Anybody do roses by cuttings?

[.45Cole]

I have been trying to propagate roses by cuttings (teas) but they have been dying. Most were lost to bacterial/fungus. I changed my method and now they dry out. How do you do it?

[Swamp Man]

The hybrid tea roses are grafted hybrid roses. They are grafted to old world rose root stock. If you take a cutting from the flowering part of the plants you need to graft it onto a rooted cutting of old world rose as a root stock.

[wch]

Google "propagate hybrid tea roses by cuttings" and read the article in "Rose Magazine" at rosemagazine.com
This article is concise and full of information and it is the one I use when I try propagation by any viable method.

[DHurtig]

I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard that some of the old timers would stick the cutting into a potato. Don't have any particulars, but it sounds like something that might work.

[oldred]

It depends a great deal on which variety of rose you are trying to propagate, some Tea roses are "own root" types while others are not and those that are not simply won't do well at all unless grafted to a good root stock. However some of the "own root" types do quite well and are very easy to propagate, are you using a rooting compound(hormone) such as "rootone"? I have had excellent luck with simple cuttings placed in a container of Miracle Grow potting soil (not the worthless "garden" soil), just dip the tips in the rooting hormone and keep the entire planting moist until the roots take. Another method I have had really good luck with is to just press a lump of moist potting soil around a new green shoot and then wrap plastic wrap around that securing the wrap with rubber bands, after a while you will see roots sprouting into the lump of potting soil at which time the stem can be cut just below the rooting section and then planted. The nice part about that method is nothing is cut from the plant untill after the roots have already started growing so there is no danger of rot or drying out since the new stem to be rooted remains supported by the main roots until it starts it's own roots. This is probably the surest method but either way will work just fine.

[Bad Water Bill]

My family has tried to keep a rose garden for more years than I can remember.

When my wife to be purchased her home in 1966 there was a rose bush planted between the house and drive way. It was in constant bloom all summer long.

When we moved into this house in 1972 I found out it was 3 plants so separated them at that time. From time to time a bush will produce a runner. They will reach 6-8' if not pruned back have a nice fragrance and a nice about 4" bloom and are very disease resistant.

Yes I still have them almost 50 years after she bought the house.

No one has ever heard of such a bush.

Nothing else survives more than 3-5 years.

[.45Cole]

I was planning on trying own root roses, because the roses are free. I have read about the potato method, and I have green plastic (everybody uses glass but I cant find it) 2L bottles for the cuttings. I'm going to use hormex, but the lack of humidity is hurting me. I will try the standing stem technique (maybe scratch the stem and put some hormex on it) Thanks!

[felix]

I used the oldred method back when to grow 300 or more bushes for every tea variety in Houston it seems. Those that grew roots were planted for real. Those that didn't were trashed because I was after severe quantity, not 5* quality per se. It was amazing to find that certain varieties grew better bare rooted than grafted in the Houston area. I am sure the variety growth would be different in other areas of the country. I used plastic tents to maintain heat over night. Houston is humid enough without misting. That rose garden was prepared to the hilt in advance before transferring the plants without regard to variety, just growth quality. According to the scuttlebutt, the garden actually sold the house after we moved to Huntsville AL. ... felix

[Swamp Man]

It depends a great deal on which variety of rose you are trying to propagate, some Tea roses are "own root" types while others are not and those that are not simply won't do well at all unless grafted to a good root stock. However some of the "own root" types do quite well and are very easy to propagate, are you using a rooting compound(hormone) such as "rootone"? I have had excellent luck with simple cuttings placed in a container of Miracle Grow potting soil (not the worthless "garden" soil), just dip the tips in the rooting hormone and keep the entire planting moist until the roots take. Another method I have had really good luck with is to just press a lump of moist potting soil around a new green shoot and then wrap plastic wrap around that securing the wrap with rubber bands, after a while you will see roots sprouting into the lump of potting soil at which time the stem can be cut just below the rooting section and then planted. The nice part about that method is nothing is cut from the plant untill after the roots have already started growing so there is no danger of rot or drying out since the new stem to be rooted remains supported by the main roots until it starts it's own roots. This is probably the surest method but either way will work just fine.

This may be the case with the "Own Root" I can't say I never tied them. I messed with roses some years back but here in Fl there more trouble then there worth due to it being so humid roses are fungus magnets. Now any old world or Knock Out roses will root just fine from cutting and they root vary easily. I'm a commercial plant/tree grower daylily/flower hybridizer so my goals were on mass production not a personal garden which is a whole different game.

[Swamp Man]

My family has tried to keep a rose garden for more years than I can remember.

When my wife to be purchased her home in 1966 there was a rose bush planted between the house and drive way. It was in constant bloom all summer long.

When we moved into this house in 1972 I found out it was 3 plants so separated them at that time. From time to time a bush will produce a runner. They will reach 6-8' if not pruned back have a nice fragrance and a nice about 4" bloom and are very disease resistant.

Yes I still have them almost 50 years after she bought the house.

No one has ever heard of such a bush.

Nothing else survives more than 3-5 years.
Bill what color are the blooms? There is a old rose that has blooms about that size that are multi colored pink/yellow/peach that have clusters of bloom all summer long named Seven Sisters. If it's red with somewhat loose open bloom petals it may be an old root stock rose which there are a few different breeds. I could check in my books for names of those and maybe we can match it up with the info.

[John Guedry]

I have the decendant of a rose bush someone gave my grandmother when she got married(1900). I have rooted some by taking a new shoot bending it down and placing a brick on it until it roots and then cutting it off. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

[Finster101]

I haven't done it but I have read to dip the cutting in honey to prevent mold and fungus on it.

[Bad Water Bill]

Bill what color are the blooms? There is a old rose that has blooms about that size that are multi colored pink/yellow/peach that have clusters of bloom all summer long named Seven Sisters. If it's red with somewhat loose open bloom petals it may be an old root stock rose which there are a few different breeds. I could check in my books for names of those and maybe we can match it up with the info.

The bush only produces red blooms.

If you are interested send me a PM and I will send you a cutting or whatever. It will be a shame that when I leave the roses and their history will be lost to all.

[oldred]

I haven't done it but I have read to dip the cutting in honey to prevent mold and fungus on it.



Good tip and it does work! I just use rooting hormone now but back when I was a kid honey was all we had and as I remember it was also all we needed!

[Swamp Man]

The bush only produces red blooms.

If you are interested send me a PM and I will send you a cutting or whatever. It will be a shame that when I leave the roses and their history will be lost to all.

Thanks Bill but I have more stuff to take care of now then I know what to do with. I would be willing to bet I have one of them out in the field. Because I was growing 5 different breeds of old root stock roses for cutting for grafting tea roses onto some years back and the root stock bushes are still out there.