hi everyone :)

I'm new to the site and very much a novice at cultivating roses and other plants. I wanted to ask for help salvaging some cuttings I planted recently, if at all possible, since a family member received them on a special occasion.

I planted the cuttings in a pot a month ago or so, using universal soil and placing pebbles on the bottom of the vase for drainage. Since I live in an apartment with few places for plants outside, I kept them inside, in a well lit but moderately damp room. They seemed to take root and began to produce leaves, but they were infected by a whitish mildew from another plant, and I made the mistake of trying to kill it with a solution of water and 5% vinegar. I think I used too much of it, and I even applied it on the stems where I saw bits of mold.
Since then, the stems blackened and lost the leaves. Only part of one remains green, with slight streaks of black. I'm using garlic water for the mildew, although it reappears every few days.

Is there anything I can salvage, even a small piece from the underground part?
If so, how should I proceed? Any products I should buy? I could free a place outside if needed, the temperature here never goes under 50°F.

I know it's a desperate endeavor, but thank you for reading this and for any eventual advice.

Hello,

I'm by no means a professional so I would wait for a couple other responses

Based on the look of the stems being wrinkled and the blackening, it seems like they might be too far gone and the root/bottom part of the rose might of rotted

I don't think the vinegar solution should of been the problem since I do the same at times unless you use a large portion of vinegar

I usually only use a tiny drop for a cup of water and only a tablespoon for a gallon of water

Is there any possibility they could of been overwatered? It seems a lot like the cuttings had too much water and rotted as a result (i've done this too often)

Also, in a month cuttings don't always put out roots even if they have new growth, it's a possibility that they just ran out of energy

I know it's a really horrible experience to lose cuttings but it happens to the best of us
Just keep trying and experimenting (:
I hope that your next cutting will be successful!


As I said earlier though, I am not a professional and there could be hope so please wait for other responses before doing anything (:

Thank you for your reply and encouragement knowing that it's not such a rare occurrence is a consolation. I think I did overwater them, even checking the soil I still have trouble deciding the correct amount. At least it was a good learning experience, next time I'll be more careful

@blackopium

Yeah! I've definitely have killed so many rose stems even when they seem like they're doing well

I have the same problem with roses honestly i'm unsure how much water I should be putting or how much moisture the soil should have (so if anyone has advice that would be great especially in regards to rose propagation)

I hope your next propagation works out (:

Welcome to the club. Both ways as a new member and as a person who fail to grow roses from cuttings. I did many attempts. Some are successful but most are failures. now I just stick them to the ground and don't care anymore. Some roses just don't grow well on their own roots. Next time try to put each cutting in a separate pot and under the plastic. At least they will not catch the same stuff from each other.

Welcome to NGA ...

I am not going to address how to save your cuttings in this post because I think it may be more useful to you to learn how you initially set up your cuttings for failure ... please don't take that wrong.

You wrote:

I planted the cuttings in a pot a month ago or so, using universal soil and placing pebbles on the bottom of the vase for drainage.

This technique creates a perched water table. I can just hear you saying "WHAT ....."

I found a link for you that explains drainage in containers and perched water tables much better than I can.

https://deepgreenpermaculture....

Basically, the rocks at the bottom of your container inhibits drainage rather than enhancing drainage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...


Here's a video I found that seemed to be very useful when explaining what to do with cuttings compared to other videos (:

Sorry for the late reply. With your kindness and welcome, I feel more optimistic about my future ventures with cuttings :D

@Dciau1, that video was very interesting, it helped me understand the whole process better instead of going with separate care tips found randomly on the net. I'm not good at selecting good sources and sticking to them.

@mishkab, thanks, I felt like the only member of the second one for a while will do.

@RoseBlush1, thank you, very clear article. It's actually a relief to know, less counterproductive work for me next time, and I really prefer to understand what I did wrong. I'll use a better soil mix in the future.


The cuttings have completely blackened, tomorrow I'll dig them up and see if they had managed to root. For now I'll take care of the other plants in the house.

@blackopium ...

I am not an expert at rose propagation, but I have learned a lot from people on this forum.

NGA is a very user friendly site. You can search the whole site or limit your search to a specific forum.

If you put "propagation" in the search field in the rose forum, you will get a lot of hits.

Good luck.

Thanks!

https://hartwoodroses.blogspot...

Excellent tutorial! Thanks, Margie.

Thanks, I'd like to try this method, looks easy and stress free :)
The roses were sold as bouquet from a florist... I imagine that, if I managed to find some of the same variety, it would not lead to much trying to plant them especially now that's almost December, right?

I use pretty much the same method that Margie mentioned, with great success. I would strongly suggest only one cutting per pot, and I also don't leave the top on the bottle. My other favorite method is to put each cutting in a band container, and place 2-3 of them inside the ultra-large 2.5 gallon zip loc bags. Blow them up with your breath. When the bag deflates a bit, blow them up again. I'd say I get equal results with both methods.

blackopium said:Thank you for your reply and encouragement knowing that it's not such a rare occurrence is a consolation. I think I did overwater them, even checking the soil I still have trouble deciding the correct amount. At least it was a good learning experience, next time I'll be more careful

"Not such a rare occurrence" is a major understatement. I, for one, have propagated a vast and varied collection of rotten sticks. Nonetheless, I've persisted.

"Propagated rotten sticks" - I love it!

I use clear plastic 16 oz. cups with a drainage hole punched in the bottom. For one thing you can SEE the soil to see if it needs water. For another you can see when roots form so you do not have to tug on the tiny roots. Saves a lot on breakage. I also use SEED STARTER soil instead of regular potting soil. It is much finer and easier to for roots to form. And I only put one to a cup. That way you do not need to try and separate those wispy roots when it's time to pot them up. Just pop the whole thing out of the cup and into your larger pot.

I'm currently trying to root rose cuttings wrapped in a moist paper towel and placed in a ziploc bag.

Good luck! And thank you all for the advice. If I manage to propagate some more rotten sticks I'll just have a laugh next time