Rooting rose cuttings again with the newspaper burrito method

I really need to get better at rooting cuttings and since I have a few special hybrids that it would be a real shame to lose... there's no time better than now to give it a shot again. What's worked best for me in the past is this damp newspaper burrito method I learned about from some great folks who shared it around at the Rose Hybridizers Forum (Kim, Simon, George, etc I'm not exactly sure where it originated). The idea is to take hardwood cuttings (pencil thick is ideal) strip off any leaves and wrap them in barely damp newspaper (burrito style) and plunk that into a trash bag.  

 
 
 
 
 

 

About two weeks later, the cuttings should have great callous tissue formed on the cut ends (especially the bottoms). Sometimes they'll even have the start of roots.

 I've gone ahead and put half of the cuttings into very loose and barely damp potting soil (it's about 50% perlite) and the other half I'm trying directly in the soil outside. I buried the tops with mounds of soil that I'll remove later in the Spring. Here's a close up of one of the calloused bottoms.

I'll try to remember to do some update postings as these succeed or fail. Wish me luck!!!