I have read that too, but looking at the ingredients I'd be worried about the earthworm castings and humus retaining too much water. This might be an excellent mix to use when your cuttings have rooted. I've read the best mix is perlite, perlite mixed with vermiculite which have the added advantage of sterility, pine bark fines (soil amendment) and gritty sand in a container with excellent drainage. This is just to allow the rooting to callous and send out small roots. You might also use the cactus mix on the bottom of your pot only and let the roots grow down to the nutrients through perlite, pine bark or granular sand.

I'm trying to apply all my readings, but so far I'm not having too good luck. Of course, I experiment a lot! My main discovery is that the soil should be warmer that the air to push roots rather than vegetative growth... and the atmosphere should be humid to let the leaves feed and push roots. Until callous forms light should be low, but increased as soon as roots appear. My next experiment is with dormant cuttings both in the ground and with a heating pad. I'll report back in the thread I started on pushing root growth.

Hope this helps.

Hi vaporvac. I have never tried propagating roses but I will have some cuttings to work with this spring after the first flush. I spent the better part of this afternoon trying to find that bit of advice (to use cactus medium), but I'm finding nothing so far. I've saved several videos on the subject for a long time, and hope to put all that info to use this spring.

I have always just used straight perlite and rooting hormone. When I lived in South Texas, it was humid enough that I could just stick them on a windowsill in perlite and they would root. It West Texas, where it’s very dry, I couldn’t root anything. Now that I’m in a humid climate again, ( North Mississippi) I hope to try again!

Uh oh, I hope my dry climate doesn't preclude my rooting efforts. I've decided to add perlite or vermiculite to a seed starter mix, as mad_gallica suggests, with the cactus mix on the bottom, as vaporvac suggests, and hope for the best. Thank you for your experience in a dry climate. I will know to watch that they don't dry out.

One of the 3 cuttings I initially asked help for has grown a bunch of tiny leaves. It is in a plastic pot inside a baggie. It has been on the porch in bright shade, sheltered by my orchids summering outdoors. The weather will start to get cold at night soon. I'm not sure what to do with it at this point. Leave it on the porch with the baggie open? transplant to a larger pot? Overwinter in the unheated garage? Bring it inside? Sink it, pot and all, in the garden? Use a cloche? Even though there are a bunch of leaves (3 leaves with 5 leaflets each), I do not see any roots yet. I'm open to any and all info.

How long is this been in the mix? Is this in a clear cup that you could see Roots if there were any? I think you were in a cold Zone and couldn't overwinter this outside especially if it hasn't been put it up yet to develop larger roots in a regular medium.

Yes, vaporvac, it's been in a clear cup since July. I would be hesitant to let it stay outside over winter, but I don't know anything about this and am open to whatever you more experienced propagators tell me. So, you're saying it should be kept in the house this winter? Or garage? I feel like maybe I should start letting the baggie stay open.

So how long has this cutting been in the pot? If it's since April and it's growing leaves,it must have grown roots. Have you inspected it by taking it outside of the bag and looking closely at the pot? If it hasn't grown Roots yet I wouldn't take it out of the bag or start exposing it to air since you're so dry. When does it start to get cold there at night?

I can't imagine why I thought it was April. It had to have been June or July. I corrected my previous post, but not quickly enough for you to see it. The bottle tops were dated, but when I transferred the cuttings to baggies, I tossed the bottle tops in the trash without thinking. I wasn't getting any condensation using them. It took awhile, but condensation finally developed in the baggies.

I did take it out of the baggie so I could check for roots. The clear plastic is crystal clear. If roots were long enough to reach the inside of the cup, I could see them.

The night time temps are now in the 40s. It could be in the 30s in 2 or 3 weeks.

Thank you, vapor, for taking the time to guide me with my first small venture into propagating.

You're right. You should have seen some Roots even if they're very small in your cups. How many cuttings are we talking about here? I suspect at the moment they are putting down small Roots since the day length is shortening. Did the original leaves fall off and they are now pushing out new growth? What are your daytime Temps?

For all interested in propagating cuttings, these work very well. I've used them to cover cuttings in the ground and as a cover for cuttings in small pots.https://www.gardeners.com/buy/large-garden-cloches-set-of-3/8593984.html#q=cloche&simplesearch=submit&start=5

eta Comes with ground staple which do not function well, these are very light... I use small rocks which work fine but I position mine close to the foundation where there isn't a lot of wind.

Vapor, I started with 3 cuttings, one of which has survived and appears to be successful. Yes, the original leaves fell off before the new growth started. Daytime temps are in the high to low 60s. Day light is getting shorter quickly. We will soon be dark at 4pm, but we make up for it in the summer when it stays light until 10pm.

Rhoder, I like the looks of those cloches. The victorians knew how to make functional things look good. I could get lost in those catalogs. So many things I suddenly need that you can't find at the big box garden centers or even at independent speciality nurseries. Thanks for the link.

Rhoder, you're fancy! We're just using pop bottles, but they work well and allow for tall cuttings. I like the little doohicky that lets one vary the air.

So according to my DH who know these things, plants will scurry to make roots in both Fall and Spring, so you might leave them out a while longer or perhaps since it's just one bring it in at night? I've done this, but eventually found a very sunny window and put a timer on a light. This room stays cool, however. This worked well and all my rootings survived the winter. However, once you see some roots move them into a different soil. What did you end up using? They also like bottom heat so if you have some sort of heating pad you could use that when you're around to monitor. I have a couple of outdoor pet pads that I'm going to try this year. If they're inside completely I would keep the bag on to some degree as houses are dry or at least be sure to spray with water to keep the humidity up. I have a feeling you'll be seeing roots soon.

Rhoder, I was going to ask how you overwinter your cuttings, but I see you're in a warm clime. You lucky duck!

I have used pop bottles in the past but I like that these are wider and have a vent. My cuttings get a little sun so I need that feature.

I was getting more and more confused by which mixture to use, so I just simplified it for myself and used starter mix. In the future I will add vermiculite because the soil is very wet. I thought I would never see any condensation, but once it started, it stayed wet.

I have a room with lots of windows that stays cold in the winter. I will set the little guy on a sunny window sill for his winter home. I can easily keep it sprayed if necessary. I have a heating pad I can use if I need to.

flowers, I had the worst results with seed starting mix both over the winter and summer. It just hold too much water to allow any air in and when it drys it can become a rock. I think if you try a mulch-type medium you will have better luck. gagal and alana use pine fines (sold as soil conditioner) mixed with potting soil with good results, but I don't think either uses a cover. That mix be better for you since you're so dry or perhaps use just mulch/fines and use the pop bottle lid to keep in moisture. We are too humid here for that or perhaps my failures with that method rested with the medium. This winter I will try the mulch with bottles indoors with bottom heat, but I will wait until they are going into or in dormancy before cutting.

Regarding your "little guy" : ), I use a florescent light to extend "daylight". It helped a lot comparing it to when I didn't use it. It's just a swing arm lamp with a fl. bulb over the cuttings. I hardly water them all winter, but these are all cuttings that have developed roots and been repotted into slighly larger pots already. Have you repotted yours yet?

After reading another thread here, I'm sure my cutting is a fail. I have a bunch of beautiful tiny leaves, but no roots. I'm hoping there are roots in there that just are just not visible yet. I have not repotted it - waiting until I see roots.

Yes, the starting mix is way too water retentive. It's actually wet, rather than moist. I opened the baggie to let it get some air. I think I'll keep it out of the bag and just mist when it needs it. Definitely using a better mix next time. I will look for pine fines.

Don't give up yet. It can take a long time. Just don't fiddle with it. I couldn't find the fines this year as Lowe's/HD are only stocking coconut coir which I also read does well, but no experience with it. I just used mulch from an oak tree I had cut down last year. It's partially decomposed and worked great. Perhaps you can find the fines at a place that sells mulch and see if they'll sell you just a bit.

How is your cutting doing? I finally hauled out my pet heaters to put under my cuttings, both those that rooted and those I did in October and haven't yet seen roots. Wow! The difference is amazing! I water them in the kitchen and when I put them back on the pads the humidity lever really rises. I try to mist them often when I think about it. The unrooted cutting that had just been sitting there look like they are pushing growth. Very exciting. I also left a few cuttings in the ground under glass bell jars as an experiment.

Next I'm going to try the burrito method again as I failed at that last year, although a friend gave me a little mister set-up and I may see what that entails to get working in my basement over the utility sink. It's warm down there so I wouldn't need the bottom heat probably. Too bad most of my cuttings are of varieties I don't really need.

I lost all three cuttings. The first two turned black pretty quickly. The third formed nice sets of leaves but no roots. Someone said that means certain death, and they were right. It looked good for quite a while, but slowly died.

You're doing much better than I did! I wouldn't even bother to try during winter. I have enough trouble keeping my potted roses alive in the garage. I hope the burrito method works for you. That might be an option for me in the winter. Seems like you get more bang for your buck that way and a head start on spring.

Good luck with all your cuttings. Sounds like you have a good set-up to make it happen. I hope you can find people who would love to have the ones you can't use. Let the people on the forums know what you have, and there'll be takers, I'm sure.