Propagating Roses

16 Jun '06 1:58 am

Dear Liza, and whom ever else may know.

I have been so interested in propagating plants and the discussions I have read on this forum. This is not new to me as I have heard of it before, but I have never done it.

I was out last night and bought a box of "Roots". It is a liquid and seemed to me to be the best choice. It has a fungicide in it and is a liquid gel. I also looked at the powders but i wasn't impressed with them. This liquid has indole butyric acid at 0.4%. The powders only had it at 0.1% and no fungicide.

Anyway, I want to make some cuttings from our roses. My wild rose and Deb's mini roses. I recall Jack had said that all these mini roses are groan from clippings and I thought, hmmmm?

Please tell me where to clip the rose. Do I take a flower or a leafy stem? Do I put small cuts in the bark to help the roots to grow? (something I read about hardwoods)

I would appreciate any advice you can offer on roses.

Also, if a bloom brakes off one of my plants and takes a piece of stem with it, can this be given the root stimulator treatment?

Anything anyone can enlighten me on would be greatly appreciated.

Christopher

16 Jun '06 6:47 am

Hi Christopher Very Happy

Lisa will be able to give you a more in-depth and proper answer to your quezzie so I'll just tell you what I have done in the past Very Happy

I take cuttings at any and every time of the year and treat them all the same Embarassed

that is, cut a pieces of stem approx 6-8" long.
Trim the top back to a set of leaves (discard flower or bud if there is one)
Trim the bottom to just below a leaf node, get a sharp knife and scrape a sliver of bark off about 1/4 the way around the bottom.
Then dip in whatever takes your fancy (or not, I never use anything) and make a pencil hole in soil and pop cutting in. Press well, water and leave in a shady area. You want to have a set of leaves left on the cutting, these help to make food for forming roots depending on the time of year.
Often I just chop a piece of a rose, trim it and pop in straight in the soil next to the parent plant.
You can do this most successfully if the rose is on its' own roots and not grafted.

The more cuttings you do at all times of the year, the more chance of strikes. I have had lots of extra plants this way. Books will tell you very precise ways to propagate but sometimes it's just a matter of poking things in the ground Very Happy

BTW... Roses from seed is very easy too... Wink