Thursday, March 22, 2012

Surprising March Discovery

I'd been asked to root two roses for a friend, to ship to him later this spring. Today was their two week period, so I unwrapped them to check on their progress. 

Both are hybrids of R. Wichurana, a rose which is well known for being quite easy to root. The first is a seedling of my own which is half floribunda and half the second rose. It callused as expected and the cuttings were potted. 

Then, the surprise! 0-47-19 is Ralph Moore's breeder created from R. Wichurana crossed with the floribunda, Floradora. I knew it would root, but I wasn't really expecting to find this....


5 comments:

  1. Very big roots! Interesting, because I would assume, from reading your past comments, that it is too late (and warm) for this method of propagating?

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  2. Thanks Connie. Hi Masha, most of my roses, even though it's been quite warm, aren't fully leafed out and few are flowering yet. The dresser drawer in the garage is remaining cold and things continue callusing. Jackie from San Rafael sent me cuttings of Schmidt's Smooth Yellow, the yellow poly we're trying to identify, which I wrapped about a week ago. I checked them yesterday when I found these and they've begun callusing! I received some wonderful Primula cuttings yesterday and wrapped them. Interestingly, some of the thickest ones had begun callusing in areas where their bark seemed porous, and I'm praying they take. Unwrapping those cuttings was the first time I've ever detected a scent from Primula foliage. It looks to be a very nice variation!

    We seem to be remaining in a rainy pattern, so I'll keep wrapping until it's definite the roses are going to explode into growth and the heat hits.

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  3. It is wonderful to have success with the newspaper wrapping of the cuttings.
    I tried last year,however a little later after blooming to root some OGR and have 3 nice small plants at this time,many I lost after rooting.
    Also I tried with the newspaper method a gardenfriend recommended and I completey lost all of them.some of them callused nicely but then turned black.
    What went wrong ? too much moisture ? We live in Maine,zone 5a.
    Thank You.

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  4. Hi Brigitte, it could be there was too much moisture, either the soil you used held too much or perhaps there was some sort of pathogen (bacteria or fungus) which attacked the cuttings. I've seen what you describe fairly often, but most often with too heavy soil or with cuttings which were in too active a state of growth. If they were recent flowering stems, they would be more successful under bottles or mist.

    Then there are some which just flat out refuse to root. Griffith Buck's "Maytime" has resisted rooting the last two years, 100% failure. The same with Rainbow, the striped sport of Papa Gontier. All of the cuttings callused, seemed to be developing properly, then gradually all turned black.

    If the soil seemed to remain too wet, try something lighter like a seed starter mix or add more perlite to the soil you're using. If you spray your roses with a fungicide, you might try spraying the cuttings after you remove them from the wraps, before planting. If the cuttings which seem to always fail are of this year's growth, don't use this method for them. Try one of the methods suggested for less mature, softer cuttings and see if that solves the problem. If, after several methods you've tried with the particular rose have failed, it would seem that rose just isn't genetically suited to growing well on its own roots. But, that you won't really know until you've explored the other avenues, or heard from a sufficient number of people who have also had the same experience with them.

    There are many roses which just aren't successful on their own roots. J&P brought out their "New Generation Roses" a few years ago, which were all provided own root. They announced Henry Fonda would be offered own root the following year, which proved premature. Henry Fonda didn't root as easily as the other New Generation varieties, nor did it develop in to the quality plant the other own roots did, so they had to continue producing it budded.

    Congratulations on your successes! It's quite interesting reading the variations others have discovered, and building the knowledge base from them. Thank you!

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