Second Wraps

It appears I goofed.... I wanted to be sure I had sufficient cuttings succeed, so I wrapped a LOT of each one. They have ALL taken! I guess I should have checked them last week so there would be more time to beg empty bands from friends so these could be planted when they should be planted. Too late now! More to follow as the other six, large bundles get unwrapped and planted in the next several days...

First 2014 Wraps

The weather and plant conditions appear to finally be appropriate for callusing. I've wrapped a few earlier batches to test the conditions and create some examples to use for the presentations I've given for local rose societies, but none had produced the results I discovered yesterday when these were unwrapped. 

The variety is an experimental seedling Ralph Moore created some years ago. He pollinated Golden Angel, a lovely Wichurana based yellow mini he created with what he grew as R. Soulieana. What makes this a special hybrid is, the Soulieana Mr. Moore grew produces repeat flowering seedlings in the first generation. Traditionally, it requires several more generations to get repeat flowering from most species, and particularly from Soulieana. This one apparently carries and transmits repeat in one generation as this is most definitely a hybrid. 

These cuttings hadn't callused as well as I'd hoped after their first thirteen days in the wraps. I checked, in hopes there were ones I could use for examples for a demonstration I presented that evening. Nope. None were sufficiently along to sacrifice. Fast forward three days...wow! These were all unwrapped Sunday, the 20th and planted. 

Notice how even the slight amount of cambium exposed by breaking the prickle free from the bark produced callus. 

 Every source of exposed cambium began callusing. 

Roots actually began forming in three days!

More Whip Wraps for Standard Trunks

It's been an odd year for the wraps. I've kept them inside the house in the guest room to provide the necessary temperatures, with very mixed results. The house thermostat has remained at a constant setting, so you would think the interior temperatures would have been fairly constant. However, the results have run the gamut from vitually no callus to heavily callused. Interestingly, the ones which have responded the most dramatically have been from material which has experienced the most dramatic in temperature extremes. 

Those exposed to the deepest cold, callused the fastest and best. Those from more moderate weather situations developed less callus. Also interestingly, when the outdoor temperatures were in the sixties and seventies, the results were less dramatic. When we experienced the week of eighties and near ninety degree temperatures, the cuttings callused heavily and quite quickly. I removed a batch after ten days which had callused quite heavily. 

I wouldn't have expected the outdoor temperature to have had such a dramatic effect on wraps held inside the house with the thermostat set at a continuous 68 degrees F, but it did! 

These cuttings are from two varieties, both of which I intend to use to bud standards, or tree roses. The first is a seedling I raised a number of years ago from a cross I knew had to result in something neat. I used Ralph Moore's yellow climbing miniature breeder, 1-72-1   as the seed parent with pollen from Tom Carruth's wonderful shrub, Midnight Blue expecting something hopefully without prickles (or very few) and with strong coloring. I raised a very vigorous climber with lovely foliage and very few prickles...and absolute no flowers in over eight years. So, I decided to try it as a root stock to see how it might work. The wood is very strong, and as you can see from the photos, it calluses extremely well!

These are the two wraps with the long whips in them. 

 This is the 1-72-1 X Midnight Blue material after two weeks in the house. Notice how it has also callused from the wounds where I disbudded it to prevent suckers.

 A few had already begun throwing small roots from the calluses.

 Close up of the callused ends.

 The other variety I am using for standard trunks, I've used before with very good results. I have a standard of Baby Faurax which I budded on Cardinal Hume in 1994 and it's still going strong. These are shorter pieces of Cardinal Hume I will use to bud bushes with.

 The two longer whips also callused very well.

 Even from the disbudding wounds, like the seedling did. The purple coloring to the canes isn't disease, but the coloring this variety normally develops in my garden at this time of year.

 The callus isn't discolored due to rot, but discolored because it had adhered to the newspaper and absorbed inks from it.

 The longer whips are all wrapped in white plastic trash bag strips and potted to continue rooting. To review how to wrap longer cuttings in white plastic to prevent them from drying out while rooting, please see the previous entry here about rooting longer cuttings. 

I plan on using these to bud the shorter polyanthas out back, in hopes of protecting them from being mowed down by the rabbits who refuse to leave them alone. There are also two smaller ground cover varieties I wish to use for breeding which don't lend themselves easily to my space grown on the ground. Hopefully, by creating shorter weeping standards of them, I will be able to grow and use them more easily. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

There Really IS a Difference in Newspaper Quality

No, not a comment about the contents of what's inside the paper, but the actual paper itself. I demonstrated the wrapping method of propagation for a local rose society this week. The members were encouraged to bring in their cuttings and newspaper so we could process them together. I was a bit surprised when I began wringing out the wet newspaper and found their local paper fell apart like dryer lint! No matter how many sheets of paper I put together, it fell apart during the wringing part. It wasn't me, as I had brought my own papers with me, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Not that those are what I read, as I don't. They are what are made available to me by friends who do read them. Both papers hold up perfectly when wet and wrung out to produce the damp paper to wrap the cuttings. 

So, if you're experiencing difficulties with getting your wrapping paper squeezed out, you might consider the possibility that the actual paper your newspaper uses isn't as durable as some others. You might find it worthwhile picking up a Sunday paper, or two, of ones I've mentioned, or, better yet, make a friend who reads them and won't mind passing them on to you!

I think I bit off more than I can chew...

This pollinating year started very slowly. I planned on using Banksiae lutescens on anything which flowered at the proper time. The problem was, it remained pretty cool for the longest time. That was great for Lutescens, but bad for everything else. Nothing cooperated and I feared I would have to be satisfied using it with the trusty Queen Elizabeth out back. 

The right weather seemed to happen over night, as if someone flipped the switch. What I wanted to put the pollen ON, began flowering with the pollen donors. I was off like a shot! 

I knew many wouldn't take, as that's just the nature of the beast. I also knew I would lose many to the various "free loaders" who traditionally visit my roses. Some didn't take, and some were used as smorgasbord fodder, as expected, but many more succeeded than I expected! 

I began harvesting hips earlier than I normally would, in hopes of my collecting the fruit of my labors before the free loaders did, and I succeeded rather well! It seems, quite a bit better than I possibly should have... There are still about three dozen crosses left maturing (potentially being eaten) through the roses, but I have collected some 185 deliberate crosses of my own; only four "self" set crosses and two types which were graciously shared with me of things I wanted to try. That is a whale of a of rose seeds! 

I know there is no way I am going to find room to plant them all. There is a real limit to suitable places to create seedling raising areas, as well as a definite limit to space where they can be grown on, so some difficult decisions lie ahead. But, there really aren't any deliberate crosses I'm not interested in seeing the results of. How would anyone choose which NOT to explore? 

(IHT X LB)	X	(LT X CD) X Lutescens
(IHT X LB)	X	42-03-02
(IHT X LB)	X	86-3
(IHT X LB)	X	April Mooncrest
(IHT X LB)	X	Art Nouveau
(IHT X LB)	X	Blue for You
(IHT X LB)	X	Gloria Mundi
(IHT X LB)	X	Indian Love Call
(IHT X LB)	X	L56-1
(IHT X LB)	X	Pookah
(IHT X LB)	X	Pretty Lady
(IHT X LB)	X	Rayon Butterfed
(IHT X LB)	X	Secret Garden
(IHT X LB)	X	Tom Thumb
?	X	April Mooncrest
0-47-19DLFED	X	1-72-1Hugonis
0-47-19DLFED	X	April Mooncrest
0-47-19DLFED	X	Comtesse du Cayla
0-47-19DLFED	X	Gloria Mundi
0-47-19DLFED	X	Indian Love Call
0-47-19DLFED	X	Joyberry
0-47-19DLFED	X	Lynnie
0-47-19DLFED	X	Rayon Butterfed
0-47-19DLFED	X	Secret Garden
0-47-19DLFED	X	Sweet Nothings
0-47-19DLFED	X	Walferdange
0-47-19DLFED	X	Wild Dancer
0-47-19POO	X	Tom Thumb
1-72-1DLFED	X	Hugonis
1-72-1DLFED 8	X	Comtesse du Cayla
1-72-1DLFED 8	X	Secret Garden
1-72-1DLFED 9	X	Rayon Butterfed
1-72-1Hugonis	X	(IHT X LB)
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Astra
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Comtesse du Cayla
1-72-1Hugonis	X	DLFED 4
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Doc
1-72-1Hugonis	X	First Impression
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Golden Wings
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Indian Love Call
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Joyberry
1-72-1Hugonis	X	L56-1
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Lilac Charm
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Magic Wand
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Mrs. Charles Bell
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Open Arms
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Purpurea
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Rayon Butterfed
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Secret Garden
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Self
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Tom Thumb
1-72-1Hugonis	X	Wild Dancer
42-03-02	X	86-3
42-03-02	X	Hugonis
April Mooncrest	X	First Impression
April Mooncrest	X	Gardens of the World
April Mooncrest	X	Joyberry
April Mooncrest	X	Porcelain Rose
April Mooncrest	X	Rayon Butterfed
Art Nouveau	X	Art Nouveau
Astra	X	Muriel
Blue for You	X	Blue for You
Cal Poly	X	?
Cal Poly	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Cal Poly	X	42-03-02
Cal Poly	X	42-03-02
Cal Poly	X	81-02-09
Cal Poly	X	86-3
Cal Poly	X	April Mooncrest
Cal Poly	X	Blue for You
Cal Poly	X	Cecil
Cal Poly	X	Cineraire
Cal Poly	X	Gardens of the World
Cal Poly	X	Gina's Rose
Cal Poly	X	Little Butterfly
Cal Poly	X	Lutescens
Cal Poly	X	Lynnie
Cal Poly	X	Maytime
Cal Poly	X	Minutifolia
Cal Poly	X	Porcelain Rose
Cal Poly	X	Pretty Lady
Cal Poly	X	Purpurea
Cal Poly	X	R. Fedtschenkoana
Cal Poly	X	Rayon Butterfed
CPDLFED 3	X	Rayon Butterfed
CPDLFED2	X	Secret Garden
CPDLFED3	X	Joyberry
DLFED 1	X	Rayon Butterfed
DLFED 3	X	1-72-1Hugonis
DLFED 3	X	Rayon Butterfed
DLFED 3	X	Secret Garden
DLFED 3	X	Wild Dancer
DLFED 3	X	DLFED 3
DLFED 4	X	DLFED 4
DLFED 4	X	Rayon Butterfed
Eyeconic Lemonade	X	Eyeconic Lemonade
Eyes for You	X	Gardens of the World
Eyes for You	X	Lynnie
First Impression	X	?
First Impression	X	1-72-1Hugonis
First Impression	X	April Mooncrest
First Impression	X	Art Nouveau
First Impression	X	Blue for You
First Impression	X	Gardens of the World
First Impression	X	Grey Pearl
First Impression	X	L56-1
First Impression	X	Lutescens
First Impression	X	Rayon Butterfed
First Impression	X	Sweet Nothings
Gardens of the World	X	L56-1
Gina's Rose	X	?
Gina's Rose	X	R. Minutifolia
Golda Banks	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Golda Banks	X	Lamarque
Golda Banks	X	Lutescens
Golden Horizon	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Grey Pearl	X	Lamarque
I03-4-5	X	I03-4-5
Indian Love Call	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Indian Love Call	X	April Mooncrest
Indian Love Call	X	Blue for You
Indian Love Call	X	DLFED4
Indian Love Call	X	Lutescens
Indian Love Call	X	Morcrest
Indian Love Call	X	Orastarmag
Indian Love Call	X	Rayon Butterfed
Indian Love Call	X	Secret Garden
Kordes Brilliant	X	Joyberry
Kordes Brilliant	X	Tom Red
L56-1	X	1-72-1Hugonis
L56-1	X	Basye's Thornless Wichurana
L56-1	X	Cal Poly
L56-1	X	Comtesse du Cayla
L56-1	X	IHTLB
L56-1	X	Indian Love Call
L56-1	X	Lamarque
L56-1	X	Minutifolia
Lilac Charm	X	DLFED 4
Lynneraire	X	Lynneraire
M37-1	X	?
Maytime	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Maytime	X	Centre Stage
Maytime	X	DLFED 4
Maytime	X	Lutescens
Maytime	X	Golda Banks
Mrs. Charles Bell	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Old Master	X	Muriel
Old Master	X	Tom Red
Picasso	X	Muriel
Picasso	X	Tom Red
Pink Gate	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Pink Petticoat	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Pink Petticoat	X	42-03-02
Pink Petticoat	X	86-3
Pink Petticoat	X	Blue for You
Pink Petticoat	X	L56-1
Pink Petticoat	X	Lamarque
Pink Petticoat	X	Lutescens
Pink Petticoat	X	MInutifolia
Pink Petticoat	X	R. Fedtschenkoana
Pink Petticoat	X	Sweet Nothings
Porcelain Rose	X	Porcelain Rose
Pretty Lady	X	?
Pretty Lady	X	Gina's Rose
Pretty Lady	X	Lynnie
Pretty Lady	X	Maytime
Queen Elizabeth	X	Lutescens
Queen Elizabeth	X	R. Minutifolia
Show'n Tell	X	Rayon Butterfed
Show'n Tell	X	Tom Red
Sunburn	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Sunburn	X	Lutescens
Sunburn	X	Porcelain Rose
Sunburn	X	R. Fedtschenkoana
Sunburn	X	Rayon Butterfed
Sweet Nothings	X	1-72-1Hugonis
Sweet Nothings	X	42-03-02
Sweet Nothings	X	81-02-09
Sweet Nothings	X	Annie Laurie McDowell
Sweet Nothings	X	Blue for You
Sweet Nothings	X	Cal Poly
Sweet Nothings	X	Ebb Tide
Sweet Nothings	X	First Impression
Sweet Nothings	X	Joyberry
Sweet Nothings	X	L56-1
Sweet Nothings	X	Lamarque
Sweet Nothings	X	Peace
Sweet Nothings	X	Rayon Butterfed
Tom Brown	X	Tom Brown
White Cecil Brunner	X	Pink Petticoat
Xanthina	X	Xanthina