If the cane was brown all the way around it's dead. It would have to send you up a new shoot from the roots. Having disturbed those I doubt it will do that now.

Find some clear 16 oz. drinking cups and use those for rooting. Just be sure to punch a drainage hole in the bottom. With the clear cups you can see when they have roots and it cuts down on the temptations to pull them up to check. The less you disturb them the better they'll do.

Yes, that particular stem did eventually die. It's companion stem is still green though, but already a month old without any sprouting.

Meanwhile this next picture is with new cuttings maybe two weeks old, and it has new growth! So I'm cautiously excited.

My soil I think is very wet, but I don't know what's the easiest way to dry them out without disturbing them.

Should I cut away the black tips on the two stems or just leave them?

The ones in the clear plastic bottles don't show any roots, only growth, so I'm crossing my fingers.

On the same day, I also took a bunch for the newspaper method, and as of yesterday, none of the stems are callusing or drying out --- maybe it's too cold in the refrigerator? Should I put them out to see if the temperature change from cold refrigerator to just inside the house (I would assume it's 75 around as we don't have air conditioning)?

Thanks for the help!

Some stem cuttings will leaf out right away. That does not mean they have rooted. What they've done is used stored energy already in the cane to produce growth with. That can sometimes be a problem because they are spending time growing and not spending time rooting. They may still root, of course, but it may take longer.

Some canes will not produce any new top growth for a very long time. That does not mean they are not rooting. They are probably so busy rooting that they don't have the energy to produce top growth yet. Once they feel they have produced enough roots to support top growth they will take off!

Every rose has it's own growth habit and that includes how they root. Some roses are notoriously hard to root and others all you have to do is lay them on the top of the soil and they'll root right away. It's just a matter of patience on our part to let them do their own thing.

You can snip off the black tips if you want. It shouldn't hurt anything. To dry them out, get them out of those plastic bags. Let the water evaporate from the soil for a while. I don't do cuttings inside ever and I never cover mine. I do mine in the spring and they go outside, in full sun, with the rest of the roses. I do keep very good watch on them to make sure they do not ever dry out completely but you can over water them too so you have to have a good balance. If your soil seems soggy let them dry for a bit.

I don't do the burrito/callus method so I'm not that familiar with it. If you do a search on here for Roseseek's burrito method I think you'll find all the information you need. He's the best!

The hardest part about doing any kind of cuttings is PATIENCE!! I know you're excited and anxious but every time you disturb them you set them back a little. Just leave them alone and wait and in the end they'll give you the roses you want!

It's been downpour rain several nights these past couple of weeks along with some strong winds, so I didn't want to chance leaving them exposed.

Also, I've noticed that one of my attempts looked like it burned on one side of the stem, like a sunburn, which is why I'm hesitant to let them be free in the Hawaii sun.

Burrito method still hasn't produced any calluses on the ones I refrigerated --- so it seems like no dormancy period is an issue. That, and maybe the refrigerator is too cold.

Thank you for your advice! Patience is not my strong suit.