Propagation of roses by cuttings
Many plant growers tried to grow roses from cuttings, but not all of them were successful. We are going to tell how to grow roses from cuttings and hope that this knowledge will help you become more successful in breeding these truly royal flowers.
Propagation of roses by cuttings guarantees a much more reliable result than grafting or seed propagation due to its simplicity and the opportunity to be carried out at any time of the year since not only spring shoots of a rose bush, but also the stems of roses from a bouquet gifted to you can be used as cuttings.
How to grow roses from cuttings
How to root a rose cutting
Actually, roses can be grown by cuttings in several ways:
- the Burrito method;
- the Trannois method;
- rooting of rose cuttings in water;
- rooting of rose cuttings in potatoes;
- rooting of rose cuttings in the plastic bag;
- planting of cuttings in the soil in summer;
- rooting of cuttings before winter.
Let's start with the most natural way – the summer rooting of cuttings. The best of all is to cut off the stems of roses for cuttings early in the morning or in the evening. Choose semi-woody stems that have just finished blooming or going to bloom. The stem is mature for propagation if its thorns are easily broken off. Cut the stems with a very sharp sterile tool. The cuttings should be 4.7 -6 inches long with two or three leaves and two or three buds, but without flowers. The oblique cut must be made right under the lower node and 0.6-0.8 inch above the upper node, the lower leaves and all thorns should be removed. To prevent too rapid evaporation of moisture, the remaining leaves are either removed, or shortened by two-thirds. For successful rooting, keep the lower part of tied cuttings in a solution of heteroauxin or rooting hormone, although a solution of half a teaspoon of honey per a glass of water with several live leaves in it can be used to stimulate rooting.
Care for rose cuttings
You can root rose cuttings just in the garden in the substrate made of a mixture of washed coarse-grained river sand and fertile soil. Cuttings are buried at an angle of 45º in the planting holes that should be pre-processed with a steep solution of potassium permanganate. The lower bud should be deepened in the soil. Then the planting hole is watered, and the cuttings are covered with glass jars that will serve as a hothouse. The cuttings take root in a month at a daytime temperature of at least 77ºF and at least 64ºF at night, and a young shoot begins to grow from the bud. In a couple of weeks, star adapting the cuttings to outdoor conditions by removing glass jars for a while, and in a few days you can remove them at all. By autumn young shoots will grow up to 12-16 inches, and if buds appear on them, they need to be pinched for the formation of the root system without wasting resources on flowering. This is the general principle of propagation of roses by cuttings.
In autumn, it is better to dig out young roses with a lump of soil and store them in a cellar in winter, or you can plant them out in pots and keep them in a cool bright place until spring.
Rooting of rose cuttings in potatoes
In order to root the rose cuttings in potatoes, in spring it is necessary to dig a hole 6 inches deep in a well-lit and sheltered from the wind place and fill it with a 2 inch layer of sand. Each cutting 8 inches long with removed thorns and leaves is put in a young potato of medium size without adventitious buds. Then place potatoes with cuttings into the planting holes at a distance of 6 inches from each other, and fill it with soil by two-thirds. For the first time, it's a good idea to cover the cuttings with glass jars. The trick is that the young potato creates a permanent wet environment for the cuttings, so the propagation of roses in potatoes is one of the most popular ways of vegetative reproduction. In addition, cuttings will receive useful carbohydrates and starch from potatoes. Water the future roses regularly, and once in five days, pour them with sweet water made of two teaspoons of sugar per a glass of water. In two weeks, you should start adapting the cuttings to the outdoor conditions by taking off the jars for a while. In another two weeks, the jars should be removed at all. Here's such a simple trick how to grow a rose in a potato.
Roses grown from bouquet cuttings
Propagation of roses by bouquet cuttings also gives good results, but only if your roses are of domestic origin. The fact is that the chic imported roses before being sent to other countries are treated with preservatives, so they are no longer able to give the roots. There are a few more things that you should know:
- root roses from a fresh bouquet;
- choose for rooting a slightly lignified stem;
- the cutting should be of medium thickness with the buds at the top and bottom (make cuttings as described in the previous sections).
If you want to root roses from the bouquet gifted to you, you should start immediately while the roses are fresh: remove all flowers, buds and thorns from them, make cuttings 6-12 inches long, removing the leaves at the bottom and shortening the leaves by two thirds at the top, and put the cuttings in a vase filled with distilled water. Regularly change the water until the roots appear on the cuttings, then transplant them into the pot or in the soil under the jar (depending on the season) in the way that has already been described.
Other ways of propagation of roses by cuttings
Propagation of roses by cuttings in a plastic bag
The lower part of the cuttings made as usual is immersed in a bag with sterile soil or wet moss-sphagnum moistened with aloe juice in a ratio of 1 (juice) to 9 (water). The bag is inflated, tightly tied and hung on the window. In the bag increased humidity creates fog, and in a month the cuttings develop the first roots. Plant the cuttings as described above.
Planting of rose cuttings before winter
The point of this method is to save cuttings until spring in a live, vegetative and able to rooting state. The fact is that this method will not make your cuttings develop roots by winter, and keeping them in winter at home may not be very convenient, so the plant growers created this method of planting of rose cuttings before winter. Besides, if you happen to get a unique rose in autumn, it will be a pity to miss the opportunity and not to plant a bush in your garden. Therefore, just plant the cutting in the soil, and make a dry shelter over it, so that it will not die in winter from the cold, and in spring transplant it into a permanent place by a usual way.
The Burrito method
It is still unclear why this method is good as it does not guarantee even a fifty percent rooting. Although if you are risky, why should not you try it? Cuttings are cut from the stems, the root is treated with a rooting hormone. Then the cuttings are wrapped with a damp newspaper and kept for two weeks in a dark place at a temperature of 59-64 °F. And, the roots supposedly should appear.
The Trannois method
The point of this method is to let the stem receive a maximum of starch necessary for nutrition and vitality from the leaves before becoming a cutting. To do this, in June-July, when the flowering period has passed, we select the stems, cut off the top with a faded flower and a pair of small leaves, and wait until the buds at the lower part of the stem get swollen. Swollen buds are the sign that the wood is ripe and the plant is ready to continue growing, so you need to act quickly until the buds have not released the leaves. We make cuttings 8 inches long as previously described, remove all the leaves except the upper two, and plant the cuttings immediately on a permanent sunny place at an angle of 45º with several pieces in one planting hole: some of them will certainly take root. Cover the cuttings with 1 gallon plastic jar with a narrow part being cut off to protect the plants until winter, even if cuttings have the shoots with leaves. Planted cuttings need watering and loosening of the soil around the cover so that oxygen has the access to the roots.