What a cutting experience

Well, one read up on growing roses from cuttings, when out and bought hormones etc to give it a go. So what to plant in.... I experienced with using a few methods... 1. straight washed river sand 2. straight coir 3. a seed raising mix, then a combination.
4. 1/3 each of coir/sand/seed raising mix 5. 50/50 coir/sand 6. 50/50 sand.seed raising mix 7. 50/50 coir/seed raising mix 8. potato/seed raising mix 9. potato/ 1/3 each coir/sand/seed raising mix. All were done with the usual way of taking a cutting with at least 4 buds, cutting on an angle under the last bud, wounding one side, dipping in hormone powder and shaking the excess off. All pots were inclosed in a plastic bag to create a green house effect.
Result so far... 11 cutting planted on different days ; checking each one after been in the pots 10 days
                    FAIL = 4 a 100% failure rate so far..... Great!!!
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Paul have you tried the "Burrito Method" yet.

Here is a question to both, Paul and Doug, what was the wood you were using, as in age and place from where the wood was taken ?

We did close to 200 cuttings this year. Usually on average we have a 50-60% success rate. This year I have 5 left alive.

Admittedly we did them a bit late but it has been so hot that I think we overwatered them which reacted with the heat and the black death got them.

This number did not include the Dorothy Perkins that we picked up on our road trip. We had a 90% success rate with them. I think you could through them on the ground and leave them there ad get close to that.

roseman wrote:Here is a question to both, Paul and Doug, what was the wood you were using, as in age and place from where the wood was taken ?

Thanks roseman, in regard to the wood, each cutting was taken from a stem that had a flower that was just about at its end. It was cut back to where the thickness is about the size of a pencil and having 4 buds, the top part was cut off down to about the 3rd 5 leaf. As for age, of the (4) that have failed so far, 1 is a 3 year old, 1 is a 2 year old and 2 were purchased around October. Now I have had the cuttings in my open carport in the shade but there's plenty of light.

roseman wrote:Paul have you tried the "Burrito Method" yet.

I have never heard of this method. However I will Google it.

Paul and others that might be interested,
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Just thinking about it the roses I did this year were ones that I generally don't have all that much luck with.

I just found half a dozen Mme de Tartas growing in the garden where I had jammed them into the ground when I cut a branch off. A common practice around here.

Also I did not think about the 50 or so Borderers that I also had in the ground that I potted up before Christmas.

Wahooo, "Houston we have landed", lol, checking my cuttings I have 2 that are shooting and possibly 2 more, should know tomorrow. So I could go from 100% failure to 50% failure.. So cool
Total of success is now 4

As suggested by Roseman I have done 5 cuttings using the burrito method, put the aside and am looking forward to see the outcome.

Paul one thing you should not do is pull them out of the pots to see if they have shot, that is a no no. The other thing you could try is if you have any of those see thru plastic cups,"beer", place a cutting in each, that way you can see any roots that develop.

OK that's an idea about the plastic cups. Will give that a go as well.

paulh wrote:Wahooo, "Houston we have landed", lol, checking my cuttings I have 2 that are shooting and possibly 2 more, should know tomorrow. So I could go from 100% failure to 50% failure.. So cool
Total of success is now 4

Houston the eagle has crashed  

What an EPIC FAIL all the cutting I thought were winners, are all dead, every single one of them. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH surely growing from cuttings shouldn't be this hard. 

Oh Paul what a bummer! Hope you give it another go when you get over the disappointment.

silkyfizz wrote:Oh Paul what a bummer! Hope you give it another go when you get over the disappointment.

Thanks silky, when I pick myself up, I will try again

Please explain what happened Paul, I can only guess they were still in the 'burrito' paper or they got 'damp' feet, can you post photos please.

My sympathies, Paul!
Last couple of years I've had zero "luck" with my cuttings. Mostly my fault - I'm too slack getting them potted up or they get fungus.
I took a large number of cuttings in July which I placed into a tub of perlite. Unfortunately, a lot of them got growth going on top before they had even calloused.
I've had a total of FOUR take. Hooray! So now I have 2x 'Firestar' and 2x 'General Gallieni' flowering away in pots.
Percentage-wise it's a pretty ordinary result. But at least I got *some*!

What a interesting post this is , full of excitement , drama and disapointment , i'm sure that in the end you will succeed  , its all a learning curve isn't it , good on you for trying though . Good luck with the next batch Paul !!

The one thing I can think off for this result is, perhaps the ones that shooting, were doing just that. Just like a flower in a vase, the bloom will open up, then die off. So where i thought they had taken up, I guess they were in the process of dying.

Roseman I'll take a couple of piccies

roseman wrote:Please explain what happened Paul, I can only guess they were still in the 'burrito' paper or they got 'damp' feet, can you post photos please.

Some photos Roseman, firstly the cuttings, some are the greener one I pulled up today, the one in the blue pot, not a good photo you can't see but it has got the shrinking marks all down the cutting. the other photo shows that some get to this point of sprouting only to shrivel up and die
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It's got me beat Paul why you are unable to strike cuttings. Using the method I described earlier in the the thread using coarse river sand I've got to the stage I won't be puting anymore cuttings down as my yard is starting to look like a rose nursery with pots containing roses at various stages of development everywhere. As I have stated earlier I taught two of my fellow members the method I use and they are having the success rate about the same as I am having.

Paul, from your photo's, top to bottom I would say.

The one's that are dead are due to damping off, in other words, to wet in whatever the environment they had been in.

The blue pot one is going to go the same way on my opinion, by the look of the wire you place plastic over them, this could be inducive to the damping off. The plastic is making the cutting "sweat" I think. This one "might" not die if you leave the plastic off and only water sparingly. Have the pots got drainage.

The clear pot "seems" ok, I would treat this one the same as the blue, keep it open. The area you have them in "concrete' could also be making the pot and the plastic a bit hot. As Doug said his are in a dappled shade.
I will give this some more thoughts today and add more tonight.

Thanks roseman, you are right, I do cover them with plastic. Are you suggesting that I should leave them all uncovered? I maybe guilty in having them to wet as well. I have just finished building a bench to get them of the ground. When you say dappled shade, would it be beneficial to have them uncovered, on the bench with a canopy of shade cloth? Thank you