Hi Holly, you private messaged me but didn't include your email so I couldn't respond. I did post a response to the propagation forum that day. I've linked it below so I don't have to respond twice. I'm a bit surprised how few you had succeed and wonder why the method didn't work better for you. I'm glad it's helped you take the plunge! Once you have the kinks worked out, it's great being able to reproduce roses virtually at will! Congratulations! Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Response for Holly

Hi Kim,

Thank you I read your response from the other forum. Thank you for providing the link.

Yes, I did use the burrito method and I tried to take care to plant only those that were callused so I'm not sure either why I lost so many. Maybe the lack of adequate light, but I'm sufficiently psyched to try again. If I do the soft wood cuttings, I assume I do the same thing with the wrapping, cups, etc.

I just checked my 3 and, yes, they all have roots just beginning to poke out of the sides and bottoms of the soil so i think based upon your advice that i should lift them and add more of the seed starter soil to the bottom of the cup (I dont recall what size i told you i used but i think they are 16 oz. or maybe the next size up. They are long and thin styro foam from Smart and Final) and leave them be for awhile longer until I see more roots. At the same time it sounds like I should also start gradually giving them more direct sunlight. Does this sound like the right plan?

Again, thank you for your time,
Holly

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

Kim, your aftercare method worked great for a little piece of cane I had from Reine Victoria with only one scrawny bitty root. I treated it like a burrito rootling and now I have leaves coming out of 3 places on the itty bitty cane. Thanks again! Kit

Marvelous, Kitty! Congratulations! I'm glad, but it's not really "my" technique. It's what has been suggested for bare root planting for many decades. It's "heeling the plant in", keeping it cool, damp and moist so it doesn't dry out until it has a chance to develop roots and grow. Warm and bright pushes leaf, cane and flower production. Cool, damp and dark stimulates root growth instead of top growth. It only made sense to encourage them to do what was desired, that was the way to go! I'm glad it's done what it was supposed to with your Reine Victoria. Nature is pretty amazing (and logical) isn't she? Kim

Cuttings turning brown instead of callusing appears to me to be either insufficient stored nutrients and/or too wet paper. Fuzzy mold sounds like too wet paper. Once they've begun turning brown, they're toast. Good callus and root with a bit of fuzz at the upper end, as long as it doesn't involve all the growth buds, can often be cut off after they are potted and doesn't always grow back as long as the surrounding air is dry enough. If the whole cutting is fuzzy, don't fret with it, just dump it and try another. Kim