Roses are perhaps the most beloved flowers on the planet.
We associate them with love, beauty, and affection. It’s no surprise that florists report that roses are the most popular flower for people to buy for one another.
It’s a lot easier to grow roses from cuttings than one might think.
It is just a matter of knowing the best techniques and having the best timing. Propagating is simply the process of growing new plants from cuttings. Unlike with seeds, these propagated plants will be identical to the parent plant.
Over the years, many people have experimented with different methods to propagate roses and this has led to some best practices being developed.
We will share those with you throughout this article.
Cutting your rose stems.
First, you want to remove the bloom and the stem tips from your roses. Next, you want to cut each stem into lengths of approximately 6 to 8 inches.
You also want to ensure that you have removed all the leaves from each cutting aside from the set at the top.
Using a box to make pots.
Next up, you will need a container to grow your flowers out of. For this purpose, we can cut up a foam box.
You don’t need to use a foam box for this purpose, however, it’s just that it is easy to cut a hole in the bottom of one, which you will need to do to allow for drainage.
Sand vs soil for propagation
The next thing to do is fill up the box with sand. Sand is an excellent substance for this purpose. Although you can root a cutting in numerous ways, many people are finding sand to be the ideal method.
There’s several advantages of using sand to propagate flowers.
Sand drains particularly well and this helps keep the plants from getting too moist. It is efficient at holding the cutting in an upright position.
It has low-to-no fertility so the plant’s energy goes into making roots. Organic matter, microbes, and diseases are also non-existent in sand making it a healthy option.
There are two main reasons why some people believe sand to be the best substance for this purpose, however.
The first is that it is cheap and the second is that it is available pretty much anywhere and at any hardware store.
Affordable and easy to find? No wonder it’s a gardener’s fave.
Cuttings will grow roots.
Leave about 1 inch between the sand and the top of the box. Then plug the rose branches into the sand. Make sure to water your roses every single day.
After a month or so the plants may have formed roots. It may take a bit longer, however, perhaps as long as 2-3 months.
Your roses should be producing multiple canes over the next 2-3 years. By year 3, your roses should be well-established. By year 4, they should have reached their mature height and spread.
Learn to propagate rose cuttings in sand in the video below!
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