Rooting roses from cut flowers?

[MaryMary]

At work, we were selling cut roses for Valentine's Day. The ones that did not sell by three days later, my manager told me I could have. That day, I cut about 3 inches of stem from 9 of them, and they have perked up. (I have 3 white, 3 pink, and 3 red. I also have about a dozen others that I didn't trim - - they're a little worse for wear.)

Is there any use in trying to root them? I've watched several YouTube videos which say you can, but I figured I'd ask - the videos all contradict each other, so I'm confused.

I've decided that I am not going to go out and buy new rooting compound. (I have Rootone®.) I found a video that said if you don't have rooting compound, you can use cinnamon or honey.

Some say that you can root them in water, but you can't use a clear cup. One said to stir a little rooting compound in the water. One said to use aquarium water. Some say you have to root them in soil, others recommend sand. (A couple people drill holes in potatoes, and root them in the potato.) One video said to put a tablespoon of Epsom salt over the top of the soil.

Some videos say to trim them just below the node, the node will make roots. Others say nothing about the node, but you have to scrape off the outer layer on the bottom inch of the stem. Some say to use green stems, others say to use semi-woody stems.

Some say to cut all the leaves off. Some say to cut all the leaves in half. Or cut all but two off, and cut them in half...


What am I doing here??


Is there a chance they'll root? I'm always up for an experiment, I just need to know what to try!!

 

[alp]

You just have to try or it depends on the vigour of the roses you have available. I sometimes put the water cress stalks I bought in a bag inside water to regrow it. Sometimes they do live, sometimes they don't. It probably hinges on a lot of factors such as temperature, light, vigour of the cuttings and medium.

 

[Silentrunning]

At work, we were selling cut roses for Valentine's Day. The ones that did not sell by three days later, my manager told me I could have. That day, I cut about 3 inches of stem from 9 of them, and they have perked up. (I have 3 white, 3 pink, and 3 red. I also have about a dozen others that I didn't trim - - they're a little worse for wear.)

Is there any use in trying to root them? I've watched several YouTube videos which say you can, but I figured I'd ask - the videos all contradict each other, so I'm confused.

I've decided that I am not going to go out and buy new rooting compound. (I have Rootone®.) I found a video that said if you don't have rooting compound, you can use cinnamon or honey.

Some say that you can root them in water, but you can't use a clear cup. One said to stir a little rooting compound in the water. One said to use aquarium water. Some say you have to root them in soil, others recommend sand. (A couple people drill holes in potatoes, and root them in the potato.) One video said to put a tablespoon of Epsom salt over the top of the soil.

Some videos say to trim them just below the node, the node will make roots. Others say nothing about the node, but you have to scrape off the outer layer on the bottom inch of the stem. Some say to use green stems, others say to use semi-woody stems.

Some say to cut all the leaves off. Some say to cut all the leaves in half. Or cut all but two off, and cut them in half...


What am I doing here??


Is there a chance they'll root? I'm always up for an experiment, I just need to know what to try!!

It sounds like you have all the makings of a great experiment! The best part is it won't cost you a fortune. If you go forward with this, please keep us posted. I have a rose bush I would love to clone and make into a hedgerow.

 

[alp]

It sounds like you have all the makings of a great experiment! The best part is it won't cost you a fortune. If you go forward with this, please keep us posted. I have a rose bush I would love to clone and make into a hedgerow.

You can bend gently a branch and layer it in the soil. It will definitely work as I have done this with clematis and roses.

 

[marlingardener]

The method Alp mentioned is called "pegging" and it does work, especially with climbing or pillar roses. I bend a cane down, scrape a bit off the area that touches soil, place a rock or upside down U shaped wire to keep the cane in contact with the soil, and wait (and wait, and wait).
I think the operative word in MaryMary's post is "cut" roses. These roses undoubtedly came from a greenhouse and are hybrids. Hybrids, if rooted, are generally pretty weak.
Still, if we don't try, we never succeed!

 

[alp]

Yes, that's the method. I always use a brick or a big stone. I had several clematises with this method. With cut roses, they might have lost their vigour after several days in water, not to mention the journey from probably Kenya!

 

[Sheal]

The method Alp mentioned is called "pegging" and it does work

We call it 'layering' here Marlingardener and yes you're right it does work.

The easy way but possibly not quite as successful is to take cuttings about the length and thickness of a pencil and just push them two to three inches into garden soil. They will take some while to root and not all will take. Again nothing really lost by trying.

I agree about the hybrids they usually mature as weak plants, if they root.

 

[MaryMary]

It sounds like you have all the makings of a great experiment! The best part is it won't cost you a fortune. If you go forward with this, please keep us posted.

So far, I have started with two of the reds. I found they had very tiny new leaves coming out on the stem. So, I cut both at an angle, below a node. One directly below, and the other about an inch. The one I cut an inch below, I scraped off the outer layer of the stem. I had wanted to leave at least one or two leaves to absorb sunlight, but they all fell off on their own while I was cutting them. I think that is probably not a good sign. I put them in water, in an opaque cup, in a window that gets morning sun. It's the window I always put plant cutting in to root in water, so it's been good for other things!

I'm starting working both jobs now, so I'll have to take notes on what I do with the rest, and get back to you on my findings later. (I imagine it'll take them a couple weeks to root, but I ought to know if they are dying sooner.)

Wish me luck!

 

[MaryMary]

I have started with two of the reds. I found they had very tiny new leaves coming out on the stem. So, I cut both at an angle, below a node. One directly below, and the other about an inch. The one I cut an inch below, I scraped off the outer layer of the stem.

The experiment is officially over.

I cut all of the flowers, and they were very strange looking inside. I'd describe them as like the spongy inside of a radish that has been allowed to grow too big. "Pithy looking," is what my mother would have said. One more of the reds was not too bad (it also had tiny leaves,) so I cut it straight across, about an inch below a node. It was the first one to die.

The two I cut on an angle got me fairly excited. The leaves grew more than an inch and were very healthy looking. I looked closely at the cut stems and saw what I thought were tiny roots starting. Then the water evaporated in the cup enough that I had to add new water. I used the same type of water I started them in, (tap water which had set out for 24 hours,) but they died shortly after.

I don't know if the new growth was the last gasp of what life was left in the stem, or if the water somehow killed them. Maybe they were too old. Maybe winter is the wrong time to try to root roses.

But this experiment was a bust.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

..... At least you tried, love a good old experiment!

 

[alp]

Cut flowers is always dodgy. In fact, taking cuttings is just not easy. Even a gardener presenter admits that he has only 50% chance of success. Today, I came back with tons of camellia cuttings and to tell you the truth, I've half prepared that they will die. At first, I followed the programme. But after that, I hate throwing material away, so I just used all the materials except those without a leaf.

I think that video presenter is a bit naïve when she said you could take cuttings with cut flowers. These roses have been picked in probably Kenya and kept at an artificial temperature and been in the shops for a while before they have tickled someone's fancy.

Having said that, some plants are easy to root, for example, hibiscus. Works a treat and I love the flowers.

 

[MaryMary]

Those are some bold statements, @alp!

 

[alp]

Those are some bold statements, @alp!

LOL! MaryMary - you remember the youtube DOCTOR mentioned by you!? LOL!

I have to say, unless I went to a horticultural college, I wouldn't know how to make sure my cuttings would have 100% success, not to say from shop buy roses. Everybody emphasises that cuttings should be taken in the morning and be put inside a bag to present water loss. Normally, they even suggest watering the plant overnight to make sure the plant is fit as a fiddle for cuttings.

 

[marlingardener]

MaryMary, thank you for sharing the results of your experiment. We learn from our failures (although success is so much more fun!). The "pithiness" in the stems was caused by collapse of the cell structures, I think. During shipping, roses are kept cool and wrapped, but they are not in water and the cells in the stems collapse.
Alp, when I take cuttings from roses I carry a small bucket of rainwater with me. As soon as the cutting is taken, it is plunged, foliage and all, into the bucket. I usually take about 10 to 15 cuttings at once from one bush, have a tray or large pot of 50/50 perlite and vermiculite prepared, and powdered rooting hormone in a plastic cup. I don't plunge the cutting into the hormone bottle because if the cutting is harboring any disease, the entire bottle is compromised. One by one I take the cuttings out of the bucket, make a new slanted cut while holding the stem under water, and then dip into the hormone powder. With a chopstick I make a hole in the medium, put the cutting in and firm the medium around it. A large clear plastic bag or plastic dome goes over the cuttings, and they are placed in bright light but not direct sunlight. When they need water they are watered from the bottom. Some roses I get about 90% success (the antique roses which can live through almost anything) and 50 to 60% with own-root roses. After good roots form, the rose spends about a year in a one-gallon pot, then goes to a permanent home.

 

[alp]

Crumbs! I wish I had read it yesterday before I did my cutting with camellias.

I will try that tomorrow.

My problem is that, marling, I have quite a few roses cutting from last winter and they have new leaves, but no roots. Wonder what I should do.