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Am I mistaking Rose suckers for fresh new growth?

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  • RubyRossRubyRoss Posts: 124
    Thank you!
  • I hAve 2 red blooms beside my rose tree I have been told are suckers. I want to make sure I don't kill my tree but want more.
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    ..yes they're suckers and you need to remove them.. just pull them out...  which country are you in please?.. 
    East Anglia, England
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    @marlorena - definitely not questionning what you've said about this last picture because I also immediately thought - "That looks like a sucker".

    But then I started doubting myself. Can you explain what it is about the growth in the last picture that makes it apparent that it's a sucker please? 

    In the original 2018 pictures that started this thread the basal growth looked nice and strong and looked like a 'proper' rose stem. The growth in this last picture looks quite thin and weedy. Is that the difference?

    I only ask because I usually feel confident about identifying suckers on the roses I grow - they just look different somehow - but I'm wondering if there's a more definitive way of identifying them.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • Isn't it the fact that a standard rose is grafted at the top? So anything growing at the bottom of the stem is from the root stock?
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I've read on the rose thread that suckers are "always light green and never red".  I'd be interested to hear more about IDing them, too.
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    ^yes that's right..

    @Topbird
    .. You are fine with questioning it as suckering growth tends to be green rather than red, which is why I asked the member which country they are in, as if in UK I should like to know where they got the rose from, as a different rootstock appears to have been used, to the one we usually see here...  
    .. a Standard/Tree rose is usually made of 3 parts, i.e. 3 different roses are used.. the rootstock which is usually a form of dog rose, the interstem trunk which may be a different wild rose, and the varietal rose on the top..
    ...different countries use different methods and stocks, so it would be good to know this information.. if it was sold in the UK it may be an imported type..  if the member is from the U.S. on the other hand, then I would know for sure what that rootstock is..  if it's left on it will soon take over the entire plant..
    East Anglia, England
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Does the last OP have a standard rose?
  • EustaceEustace Posts: 2,290
    I hAve 2 red blooms beside my rose tree I have been told are suckers. I want to make sure I don't kill my tree but want more.
    These are suckers as they are coming from well below the graft on this standard rose.
    Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
    And then my heart with pleasure fills,
    And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth :)

  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    @Fire
    ..sorry I didn't see your posts earlier...  yes that's a Standard rose so anything coming from below ground is going to be a sucker... I'm just curious as to which rootstock they've used there, it may be a cultivated variety rather than a wild one, hence the red growth with what looks like glossy leaves.. but I can't see it too clearly.. 
    East Anglia, England
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