Grow a Rose Bush from Rose Bush Cuttings
A walk along rows and rows of beautiful and varied rose bushes at your local nursery is a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul... until you muster the nerve to look at price tags. Ye Gads! Visions of how nice that bare spot in your yard is going to look once the new rose bush goes in fades into a frightening vision of your bank balance. Don't despair though. You can have your rose bush for free. If you don't mind waiting for it to grow, you can fill that bare spot in your yard using a clipping from one of your existing rose bushes. Read on to learn how.
Steps
- Prepare the pot or area in your yard where you plan to plant your clipping. If you use a pot, fill about halfway up with soil and add enough water to moisten it. If planting it in the ground, dig a hole, add potting soil (for extra nutrients) and moisten.
- Take a cutting from the rose bush you would like to grow your new bush from. It can be a whole branch or a stem.
- With your knife, gently scrape off {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of the outer covering of the clipping at the bottom. This will allow the rooting hormone to get into the stem.
- Moisten the part of the clipping that you just scraped and dip it into rooting hormone. Tap it a few times to remove the excess.
- Immediately plant the cutting. If everything goes right, it should start to put out roots within the next week or so!
Tips
- Keep the soil moist at all times.
- This technique can be done with tree cuttings as well!
- Not every cutting puts out roots. Even with your best effort, sometimes they die anyway. Keep at it and you will see results.
- Don't take your cutting until you are ready to plant it right away. The stem seals quickly in dry air.
Things You'll Need
- Pruning shears
- A sharp knife
- Pot
- Soil
- Trowel
- A rose stem, any length
- Rooting hormone (found in most garden centers and garden-supply stores).
