Potted cutting, how do I know when to transplant?

10 years ago

I somehow manged to get 3 rose cuttings to leaf out and not die ( yet, I've lost several) thanks to information on this forum from all you generous and knowledgeable posters. My cuttings are in plastic pots ( not clear) 1 is in potting soil and 2 are in sand. I'm concerned about the cuttings in sand, I understand sand has no nutrients to feed the plant. How can I tell if I need to transplant into soil or should I give the ones in sand a little fertilizer? Just wondering what I should do, I can't find any information about this. They were all planted about 4 weeks ago and are inside under a grow light on a heat mat. I successfully rooted a couple of rose cuttings in the spring using potting soil but wanted to try sand since I've seen information about using it for rooting cuttings. Thank you

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10 years ago

I am by NO means an expert, but my experience has been that until you actually see roots, you never know whether they have taken or not. I have often had cuttings leaf out when there were still no roots. (I highly recommend using clear hard-plastic drinking cups with holes punched in the bottom - you can easily see the roots when they form). My gut feeling is that I would not repot yet - if its only been 4 weeks, give it another two or three weeks, then maybe carefully knock out of the pot and see if you have roots. (I think if they have calluses but not roots yet, or only tiny beginnings of roots, you can damage them by disturbing them). I wouldn't worry too much about feeding them yet - again, I think there's more risk of burning the baby roots than of starving them. I usually start mine in sterile spaghnum, and I have had them growing in this with no food for fairly long periods of time with no harm done. Anyway, my 2 cents - hopefully roseseek, who is so kind and has so much experience with this, will weigh in with expert advice! Sheila, I know exactly what you mean about how when one really tries to get cuttings to root, its a struggle, but when you just stick them in the ground or in a pot, it works like magic, lol!

Best of luck to you!

Frances

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Comments (6)

Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
10 years ago
I'm in the same boat. I have some in ziploc bags (started before I got the clear cups) also besides the cups (clear in my case). Mine are in promix with myc fungi. I'm wondering if a few osmocote pellets could be helpful, since promix also seems lacking in nutrition. I think they are too early to transplant to one gallons.
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Original Author
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Sheila I've tried rooting 10+ cuttings that all started out great with explosive growth, and then tanked really fast!! I don't want to lose these 3. The one in potting soil is struggling but I know if it makes it the soil at least has some nutrients to get it through until I transplant to a bigger pot, the 2 in sand have none. I'm thinking I might give them a little diluted fish emulsion. Best of luck with your cuttings.
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Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
10 years ago
rhoder, roseseek helped with advice (the burrito method question) to only use extremely weak liquid fertilizer ( 1/4 tsp to a gallon H20 if directions said 1 Tablespoon to a gallon) or less and didn't recommend fish emulsion. Apparently, we would do more harm than good with more. He is an experienced professional so I'm so grateful he chipped in. I agree this is tricky! Last Fall I just stuck a broken off cane in the ground and it grew beautifully, of course in the wrong spot. I never thought that would work. When I'm really trying, my odds of success seem to go down. These current cuttings are canes that broke in wind and I found fairly freshly broken in two cases, and probably after two days in the third rose. I rehydrated the canes that were dryer first and I'm really hopeful this is really working. I'm not putting them outside this Fall because I need to be more deliberate about the location and site preparation this time. Best of luck to you too!
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Original Author
10 years ago
Sheila Thank you for the info!
countrygirlsc, Upstate SC
10 years ago
Frances, You are correct. I wait until I see roots before I think about transplanting cuttings. they can leaf out from left over energy, but may not be rooted. I remove most of the leaves from my cuttings when I start them.