Hi Jenn, you're welcome! It really isn't all that difficult to wring out the paper. I like using three full sheets. I unfold them, laying them out flat, then put my hand right in the center, wrapping them around my hand and wrist while dunking them into a bucket of water for a few minutes. I pull them out, gently folding them into a twist and wring them out. There is a little tearing some times, but not terribly. If you're careful, you can wring out most of the water with little tearing because of the thickness of the three sheets. If it's more comfortable for you, fold them the best you can and run an old rolling pin from the kitchen over them until they no longer drip, but are thoroughly wet/damp. With the wet paper still twisted from wringing them out, grab the "rope" of wet paper in the center then just gently shake it back and forth. It will begin to loosen and fall open. It makes it easier for you to spread them out as a wet, three layer sheet. Process your cuttings and lay them in the center of the sheet with a label. Once you're finished processing all the cuttings, fold over the top and bottom of the sheet, the ends at the top and bottom of the cuttings, then begin rolling them tightly into the "burrito". Make sense? I've also laid out the three sheets of paper on the deck and thoroughly wet them with the hose, but that uses more water, so I prefer the bucket. My concern is your spray bottle may not sufficiently wet the paper. Dipping or dunking them into a bucket of water does. If the paper tears a bit, don't worry, just spread it out as flat as you can and use it. You'll have several layers of damp paper rolled up encasing the cuttings to provide them sufficient moisture so it isn't a real issue. If you're doing several batches, just put each burrito into a plastic bag to prevent it from drying and add each one to the bag as you complete it. Once you're finished with them all, gently squeeze out the excess air from the bag and tie it shut. I then put this one upside down into another bag and repeat the process. I've usually used three bags together, each one reversed from the other, to provide as much of a seal against moisture loss as possible, then placed them in the dresser drawer in the garage to keep them cool. When the weather is conducive for the work room attached to the garage to remain in the sixties degree range, I've also just laid them on a shelf in that room where they've also worked just fine. I understand what you meant about putting them on the refrigerator now, thank you. As long as the heat from the motor doesn't warm them, and they remain in the approximate temperature range, all should work just fine. I'm excited to follow your progress! Many years ago, very dear friends retired from this area and moved into the mountains north of Los Angeles. She was sad she had to leave the three bushes of Circus she planted at that house shortly after they bought it in the early sixties. After the move, I knocked on the door and introduced myself to the new owners and requested permission to take cuttings, explaining why I wanted them. They were delighted to share them with me. Both Janne and I were excited when I visited and handed her several own root plants of her beloved Circus, propagated from her old plants. She had some of her old garden, where she'd happily lived for thirty plus years and raised her six children, to grace her "retirement" garden. That connection with your old plant is a happy one. Been there many times and plan on many more! Kim

Hi Holly, you're welcome! If you try soft wood cuttings, the wraps won't work. You'll need to either do something like Mel Hulse suggested in The Rose Rustler's Tool Kit (linked below), or the bottle method others have had success with and has been offered here on the forums. My micro climate doesn't work covering cuttings and it's arid enough that uncovered, most soft wood cuttings fail, so I can't offer you advice on that method. If the material you wrapped wasn't sufficiently dormant, it may not have contained sufficient stored nutrients to carry it through the rooting process. They won't absorb nor generate food until they have roots and leaves, so the several weeks required between cutting and wrapping them, and formation of new leaves and roots all require the food the cuttings already contain. That's why in my garden (climate) I don't have success with most until late December to mid January as they don't shut down enough to contain what they need until then. In particularly warmer "winters", they may not store enough nutrients at all, as they never really "shut down". In colder climates, they could probably be successfully wrapped earlier and even much later than here because they remain dormant longer. Mine began growing and flowering in February, so my window was quite short this year. I did have success with cuttings taken from my sister's garden in Newhall up in the Santa Clarita Valley, where it's been colder so the roses didn't begin pushing until a few weeks after mine did here in Encino. If you're seeing roots out the soil bottoms, sure, lift them higher, exposing more of the cuttings. You might want to do that first while leaving them in the dappled light, unless it's very damp/humid in your garden. In wetter conditions, you can safely put them in greater sunlight without the fear of them frying. I'm experiencing a bit of fry now that it's getting a lot more intense, but the only ones not succeeding are the ones I expected to have issues with. I wrapped some I've never had much luck with to see if that would vary from year to year. I also wrapped material which wasn't in the greatest shape to experiment. Those are the ones which aren't doing as well, but most are coming along as I expected them to. A few probably too well! The Smart and Final (great place!) 16 oz foam cups are what I've found the most cost effective and easiest to use until they out grow that size. Then I put them into gallons, but the 16 oz size is fine for quite a few weeks and I'm getting my third year of use out of most of them so they're particularly cost effective. Good luck! Kim Here is a link that might be useful: The Rose Rustler's Toolkit

The Burrito Method requires hard wood, dormant cuttings, after winter when they have sufficient stored nutrients to hold them over while they are leafless, wrapped in damp paper in the dark. The "Advanced Burrito" has nothing to do with wrapping, therefore is a misnomer. I coined the "Burrito Method" in an effort to give folks a mental image of what I meant. Advanced Burrito is simply a softwood cutting, actively growing, but a single bud one, instead of longer, multiple bud lengths. "Leaf Bud Cuttings" would be a much more appropriate term to use for it. If one were to attempt to used the Burrito Method with actively growing, leaf bud cuttings, they are pretty much guaranteed to fail. Too many people tried it at the wrong time of year, with the wrong type of material, under the wrong range of temperatures and repeatedly reported total failure. It takes a long time for a dormant, leafless cutting to root when processed and used as softwood cutting. Softwood cuttings fail when all foliage is removed and they are wrapped in dark, damp, cool wrapping because they don't contain a sufficient store of nutrients to permit them to develop, and, since there are no leaves and they are in the dark, they can't create their own resources. Each method is appropriate for different types of material, at different times of the year. Both can be used by virtually anyone, just at opposite ends of the calendar and with opposite types of cuttings.

In my experience and in my climate and conditions, no, it is not time to wrap cuttings. My success here comes from using material which is not actively pushing new foliage, canes nor flowers and which have not pushed any new growth for many weeks. Here, as long as the weather actually turns 'winter', instead of remaining warm enough to encourage continued flowering, that is most often late December through mid April. That varies greatly year to year depending upon whether 'winter' actually occurs or not. My impression is, wrapping cuttings which have not become as dormant as possible fails because they contain insufficient stored resources to permit them to callus and support themselves until they root. There are many variables which can greatly influence results and these will vary greatly from climate to climate as well as one rose type to the next. So, your mileage is going to vary depending upon where you are and what roses you are attempting to wrap. If your conditions are generally like Southern California, Zone 10, arid, hot, "savannah" type, now is probably not the most appropriate time because the condition of the cutting material is likely not appropriate to permit it to succeed using this method. But, try it. Perhaps you might find it can work for you in your conditions now. It hasn't in mine until roughly the time period I stated above. Good luck! Kim