I like the speckled flower. I thought your cuttings would be grape cuttings. I have read you make them in the fall and bury them upside down. Never have tried that. I suppose you have central air no drips from a window air conditioner. My cutting place is under the condensate drip from my mothers' window air conditioner. Do you dip them in something or mist them?"

Picked up a 5-15-5 liquid root starter/hormone that I dip them in for a few seconds, then place in container with alittle gravel in the bottom, fine sand on top of that. I cut some weeping willow this evening (which wilted almost immediately) but looked better by dark. I put some good potting soil on top to help hold a little more moisture, have no idea if this was a good idea or even necessary, but.....I just spray with cool water and keep them out of alot of direct sun. I will have the parts for a mister/fogger soon and have the timer set to fog for a minute or two every 10. From what I have read this should increase success. I have a central unit that puts cool water into a bowl for the dogs to drink...that would be a cool place for the cuttings.
Making cuttings from the grapes is my goal. So I'm trying to figure out how this works. I'm thinking this will take some time....but I'm going to try some this fall/winter when we prune. Plus the local farmer/garden market has a definate need for nice shrubs, trees and plants.
We drill wheat, ryegrass, pear millet and such for forage and hay...I'm really not a beef farmer, but a grass farmer...and the difference between that and market gardening and cutting is like night and day....from acres passed over with a tractor to hands on intense management sounds like fun!!
We'll see how it turns out...if I have the patience for it...hahaha

The mist will work better than an air conditioner drip. I don't think the mister has to come on that often. I worked in a greenhouse years ago and the mister came on every once in a while not any where that often. It must have had a humidity sensor. Mums rooted very quickly there. The willow is supposed to give off a rooting hormone, but I think you may grow a tree. My mother used to just stick willow branches in the ground, water them and a tree would grow.

You mean I picked wild roses and a willow that would root if I just cut them and dropped them on the ground???? So if they don't root I'm a complete failure??!?!?!?!? :-)

See...now I said I've got a lot to learn (maybe its best to start with the easy stuff first) haha

The mist timing is just what I've read, and I think your correct its more for a humid environment, but don't you have to worry about rot as well?? Is that the reason for sand instead of potting soil??

How do you go about your cuttings??

I worked in the greenhouse years ago for fun and quit when it got too hot. I was itchy the whole time from the mums which is what I worked with. I don't know any more than you except I do start cuttings of coleus and torenia. They root very easily. I buy expert mix from wal-mart use either a plastic bag over the cuttings or put them under my drip drip drip. I know the easiest thing to root is willow; that is what I thought you meant. People who don't want to buy rooting powder soak willow and use the water to stimulate roots on their cuttings. I'm not sure the rose will be that easy to root. Some plants will root in the spring and get harder in the summer. In a nursery that I visit, they use perlite instead of sand and the plants are in a humid greenhouse. I've seen their pans of cuttings of various shrubs and trees in the pans of white perlite. Then after they are rooted they pot them up in soilless mix to grow further. The sand and perlite both stay moist but drain well allowing little air spaces. On shrubs I use cuttings that are the new growth but not too green and limber. If you have any forsythia or crepe myrtle, you might try those for an experiment. I can root them in spring.

helen, coleus and impatiens will root in a glass of water and very quickly.

Epaoshaguy, your cuttings look great! I love to grow cutting, and I give them away, because I have limited space to grow items. I am no expert on cutting like some here on the forum, but I put mine in compost from my compost pile. Then I place them in the shade and keep them moist. I also use rooting compound when I plant the cuttings. I have had good success rate. But, I am limited on what cuttings I can make, because I don't have a lot of different plants. Good luck on you cuttings!

Helen, potato vine roots very easily, because I have grown many plants from one plant. Also, petunia root well.
Ann