."

And here we come to the instructional part. The link provided below outlines in very simple terms, with illustrations, how to easily propagate roses from cuttings at home. Feel free to post questions if you have any, after reading the article.

Good luck!
Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting roses at home, the easiest technique

More than half the roses in my garden started life as cuttings that came from internet friends in the mail.

There is definitely a learning curve involved. Cuttings can smell fear. You have to have a certain amount of faith in the process, and leave them to do their thing.

There are a couple of cold-climate quirks. The one is that rooting produces an own-root rose. Duh. However, there are classes of roses that I have found just aren't worth fighting as own-root roses. Another is that rooting the rose is usually the easy part. The harder part is getting it through that first winter. Even for hardy roses, they can have trouble because they are just babies.

This is a serious question. Is multiflora a weed where you are? A lot of the easiest roses to root are multiflora hybrids of some sort. However, there are temperature and soil limits to where they grow well.

Thanks for the answers and link Paul. mad gallica, I have not heard of multiflora growing around here. What grows well here is harison yellow, persian yellow, and woodsii.

Disclaimer: what follows is just my opinion, based on my experience and what I've heard, or thought I've heard.

Gallicas: straight forward to root, but often fairly slow. They sucker, so most people with established plants are happier with sending suckers during planting season instead of cuttings during the summer. While rootable by the inexperienced, they aren't really good confidence builders. Once rooted, they can go out the next spring. and after a couple of years become nice, well established plants.

Albas: we've never managed to succeed with rooting albas. They are one of the notoriously difficult classes.

Damasks: like gallicas, except as a group they are more tender, more prone to disease and not as satisfactory as plants.

Centifolias: like damasks except more so. Lurking in this group and the gallicas are roses that originally were classed as China Hybrids. At this point in time, their major purpose seems to be as old European once bloomers that might stand a chance in an area with no chill hours. The china genes definitely affect hardiness, and it's not uncommon for these to be listed as hardy to 5B.

Rugosas: a group I have little first hand experience with because they object to my soil and my lack of sun. Usually they are described as somewhat tricky to difficult. It may be a matter that they prefer somewhat coolish conditions to root. The Explorer rugosas, as hybrid rugosas, seem to be more forgiving of what I can give them, but may be even trickier to root. Another group that often suckers.

Explorers: I have no experience in rooting these. I have gotten some already rooted as trades for gallica suckers, so expect they aren't too difficult. The larger ones can take forever to grow up as own-root plants, however, so make sure you bring your patience.

Spinossissimas and Kin: this would include Harison's Yellow and R. foetida. Another notoriously difficult to root class that usually is traded as suckers. Given that a couple of them have regularly showed up on own-root nursery availablity lists, some may be easier than others. Mine have usually arrived as suckers. They seem to be easier to establish if moved either early or late in the growing season.

Darlow's Enigma: this rose goes in a class by itself because there really isn't anything else quite like it. It is obviously part multiflora, but can handle much higher soil pH than most mulitflora hybrids. It's quite easy to root, and has a truly amazing tolerance of a wide range of climates.

Buck roses: most of these root quite easily, but in my climate are fairly disastrous as own-root roses. The hardy ones aren't disease resistant, and the disease resistant ones aren't hardy. They may be a good group to play around with though, since what you would be planting out the next spring isn't that different from what you would be paying real money for from a real nursery.

Austin roses: like Buck roses here. The biggest difference is that it is humanly possible to buy grafted Austins, and see that the understock really does make a difference.

Polyanthas and the hardier Hybrid Musks: these are what you see pictured in the dictionary under garden multiflora hybrids. Very easy to root, but it doesn't sound like they would like your conditions.

BOy! With that kind of downer advice, iF I were a beginner I wouldn't even try!
Lucky for me that I never came on here and read all this blurb before I began growing roses from cuttings! Gee whiz, guys, lighten up!
I have not had any difficulty growing any of the above listed roses and I have pretty sad soil. Damasks are among the easiest to grow. No fuss no muss, no disease, no fungus and pure perfumed pleasure. They only bloom for about a month, once a year, but what a month! Their fragrance fills your entire garden. They grow in good soil, poor soil, semi-shade, or in the hot sun.
Nor have I had any wintering-over problems. Mulch them deeply and water through the winter if it is dry.
For my part, Heirlooms, Climbers, and Ramblers are the easiest to root. Then Buck roses, Shrub roses, English roses and Teas.
Much depends upon the time of the year, amount of moisture and how you hold your tongue (jk).
I have used rooting hormone for some and other I just stuck in the dirt and they rooted. I have rooted precisely cut stems and others were just odd-sized pieces from prunings. Some I took care to plant vertically according to "the experts", while others I merely buried the whole cutting horizontally in a trench. After a month, I watched them take off and make new leaves. By the end of summer they were already a pretty good sized plant. Sometimes I have 100% success and sometimes I get 50%. I have best luck using cuttings I take in spring and early summer. I always root mine in shade.
Whatever you do, don't disturb them while they are rooting. You will know within a month if they are growing because they will start producing new leaves. If you tug on them you could damage the new tiny roots, so don't do it!

Hope this helps.

sweetannie, I don't think my response was in any way written to discourage people from trying, or to indicate that this is a difficult task, but in fact a very easily accomplished task if you are presented with some good instruction. The technique I provided a link to outlines a very simple and highly successful technique that even the most novice gardener can have great success with.

Regards,
Paul

I read the instructions on Paul's site and promptly forgot where I saw it, so all I remembered the first time I tried to grow from cuttings was baggies. I just stuck odds and ends cuttings into a baggie with too-wet potting medium with some wood sticks to keep the baggies upright--no luck that time (but lots of mold!).

Then I found Paul's site again. Round 2--used a deep clear plastic bin instead of ziplocs (they provided the cat with too much entertainment, and the wood sticks were the first thing to grow mold), followed the instructions a little more closely (although I didn't have any water-soluable fertilizer, didn't have all cuttings from spent blooms, and butchered them with a dull pocket knife, and my potting media was again way too wet.) Out of 6 cuttings, one rooted, and now I have a baby Felicite Parmentier putting out leaves on my window sill.

Ready for round 3, and might try the ziplocs again (my plastic bin was catching rain water, but now it's a block of ice.) Might try plastic instead of wood sticks to keep the bags from collapsing. I'll see what else I didn't do last time and try it this time, and I saw another good description of preparing the cuttings that looks a little easier (I think on Vintage's web site--it also removes that oh-so-deadly pocket knife from the equation. Ouch!)

If I had followed these directions closely the first time, I'd probably be having more success, but I'm having a great deal of fun and I already have a new plant.

The wonderful thing is that kind people with experience are posting these step-by-step instructions, so that you have a place to start when you have no idea how to go about propagation from cuttings. If I were in the business of propagation, I'd be more worried about a perfect success rate, but for an absolute beginner who fails to follow directions to get a plant on the 2nd attempt, it looks like trading cuttings opens up a world of opportunities (and the necessity for a much bigger yard!)

One question--how do you prepare cuttings for mailing? I'd think you'd wrap the end in a damp paper towel and stick them in a ziploc bag.

"One question--how do you prepare cuttings for mailing? I'd think you'd wrap the end in a damp paper towel and stick them in a ziploc bag."

Yup, thats about it. Many people use wetted newspaper instead, but either is fine. However, wrap the whole bundle of cuttings, not just the ends.

Paul

sweetannie4u, I appreciate the advice and I am glad you have had such good success with propagating cuttings. I have not and I am sure the tone of my post reflects that fact,that is why I started this thread, out of frustration. The only negativity I see is because of that, the rest is just good advice from people that have worked with roses for a long time.
lucretia1, I enjoyed reading about your experiences and I was wondering if you have tried the baking soda and dishwashing liquid trick that is mentioned in the article on Paul's site? It might help prevent mold growth in the baggie.
I'm thinking I will try rooting sea foam by layering it and see what happens.

generator,
Some people have had VERY good success by simply sticking cuttings in blocks of Oasis (the foam florists use for flower arranging in containers) and putting it in a Ziploc bag. Thats as simple as can be, and often very successful.

Paul

The bags shouldn't be collapsing unless they've been inflated for quite a long time.

If you take a cheap Bic pen, and unscrew it, you end up with a hard, hollow tube. We called this an inflator. You can almost seal the baggie while blowing into this tube. Then quickly pull the tube out and close the baggie the rest of the way.

Also, we always found it easier to manage the moisture in the baggie if the cuttings were in peat pots instead of just in the baggie. Then extra water could just get poured out. Moistening the mix to the proper consistency was always something we had trouble with, since it usually took several days before it would soak up enough water that it should be squeezed out.

There are nifty-keen ways to fold the baggies so they sit up well, but I'll need pictures to even begin to explain that.

OK, Paul,I give up. I'll try it again. Everyone has been so helpful I would feel guilty if I didn't at least give it one more try.

Sweetannie,

Could you tel me your technique for rooting albas and mosses? Which varieties you've rooted successfully? When did you take the cuttings? Rooting medium? Etc. I'm still struggling with these two classes.

Robert

I used baking soda and dish soap the second time, and didn't have the same mold problem. A couple of cuttings that died started to grow a little mold after they'd turned good and black, but it was MUCH better than the first time, when I just used water. Goes back to "if all else fails, follow the directions."

Inflating the bags--HAH! That's a great idea. Mine weren't inflated--just stuck the cuttings in with some sticks to keep the bags upright.

And the cat will love them even more--"Oh, look, little square balls to attack!"

I tried many ways to root roses, with very limited success ... okay, almost no success at all. The Rubbermaid tub terrariums ... too sealed of an environment, not enough drainage. Same with Baggies. Two years ago, a friend showed me how to make my own mini-greenhouse out of a half-gallon milk jug and the top of a 2-liter soda bottle. From this simple lesson, great success has come.

Earlier this year, in response to requests, I put a photo tutorial on my web site so everyone can learn that it's easy to root roses. Honestly, the hardest part of the process for me is leaving the thing alone for a few weeks .... I tend to mess with stuff. The milk jugs are good for other people like me, because you can see the roots through the pot as they develop.

Last winter, my basement workshop was full of milk jug/soda bottle cuttings, under fluorescent lights on a chrome rack from Costco. For summer cuttings, the containers should be left outside in a shady place (like under a bush) -- direct sun will cook your cuttings. The way the soda top fits into the milk jug allows a little bit of rain in to keep the soil from drying out, and the big holes in the jug allow for good drainage.

The link to the tutorial is below.

If you have questions, just let me know.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting Tutorial

I had never rooted a rose in my life until i read and followed hartwoods tutorial. Every thing i had tried in the past failed. This past fall i took cuttings from an expensive yellow climber and a red climber. 6 yellow and 6 red cuttings. Went to the dump and gathered the plastic, brought it home cut the plastic jugs to specs and washed and sterelized the plastic. Following her instructions i placed the cuttings in the basement out of the way under a timed grow light. As of this morning all 12 rose cuttings have rooted. So it can be done if you follow the very helpful instructions. My next project is try and save a hundred year old apple tree from extinction.

nod702, I'm very happy that my rooting method worked well for you. Once you see some success, it's pretty hard to control your enthusiasm, isn't it. The first rose I rooted was French Lace -- and there have been hundreds since then. Enough to seriously entertain the prospect of making a go in the nursery business. Wish me luck.

Connie

P.S. I'd love to hear your plan for your apple tree. I have one of my own that needs some salvation. It's the last tree from an orchard that I know was here in the 1890's. You can contact me through my web site, or here on GW.

Here is a link that might be useful: hartwood web site

Thanks Connie, I have read your instructions in the past and have read about people having good luck with it here.
nod702, Do you plan on rooting a cutting from the apple tree, using some sort of layering, or grafting it to another tree? I have always wanted ownroot apple trees of certain varieties but have not found any available. I read somewhere that dolgo and siberian crabapples are really hard to get to root and those are 2 of the ones I want. I have found seedlings but they are probably not true to type.

I am still reading and researching ways to get starts from the old apple tree. This is all new to me, so i'm sure there will be a lot of trial an error. I'm not even sure of the name for the apple tree. We had two but lightning struck one and destroyed it. My mother always called the tree "an Early June". The apples are a light colored green when ripe with a tart taste. Great for pies and such. I do know the apples are gone by the first week of July. Wish me luck.

I found this story about an early june apple tree that I thought was interesting. You may want to try several different ways to propagate the tree. The most reliable and commonly used method seems to be grafting. You can plant a hardy seedling or two and then graft early june onto them. And you can also attempt rooting cuttings. You can also graft early june onto rootstock or seedlings and then plant them deep like people do with roses and try to get it to go own root. You may also want to graft a few branches onto existing apple trees in your area. Good luck.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Early June

I found another article on early june and it is evidently yellow transparent which is a common apple tree and readily available. I know it does well in my area and I have been thinking about getting one for a couple of years now. I am going to make it a point to get one in the ground this spring for sure now.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Transparent

It sounds like a "yellow transparent". "Lodine" is also like that. The neighbors had one when I was a kid. Tart. But when they got real ripe they went mushy. Best eaten when a little green. great for freezing/making pies.

I was able to root cuttings after I put an upended jar over the cutting, with good success. I also put the pots in a pan of water to keep the soil moist. I did not use special soil mixes, just left over potting soil. I did keep in them ina shaded location. I would not buy cuttings on Ebay. For me to spend money, I think the vendor should have done some work.

I have found the hartwood method the VERY best method to root roses or just about anything else. Check it out, they have a post above.