A super easy way to propagate your favorite roses, either by multiplying your plants or getting a new variety from a neighbor. Most instances, you'll get rose blooms in the first season already!
Thanks to our neighbor and friend Claire Sierra who's nuts about roses (who isn't), we have learned about the many different ways to make new rose plants from your existing stock.
We love roses and have many beautiful varieties at our homestead garden. Claire has been coming by through the years to take cuttings to try to see which methods of propagation would be the easiest, quickest, and most sure-fire way to make new rose plants.
For rose propagation via fall cuttings, here's what you do:
1) Pick a stem that has flowered and cut a 6-10 inch section as near to the connecting branch as you can (as that is the spot most likely to root).
2) Put this stem in a mason jar full of fresh water and label the jar, so you know what variety it is you're propagating
3) Take a half gallon container and cut the top off. Fill with a pre-moistened potting mix of your choice.
4)Trim the stem cutting to leave 3-4 buds above the soil level and embed 2-3 buds in the soil. You should have about 6 inches of stem above the soil.
5) Cut out the bottom of a clear soda pop bottle. This is your greenhouse, which you put on top of the half gallon cutout with soil and cutting. This keeps the moisture in while keeping the cutting reasonably warm. Close the cap to keep as much moisture in as possible. Monitor to see if too much moisture is building up, in which case, unscrew the cap to let the cutting breath a little.
6) You can put this kit by a northern window so it gets light through the fall into winter (but not direct hot sun of south-facing window, which would dry out the cutting. If you live in a mild climate like we do (zone 8 or higher), you can make a strawbale cold frame but putting up strawbale walls with an old window or clear tarp on top. And you can line up the cuttings inside this cold frame and let them stew through the winter.
7) Come late winter or spring, your rose cuttings should have a healthy root system.
8) In the spring, you can then put out your new rose plants and wait for beautiful blooms in the summer. When planting out, take care to protect the fragile young plant from harsh elements. You can also pot up the young rose plant and keep in a greenhouse for a season to harden it.
Thanks to Claire Sierra for the rose cutting propagation photos!