Wild roses are usually propagated by the abundant seeds or reproduce themselves by the constantly sprouting root shoots. Cultivated roses, on the other hand - especially climbing, bed and shrub roses, but also noble roses - can often be propagated from cuttings with little effort. The following article explains how this works and what you need to pay attention to.
How to propagate roses by cuttings?
To propagate roses through cuttings, cut half-ripe, faded rose shoots 15-20 cm long in August, remove leaves and thorns, plant them in potting soil and put a mini greenhouse over them. Keep the cutting moist, but avoid waterlogging.
Propagate roses through cuttings
Rose shoots that are at least half-ripe, have just faded and are between 15 and 20 centimeters long and have at least four eyes are suitable as cuttings. These are ideally cut in August and planted straight away.
- Keep the interface - from which the roots will later sprout - slightly slanted.
- This makes it easier for the cutting to absorb water.
- Remove all leaves and side shoots except for the top pair of leaves.
- All flower remains should also be cut away.
- Existing spines must also be removed.
- Fill a sufficiently large and, above all, deep pot with potting soil.
- Alternatively, you can also use slightly sandy garden soil.
- Plant the cutting there so that only the upper half with the pair of leaves is visible.
- Now water the cutting thoroughly
- and finally put a halved plastic bottle or a preserving jar over it.
- This serves as a mini greenhouse.
- Don't forget to ventilate daily
- and, above all, to always keep the cutting moist.
- Waterlogging should not occur.
Now place the planted pot in a not-too-hot, partially shaded spot in the garden. If everything goes well, the cutting will sprout within a few weeks. By the way, when propagating cuttings, you should always plant two more shoots than planned, as experience shows that only a third of rose cuttings sprout.
Cutting cuttings in winter
Instead of half-ripe cuttings, you can also cut well-ripened cuttings in winter and leave them over the winter, completely stripped of their side shoots and spines, in a dark and cool place and wrapped in a damp cloth. Cuttings are planted directly into the garden in early spring (preferably in a cold frame or similar), but can also be initially cultivated in a pot.
Tip
When propagating roses, make sure not to propagate plants with protected varieties. If you do so, you will be committing copyright infringement, which may be subject to both criminal and civil pen alties.
