Planting Roses From Cuttings

Rose cuttings take two to three years to grow to full-sized plants.

Rooting rose cuttings is the traditional way of passing along old roses from one family member or friend to another. Though it is an inexpensive way to get more rose plants, it usually has about a 50 to 75 percent success rate. So take more cuttings than you want rose bushes; if you have a high success rate, you'll have gifts to share with other gardeners. Start rose cuttings in late fall, and check that the roses you want to propagate are no longer under patent. If it is fewer than 17 years from the date of a cultivar's introduction, you can't legally propagate the rose without paying a royalty to the patent holder, says Texas A&M University landscape horticulturalist Dr. William C. Welch.

Things You'll Need

• 4-inch flower pots
• Aluminum foil
• Potting soil
• Pruning shears
• Rooting hormone (optional)
• Spade

Instructions

1. Line each flower pot with aluminum foil, and fill with potting soil to within an inch of the top. Prepare one pot for each rose cutting you wish to root.

2. Select a healthy rose stem that has flowered, one with the diameter of a pencil or larger. Cut the stem off the rose bush at a 45-degree angle where the bloom stem branches from a larger stem, with a portion of the enlarged stem as part of the cutting.

3. Trim off the top of the rose cutting so it is 6 to 7 inches long. Cut the top straight off so you know it's the top and don't plant the wrong end by accident. Remove all the leaves from the cutting.

4. Dip the angled end of the cutting into water, and then rooting hormone, if desired. Shake off the excess rooting hormone, and insert the cutting into a pot with potting mix deep enough to cover the bottom half of the cutting. Water well.

5. Place the potted cutting in bright light but out of direct sunshine. Keep the soil moist but not wet. Watch for green shoots to emerge in the spring.

6. Dig a hole in the garden for each cutting. Make holes about 10 inches in diameter and slightly deeper than the pots the rose cuttings are currently in. Select a sunny location with well-drained soil.

7. Lift the aluminum foil out of the pot to remove the rose cutting. Unwrap the foil, and place the plant in the hole, disturbing the roots as little as possible. Fill around the cutting with soil, and water it. Plant all the cuttings in this manner.

8. Keep the newly planted roses moist until well-established.

Tips & Warnings

• Use rooting hormone to increase the likelihood a cutting will root and to increase the number of roots per cutting, according to Texas A&M University.

References

• Texas A&M; Rose Propagation From Cuttings; William C. Welch
• University of California Davis Cooperative Extension: Propagating Roses by Cuttings
• University of Missouri Extension; Roses: Selecting and Planting; Christopher Starbuck, et al.; October 2004
• North Carolina State University; Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings; Erv Evans, et al.; January 1999

Resources

• University of Missouri Extension; Roses: Care After Planting; Christopher Starbuck; October 2004