up front: If you are in the Pacific Northwest, and have had luck propagating roses and have any concrete recommendations for success, by all means reach out on mastodon @siriusfox@social.treehouse.systems or via my bridged (info) Bluesky account @siriusfox.lil-bird.xyz with recommendations and guidance.

In the early few weeks of Spring this year, I set out to try to propagate my roses. It didn’t take long after moving in to realize (as I should have known) living in the suburbs is inconvenient, not particularly pleasant, and wildly isolating. That said, I also learned I really liked having established plants, and became determined to take some semblance of my roses with me when a move eventually does occur.

Growth Attempts

My first attempts came from looking for any sort of reputable writeup on how to propagate from cuttings. I first found a since removed website from the North Carolina State (internet archive link: Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings | NC State Extension Publications) that lead me down a path of rotted out plants.

I diligently prepared the not-soil rooting medium, and planted a subset of each of my cuttings with (2-3 nodes each) in pots wrapped much like figure 1 in the link. The roses stayed moist, and happily rotted to nothing within 3 weeks.

deterred, I searched and found a few videos recommending both improving air circulation, and giving the cuttings small wounds near the base cutting, Other people recommended trying to root them in a glass of water.

In my case, neither produced roots. In spite of constantly watering only by letting water collect in the spill-tray of each pot, all of my cuttings for each family of rose I tried rotted away and died on various timelines. The cuttings in water remained green quite well, and even occasionally sent out new growth from the tops, but none ever produced any calluses or roots.

I’m now at the end of the season, trying one last attempt before the fall chills set in and the inevitable freeze ends my attempts for this year. Spurred by some guidance from a local grower, I’m attempting a few more shoots with a more controlled focus on humidity, as well as another soil-base.

Rather than watering the pots to keep the drip trays moist, I’m attempting some indoor growth with shoots in the same perlite mixture I used for my first attempts, but using a humidity monitor in the enclosure to try to prevent rot. This is the method I’m the most hopeful for, but still not optimistic.

Additionally, I’m attempting a similar approach in a smaller container, replacing the perlite mix with an akadama (Wikipedia) growth medium, typically used in bonsai if the search results are to be believed.

Finally, I’m taking a crack at outdoor growth with a few shoots in a small pot of the same akadama soil and regular misting and watering. I’m not optimistic about this method as I cannot keep the moisture levels in any particular window, or protect the shoots from heavy rain should it come through, but the local grower I met insisted that roses should be fine outdoors.

Pests and Treatments

Additionally, I’ve been hit by a couple common rose pests. Black spot (fungus), and the well known aphid.

I’ve had no particular luck with typical copper fungicide treatments, but I’ve found both the commonly prescribed treatments on both blog spam and “real” search results of mildly soapy water and neem oil sprays seem to keep the aphids away without harming the plants.

I recently found another written resource which seems to suggest that copper treatments are preventative, but not really effective as treatments to suppress an outbreak of fungus. It sounds like (strangely) neem oil is a modestly effective treatment for outdoor plants with black spot, and other sulfur-based fungicides are more effective as well. I’m hoping this page from the University of California system is less snake-oil than other webpages: Roses: Diseases and Abiotic Disorders (internet archive link in case this dies too)

Final 2025 Attempt

As the season ends, I’ll be trying out both treatments along with selective trimming to see if I can beat back the fungus and get a few more clippings in a few weeks for one more propagation attempt, but for this year I suspect I’m on my last attempt already.

If I have any luck I’ll report back, but given the claims of “its so easy,” I suspect either propagation is highly sensitive to temperature/humidity in a way that I’m not supporting, or is a heavy function of the specific plant genetics.

At this point I will gladly take concrete recommendations for both this year, potential over-the-winter methods, and alternatives to start out successfully next year for methods that work in the Pacific Northwest. Feel free to reach out if you’ve had success or guidance.

Last modified on 2025-09-28