The best time is in the fall because the ground is cool. You can try it is the ground in a shady part of your yard with a 2 litter plastic soda bottle over it. But I would's use the mason jar, it would get too hot.

I got one to root under a Mason jar, yes, it was in the fall. They were spares and I didn't have enough soda bottles. All the rest under Mason jars died almost right away. It was a fluke it didn't die because the spot got a little bit of sun in the am. You should see it now. I left it in situ.

It almost got cooked when I didn't lift off the jar in time in the spring. Then it got too cold so I covered it with something else at night.

I would use the 2 liter soda bottle in a shady spot so you can take the cap off and vent it after it roots for a few days prior to transplanting, then after transplanting cover it with the bottle again with the cap OFF for several days UNLESS you transplant it into full sun. For that I'd pot it up and move it into full sun gradually.

I'm doing mine inside under lights inside now in a plastic storage box.

I'm in zone 5a too, thanks for the great info! I want to get cuttings going from my Reine Victoria to have more! Extremely fragrant and very beautiful cabbage form, my favo! :) so thx!

My mother has a miniature rose (sorry... don't know the name right now) that I would love to root a cutting of. Can I use the soda bottle method, with the cutting planted in a pot instead of the ground? If I keep it in a cool spot in the yard?

Thanks!

P.S. I'm new to roses, so this might be a dumb quesion... if this method would work for what I want to do, would I still need to water the cutting, or would the mini-greenhouse effect be enough? I've only used a similar method for tropical houseplants, not roses. Thanks for any info!!!

I don't know where all the experts have gone here. Expert I'm not but know a couple things from reading so much here and trying a few methods. George Mander's specialty is miniature roses. I posted the link on another thread to his site, just google "cuttings from cuttings from cuttings" in quotes like that, and you should see his name or his site name "Roses of Excellence".

To try to root it outside, here's one method that worked for me that is almost what you want to do. I suppose you could put it directly in the ground like you want, that's what I did when my mason jar cutting took. None I ever put into the ground but that one whether the mason jar or soda bottle rooted. But some have good luck that way. I also tried the winter method (you wouldn't want to do it for a mini).

I cut pieces of cane I was going to throw away, can't remember if I used rooting powder or not, maybe not, and stuck them directly in the ground over winter. That works for some. By mid winter I went out and found mine lying on the ground. I don't know why they were pulled out as I had stuck them down in well, maybe the freezing ground heaved them out.

I did another one that didn't work, but the amazing thing is those canes stayed healthy green nearly all winter. I wouldn't have expected that. These were thicker canes than I normally root cut into 1 to 1-1/2 foot sections, like a pencil.

Another way was to take the smaller clear plastic solo cups and punch two 1/4 inch holes in the bottom not too close together. Fill with the closest to George Manders special mix as you can find or mix 1/2 peat and 1/2 pearlite and wet it the night before with boiling water. Then squeeze any excess out before to stick your cutting. Some do use regular potting soil, but many think these lighter mixes work better for some reason. Then you can "plant" the cup in the ground and cover it with the soda bottle. After 3 weeks or so (or whenever you want so long as you bury it again and cover) you can pull up the cup to see if you see any white roots near the bottom sides of the cup. One that takes, you always will see that, maybe not with a mini, never tried those. Some people tug on them; if they get resistance it means roots are probably formed but I don't recommend it.

If you do what I suggested or what you proposed, water over the bottle with the cap on all around. I suppose you could in your case water directly in the ground but if you use a potting medium, it is not a good idea to water them directly. The ground all around inside where the bottle is secured will absorb the water and it will wick up into the solo cup through the holes. You should see moisture on the inside of the soda bottle again in an hour or so.

But if you want it really badly and don't have many cuttings to work with, maybe that bud grafting method would be the best. I haven't tried that, but the reason I would not like it is that I like my roses to be own root and not have a graft so if canes come up from underground, I know they are not rootstock which you do not want.