How do you start a rose from a clipping?
By Judy
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You can try it, but be prepared for disappointment-the plant you get from the cutting may be very different from the plant you took the cutting from.
That's because the rose growing in your garden is usually a plant that has been grafted-two plants to form one with desirable characteristics like growth, colour, drought and disease resistance, etc. If there is a man sized fist looking knob down at the bottom of the plant where the stems grow from, you have a grafted plant-this means that your cutting may grow up to be either showing characteristics of any of the plants used to form the final plant.
But it is fun to learn by doing, and you may end up with something really cool, so:
Take a cutting from above the graft, make sure it's around 6-8" but no longer, and that the stem is green and pliant; make your cut about 2" below a very immature bud or leaf start, then use your thumb to rub or pinch off the bud or leaf start to open a path for root formation-your roots will form there and also at the cut.
Dip the cut in RootTone or a similar starting hormone powder, getting a good dusting on the cut.
Poke a hole with a pencil in a small clay or peat pot that you've filled with a rooting mix-buy a small bag, or make your own (ingredients for home made rooting soil are becoming harder to come by due to restrictions and resource depletion-check your library for alternatives, but usually sand, perlite, and vermiculite are used).
Insert your cutting into the hole making sure the cutting is in the pot deep enough for the rubbed/pinched bud/leaf area to be under soil.
Water the soil to even dampness-don't let the soil dry, but don't over water, either. Aim to keep the soil evenly moist.
In a week or so, if your cutting is still green, and looks healthy, you probably have roots. In another week or so you can transplant it to the garden or pot.
Expect blooms the following year.
If you succeed, please post pics of the 'parent' plant, your cutting during the rooting wait, and the first blooms you get from it.
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