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Roses from cuttings

SuesynSuesyn Posts: 664
in Plants
Hi all, having successfully grown cuttings of several different roses I wondered if I should expect to see any noticeable between my own root cuttings and the original grafted roses. I know that fruit trees are grafted onto different rootstock for specific reason and I am curious to know if you have a similar one for roses.
So far I have been successful with Sweet Honey (pictured above), Gertrude Jekyll and Golden Showers. The ones I failed with I assumed that it was something I that I did but maybe some are easier than others.
Any input would be appreciated, I 'm sure one of you clever people can enlighten me as to why grafting should be the norm in commercially produced roses. 

Posts

  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    edited September 2023
    I don't know anything and am not a grower (are there any proper rose growers on here?) but according to this writer, it's for commercial reasons (grafted ones initially grow more quickly and are therefre saleable sooner)
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/29/gardens-rose-cuttings-hardwood

    I have high hopes of my own-root Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It has bloomed far better than my grafted one, which might end up binned his autumn if it's not careful. Your Sweet Honey also looks great.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I took several cuttings each from 6 roses earlier this year.  Same day, same terracotta pots, same compost and perlite mix, same place in a sheltered, spot out of full sun.  4 have produced new roses and they're looking good tho still small.

    I shall be taking more and hoping for better results..

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    edited September 2023
    Some roses are easier to root than others but sometimes I think it’s just chance which cuttings take and which don’t. I’m just about to take some cuttings but only done it once before successfully. One out of three cuttings taken at the same time from the same rose rooted. This was Munstead Wood and the own-root cutting that thrived does have a different habit (better, actually, in this case) to the original grafted ones. Some roses, older varieties especially, can be wimpy on their own roots but most take to it just fine or indeed thrive. Others will have more experience, maybe even of cuttings from those exact roses, so can hopefully better tell you the differences in growth habit, if any.

    Grafting roses is the fastest and most cost-effective way for rose nurseries to produce a large number of the same rose with the least amount of cutting material. They tend to be more uniform, have more vigour and establish faster grafted, so the buyer is happy too. The rootstock used throughout Europe and the UK is laxa, which also has the benefit of being more tolerant of alkaline soils.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • SuesynSuesyn Posts: 664
    @Nollie, l hadn't thought of the rootstock being tolerant of different soil types either. At the moment only my Gertrude Jekyll cutting is in the ground and it doesn't appear to be any different from its parent (which didn't survive last summers heat). Our soil is horrid clay sub soil with no life in it so its almost like growing everything in pots of improved soil. We have added loads of compost, manure and sharp sand but the things that do best are in slightly raised beds which gives them chance to develop strong roots before coping with the clay.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    That sounds exactly like my so-called soil Suesyn! I have to raise beds to pile in amendments and get any planting depth. I mix in tonnes of acidic pine bark compost and mulch heavily with the same to buffer the alkalinity somewhat. I still get a lot of chlorosis on laxa grafted roses because of my very hard well water
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    Commercially roses are grafted onto wild root stock, presumably because it is cheap and abundant.

    Now is a great time to take hardwood rose cuttings.  This is what I do: the cuttings taken now should be 10-12" long.  Put them either directly into a sandy mix nursery bed or what I usually do is put them in deep pots filled with a stony sandy mix. Sometimes if I have some I will use hormone rooting powder but if you don't have any try anyway. Keep the pots moist now until autumn really sets in; don't let them dry out in the current hot weather. Then forget about them over the winter and by late spring some, if not most will have rooted. Then pot them on, maybe two or three times and the following year they should be ready for planting in their permanent location.

    I find this works with most varieties I've tried but with some they just don't take.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2023
    .

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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