Thursday, May 5, 2011

Wrapping cuttings

If you haven't already discovered it, The Rose Hybridizers Association and its Forum are great places to learn about many things concerning roses. The site is populated by a very nice group of people from across the globe and all have great imagination and experiences. One very interesting "discovery" I've gleaned from the RHA and from Paul Barden's Rose Blog concerns wrapping cuttings to callus.

I formerly lived in a hotter, more arid climate, and I had figured out how to root roses there with little difficulty. I have since moved to a more humid, a bit less hot, area and I have sacrificed MANY cuttings to rot before hitting on this wonderful advance. The initial introduction was made by Simon Voorwinde , an Australian member sharing what George, another Australian member had shared with him.  Rose Hybridizers Association Forum
Photographic instruction and mention of the method was further shared by Paul Barden on his great Rose Blog. Paul Barden's Blog  It looked and sounded simple enough!

I'd discovered part of my problem was it is too humid here to enclose rose cuttings in anything. The air is sufficiently "close" for them to root without rotting as long as they are protected from extreme wind and too hot sunlight. Using this wrapping method further increased my chances of success by keeping them moist while they callus and begin forming roots, greatly shortening the time required for them to actually become plants.

I "streamlined" the proceedure shared on the other two sources and found it worked! I took cuttings as I would normally, removed all the foliage and processed them with my rooting hormone of choice. Several sheets of plain old newspaper were thoroughly soaked then wrung out as dry as I could get them. Here is your first chance of failure. There should be NO dripping wet paper. Wring out as much water as you possibly can. The cuttings are going to be securely wrapped in this paper. Soggy paper WILL cause them to grow mold and turn into slime. You want moisture, dampness, not soggy, so squeeze out as much water as you possibly can so the paper no longer drips when squeezed.

I placed the pile of cuttings all together in the center of the paper, then wrapped them as you would to make a burrito. It looks something like these, though the longer ones shown are actually longer than traditional cuttings. More about those, later.
Instead of wrapping the "burritos" in Saran Wrap and rubber banding them as Simon's method suggests, I found simply wrapping them in plastic shopping bags then tying them tightly, kept them sufficiently damp for the callusing period. As long as the bags are sealed to prevent the loss of the dampness, it will work. I placed the bags in a drawer in a chest in the garage where they remained cool and dark for the required two weeks.


At the end of the two weeks, this is what I found in the "burritos".

I removed them from the "burritos" and potted them individually in 16 oz. foam cups with drainage holes poked through the bottoms and placed them where they would receive half day, morning sun, surrounded by other plants where the humidity remains fairly high. I deliberately planted them deeply, as deep as possible in the cups, to provide them more protection from moisture loss until they rooted.
I kept them watered so the soil remained damp and within a few weeks, new sprouts were growing from most of the cuttings. I had gone from 100% failure, to over 80% success with 135 cuttings. This was with a variety of different rose types, from polyanthas, climbers, species crosses, HTs and floribundas, not just a few varieties which root fairly easily. I am certain pre callusing the cuttings in the dark, damp, cool newspaper before planting them was more than half the key. This was accomplished during our rainy period, so temperatures were lower than "normal" and there was higher humidity, so everything stacked the deck in my favor.


Next installment...Longer wrapped cuttings for standard trunks, and in warmer weather!Paul Barden's Blogspot

31 comments:

  1. Love your new blog, Kim! Thanks for letting me know about it so I can glean from your extensive rose experience in this fun way!
    --sally

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  2. Thank you Sally. To experiment further with wrapping, I just put up a large bundle of Mutabilis. We'll see in two weeks how they work this time of the year! Kim

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  3. Will be eager to see your results!
    --sally

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  4. Oh, Kim, how timely your new blog is! I had just decided to try to root some cuttings of Mme Abel Chatenay, and now I see your 'burrito' method. I will definitely try it, since my record is only about 50% using band pots or sticking them in a shady garden spot. I'll let you know in a few weeks if this method works in Florida - where humidity is king, but not until next month. :))

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  5. Wonderful Sherry! I'm glad it can help! Honestly, the main thing is to make sure the newspaper is wrung out thoroughly. If it's too wet, everything will rot. If you have an old wringer washer, run the wet paper through it to remove any excess. It really does need to be that "dry". I have cuttings in right now to test warmer weather results. I'll post how they do. Good luck! Kim

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  6. Kim, I'm so glad to see you have a blog now. I am going to try rooting this way next time. Gean

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  7. Hi Kim, stumbled across your blog via a link on GardenWeb. Tried this "burrito method" this tonight and hoping to have something positive to share in two weeks. I'm very new at gardening but did try propagating roses a couple months ago and it was a complete FAIL. Tried the traditional way, get cutting, dip in rooting hormone and put in soil with pot and plastic bag cover. To be honest, I really don't know if it ever rooted because after a few weeks, I stuck it outside and kind of forgot about it , so it dried out. At least with this "burrito method," I can see two weeks from now if I'm on the right track. Even if my cuttings don't root; getting them to callus would be a big bonus for this newbie!

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  8. Hi DD, welcome! I know the frustration of "sacrificing cuttings"! And, I know the thrill of having the things work. I'm happy this can give so many others the opportunities for success. Just don't forget the 'burritos' in two weeks! If you follow the thread as it unfolds, it will give you suggestions for how and why the method works. I'm sure you'll discover tweaks to it to make it easier and more efficient in your climate and conditions.

    I have a bundle to check tomorrow. I look forward to your reports of how it's worked for you. Thanks! Kim

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  9. Any updates as far as rooting in warmer weather (Florida here)? Thanks!

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  10. Kim, just a quick question---I love this method and will try it when we prune our roses. Do you cut the thorns off and do you put rooting powder all over the cuttings or just at the bottom? Please enjoy the roses in my garden--I have Brandy, JFK, Gemini, St. Patrick,Barbra Streisand and Leonides. Just do a search for them at www.mysisterdalesgarden.com Look forward to your reply so I can root these roses.

    Thanks,
    Miriam

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  11. Hi Miriam, I guess it's time to do a little refresher. I'll try to answer all the questions in a new post I'll do today. Thanks!

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  12. This method does work really well. Plus, I've found the rooting hormone to be optional. I don't use any hormones and last season I got 175 plants out of one shoebox full of 'burritos.' Thanks for the blog, Kim.

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  13. You're welcome Jude! I'm glad it's helped and folks have enjoyed it. It's been great fun taking something shared with me and offering it to others for their successes. I'm glad there are so many roads to success with roses and that I've been able to help share one of them! Thanks!

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  14. Oh, congratulations on your successes! It's a great rush, isn't it?

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  15. what time of year do you cut for rootings?
    Cindy

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  16. Hi Cindy. I find in my climate, waiting until the end of "winter", any period where the roses have shut down as much as can be expected so they have the greatest chances of actually storing nutrients instead of using them as they are generated, works best. I can get them to callus any time I can maintain them at the proper temperature range, but they often fail after being potted. What seems most logical to me is unless they have gone through a recent period of storing resources, they don't contain enough to carry them through the callus period in the wraps. While wrapped, they are using stored nutrients to maintain themselves and accomplish the callusing. Too late or too early here and they appear to simply run out of stored nutrients before they can put out the roots. Of course, this needs to be explored in YOUR climate as it could vary greatly (or, not at all). Here, it is so hot, so dry and the sun so intense, the plants may well use as many resources as they can absorb and generate. In milder climates they may actually be able to reserve some while they use the excess. That might permit you to succeed with the wraps for longer periods than I've been able to here. Please experiement with it and add to the knowledge base. Thank you!

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  17. I live in a tropical country will it work here?

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  18. In my experience, which, of course, does not include tropical climates and their effects on rose growing, if you can replicate the temperatures which have demonstrated themselves to be appropriate for callusing and if you can obtain rose cuttings in the appropriate condition to enable them to callus while rapped, I guess it could work. The only way to know would be to try it and see whether it works and how well.

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  19. I have reread with great interest this burrito method and have with great results so far TAUSENSCHOEN cuttings from Aug.28th.Checked them again today after 23 days ! seen some nice callousing :-) happy about that ! I have large Plastic cups with a dome( hole in the top ) should I plant them in sand or a mixture of perlite/peat ? we live in Maine zone 5a.Is there a chance to even keep some of them in a very large Terranium in the house ?
    Thank you in advance for any help,
    Brigitte

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  20. Would like to add I DID use Rooting Hormone !

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  21. Congratulations, Brigitte! I'm glad it's working for you! Climate and the specific rose you're working with play tremendous parts with this, and any method of rooting or even just growing roses. I would plant them in whatever potting soil works well for the amount of water you receive. I hesitate to suggest any brand or type as you get TREMENDOUSLY greater rainfall and even snow compared to my beach-side, California climate. If you're seeing roots, the plant is going to require some "food", so I would use a potting soil, which would provide a little nutrients to it as it breaks down. Plain sand or a perlite mixture would have no nutrients so the plant would have to continue living off the stored nutrients until it is either replanted in a rich soil or artificially fertilized. Here, as long as I see callus (even without roots) I pot them in potting soil to continue rooting. As long as the mix stays moist and drains well, you should be good to go! As for trying to maintain them indoors...I have never had success growing any rose in the house. The light is too dim; the air is too dry; the conditions are perfect for aphids and spider mites and those nasties come inside the house on YOU, the dog, even on the plants themselves. Protect them as you would any other rose in your garden and you should be just fine.

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  22. Thank You for your prompt response! Yes,we will gets lots of snow in our area,I also have large bags of Pro-Mix on hand.However I still don't know if I should plant the cuttings in 4-5 inch pots or even into the large 16oz cups with a dome ? Do I have to plant them before frost or just heel them in ? Hopefully someone with our zone 5 a could share some information /
    Thank You in advance,
    Brigitte

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  23. You're welcome, Brigitte. I wish I could give you an idea which might work better, but "winter" here means it MIGHT drop below forty degrees F for a night or two, or on the even rarer occasion, perhaps it might freeze (32 F), but that is quite rare. For the cuttings, I imagine planting them so they will continue rooting then do what you have to with them to winter protect is likely what they need. Good luck!

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  24. Hi, this is fantastic. I have a question , would this work in UK London. It is November and weather is not too cold.
    Kind regards
    Nina

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  25. Good morning, Nina! This should work anywhere the conditions are right for the cuttings to react appropriately. It all depends upon whether they contain the appropriate nutrients in the proper amounts and can be held in the right moisture and temperatures. As you've read here, the method has worked best for me in late winter to late spring with dormant material. Friends have found that some roses, such as Marie Pavie (for whatever reason, I haven't figured out why) have callused and rooted all summer and into early winter. My best suggestion is to try it with all of the varieties you want to try rooting to see if it works on the ones you want, where you are, when you try it. If it doesn't work the first time, please post what the cuttings did and I'm sure those who read the blog (and I) should be able to help you figure out what to vary to help make it work. I can tell you if they turn black, the paper was too wet. If they dry out, either it was too dry or your plastic enclosure leaked, allowing the moisture to escape. If they don't do anything, but seem to store like produce in your refrigerator, they were held too cold. If they break into foliage and attempt to grow, they were held too warm. Some are going to give you just a little callus on the edges of the cambium. Some are likely to heavily callus and even form roots, sometimes quite long. Different genetic combinations will respond differently. Those with a heavy multiflora or Wichurana background should callus and root very well. Some Teas may only give you a very thin, light callus. Marie Pavie has a strong multiflora background and she roots like she has it. Though she has no listed parentage, polyanthas originated from crosses between China and multiflora roses. She has the right look and she performs as you should expect that background to perform. The prime advice I can give is to not give up. If it doesn't work, how they responded should help teach you why they failed. Fix the reason why they failed and they should begin succeeding. It could be because of how they were wrapped, the specific roses you've tried, the time of year you tried it, how they were held or a combination of one, two or all of the above. Good luck! Please let us know how you make out!

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  26. Kim I am in SC midstate when would the best time be for me? Feb or the middle of Feburary?

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    1. How was the recent extreme cold where you were? Do you think there might be actual freeze damage on any of the material you want to wrap? The best guidance I can suggest for timing is, you want material which has shut down for "winter" and hasn't begun pushing new growth yet. I've succeeded with cuttings whose buds were just beginning to swell, but not where foliage is actually starting to form. Is there somewhere you can hold the cuttings between 60 and 68F for the two weeks? Many I've corresponded with have had the issue of not being able to hold the wraps within that temperature range as their houses remain much warmer or the spaces they want to use to store them stay much colder. Much below 60 and they hold like produce in the refrigerator. Higher than about 68 and they try to start growing and don't callus and root. I hope there won't be any freeze damage and as long as you can hold the wraps in the right temperature range, you should be able to continue wrapping and rooting as long as the cuttings aren't starting to push actual foliage. Good luck!

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  27. Roseseek!
    When when wrapping them in paper instead of using plane water try using a gallon of water that has a tablespoon of Epsoms Salt diluted in it. This could possibly provide the nutrients in the moisture to sustain them long enough to grow roots? It's worth a try!

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  28. Interesting idea, thank you! Please give it a try and let us know how it worked.

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  29. I found this blog back in July of this year and was intrigued with the Rose Burrito idea. In August, knowing that I would be landscaping around the house, I had a small rose bush at the corner of the porch to be transplanted that was over 50 years old. It would put out beautiful pink roses even in winter as ours are mild living on the Texas Gulf coast. Fearing that it wouldn't survive the transplant I decided on the Burrito method and mistakenly wrote a note to myself to check on them in four (4) weeks. Re-reading the blog I realized my mistake of four weeks instead of two weeks. When I unwrapped the packages all 7 canes had white stems and leaves. Fearing I had went past the time limit for planting, I put them in a mixture of shredded pine bark and potting mix. All seven have taken root put out dark green leaves and need to be put in bigger containers. I am now experimenting with cut roses from a florist shop and excitedly awaiting.

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  30. Congratulations! There are SO many variables, there are few absolutes. As long as the material is sufficiently viable, the additional time is doable. Add that some roses will root no matter what and some conditions permit just shoving cuttings in the ground and they take. You just won't know what you can and can't do with what you're trying to propagate, where and when you're trying it, until you DO it. Good luck with the florist roses! Thank you!

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