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Once you have planted a magnificent rose on your garden plot, you will probably want to propagate it in order to create a new flower arrangement and share its beauty with friends or acquaintances. The easiest way to propagate roses is by cuttings. It can be carried out in spring or autumn. Cutting roses in the fall at home will not be difficult if you know and use the basic rules for this procedure. We’ll talk about them in more detail later in the article.
Advantages of cuttings
A gardener can propagate roses in his garden in two ways: by cuttings or grafting. Moreover, cuttings are the preferred method, since it has a number of comparative advantages:
- Roses grown from cuttings have a modest-sized but well-developed root system, which makes caring for the plant easier.
- Plants obtained by cuttings tolerate cold winters better.
- When the above-ground part of the rose freezes, its cutting will produce a full-fledged, varietal shoot from the lower dormant bud.
- Cuttings are very easy to get, because they are, in fact, waste from autumn pruning of plants.
- By cutting, you can obtain planting material from a magnificent bouquet of roses, preserving the memory of the gift for a long time.
- Cuttings can be used for almost all types of roses. In this case, difficulties can arise only when propagating park and remontant varieties of this “prickly beauty”.
- Roses grown from cuttings have a long life cycle.
Thus, if the question arises about propagating roses, then you should not hesitate, because it is much easier and more effective to do this using cuttings. The only “delicate” point in this case will be the preservation of the crop in the first winter after the sprouts appear. Young and not yet fully rooted seedlings should be well covered to prevent them from freezing.
Preparation of cuttings
You can cut roses in spring and summer, when the plant is about to bloom or is about to shed its magnificent petals. You can also effectively propagate roses by cuttings in late autumn: in the last days of October - the first ten days of November. It is at this time that it is recommended to prune plants in the garden, which means that planting material can be obtained without any problems.
Cutting cuttings consists of the following steps:
- from the total number of shoots, you need to select mature, healthy specimens, 4-5 mm thick;
- rose shoots should be cut into pieces, leaving 3-5 well-developed buds on each of them;
- the upper cut should be made straight 2 cm above the outer bud. The lower cut on the shoot must be made oblique directly under the lower bud;
- Remove the lower leaves from the cutting and leave a few upper leaves. It is also recommended to cut the remaining leaves in half.
Important! Cuts on the cuttings should be made with sharp garden pruners, which have been previously disinfected with a manganese or alcohol solution.
As can be seen from the description, the process of preparing cuttings itself is quite simple and will not cause any difficulties even for an inexperienced gardener. Also, a fairly detailed description of the preparation of cuttings and a clear example of the manipulation can be found in the video:
Rooting cuttings
Having prepared the rose cuttings, you can begin to root them. This rather complex process consists of a number of important points that you definitely need to know about:
Soil preparation
Rose cuttings must be rooted in well-drained, nutritious soil. It must be prepared from sand, humus and turf soil. So, the optimal composition of the soil includes 2 parts of earth, and 1 part of sand and humus. Clean river sand will also be needed for rooting. It is poured in a layer of 3-5 cm on top of the nutrient soil. River sand will provide the necessary air circulation and drainage.
The prepared soil is filled into small plastic containers, the bottom of which has drainage holes. If necessary, you can use water bottles or plastic buckets or containers at home.
Planting cuttings in the ground and optimal conditions for rooting
Before planting a rose cutting in the ground, it is recommended to treat its lower cut with Kornevin or another growth stimulator. This will speed up the root growth process. In the absence of such a special preparation, you can also successfully root a rose cutting, although it will take a little longer.
The rose cutting is embedded in the top layer of sand by 1.5-2 cm. As it grows, the roots will go deeper into the soil and begin to feed from the lower layer of fertile soil. It is recommended to plant the cutting at a slight angle to the soil surface. The distances between seedlings in one container must be at least 8 cm. After planting the cuttings, the soil must be slightly moistened by spraying the top layer with a spray bottle.
Further root growth directly depends on the conditions in which the plant will be located. So, for the first 3 weeks, rose cuttings should be kept in conditions with a humidity of 80-90%. It will be possible to maintain such humidity in a greenhouse. To create it, you can cover the container with film or a transparent plastic lid. It is necessary to spray the plant and soil inside the greenhouse once every 2-3 days. In the evening and morning hours, the greenhouse can be ventilated. During the day, it is recommended to hide pots of roses from direct sunlight to avoid burns.
After 3 weeks, the warm and fairly humid microclimate should be changed. Place pots with cuttings in a cellar or basement for long-term winter storage. Storage temperature should be +1-+30C, the optimal humidity is 65-70%. In the spring, with the arrival of warmth, roses are planted in the ground and cared for in accordance with the requirements of a particular variety.
The given rooting method is quite simple. It is what gardeners most often use to propagate roses in their gardens. If all rules for rooting and preparing cuttings are followed, the probability of survival of each seedling is very, very high.It is worth noting that cuttings can be rooted in this way not only in pots, but also in the garden, but in this case you need to take care of good and reliable shelter for the winter.
Rooting cuttings in potatoes
Throughout the history of growing roses, many different ways of rooting cuttings have been invented. One of them is to use potatoes. The tubers of this vegetable contain many useful substances and are a source of moisture and food for the cuttings. You need to use fresh and healthy tubers, a plastic pot and some fertile soil.
The eyes should be removed from the surface of the potatoes. The rose cuttings themselves are prepared in compliance with the above rules. The prepared planting material is treated with “Kornevin” and the lower part of the cutting is stuck into a potato tuber. You can first make a small hole in the potato so that the stalk does not break.
For rooting you will also need a plastic container and nutrient soil. It is necessary to pour a drainage layer of expanded clay onto the bottom of the container. Embed potatoes with shoots into the top layer of nutrient soil and lightly water them. For faster rooting, it is recommended to cover the plantings with polyethylene or plastic to create a greenhouse effect.
An example of how to root a rose cutting in a potato is shown in the video. An experienced gardener will not only tell you, but also show by example the process of rooting cuttings.
Rooting bouquet roses
Probably, every woman is pleased to receive bouquets of roses as a gift, but, unfortunately, beautiful and bright buds do not please the eye for long. You can preserve memories and decorate your garden with new plants by rooting bouquet roses.They reproduce in various ways. The two options above are also suitable for rooting, but there are some features:
- Only fresh roses that have not been “preserved” with various additives for long-term transportation and storage in the store are suitable for rooting;
- Slightly wilted roses with wrinkled stems are not suitable for breeding. They will soon simply begin to turn black;
- cuttings should be dark green with no signs of damage or disease.
You can root bouquet roses as follows:
- The cuttings prepared according to the above rules must be placed in a glass of water.
- Cover the shoots with a plastic bag, tie it loosely, leaving a small hole for air access.
- Place the container with the plants under a fluorescent lamp. As soon as fresh leaves appear on the shoot, it is trimmed again, leaving a few developing buds.
- Place the growing cuttings in a dark glass jar filled with water. Place a transparent plastic bag over the plant.
- After about a month, roots will begin to appear on the shoot. When their length is 1 cm, the plants can be planted in nutrient soil.
The proposed method of rooting a rose in the fall is quite lengthy and requires patience and care from the gardener. At the same time, the rooting result is always excellent, because as a result of such manipulations, half of the propagating seedlings will go to the flowerbed in the spring. Another way to root bouquet roses in newsprint can be found in the video:
No wonder the rose is called the queen of the garden. Its beauty and grandeur involuntarily attracts the gaze of any person.Many gardeners strive to create a magnificent rose garden that will delight and surprise family, friends and just passers-by. For these purposes, there is no need to buy a lot of seedlings, because propagating roses from cuttings in the fall will not be difficult and will not take much time. If you do everything correctly during the propagation process, you can acquire many young plants, and each gifted bouquet or cutting from a neighbor will become another decoration of the garden from the general collection of roses.
