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Brambles.....er roses !!
so, plant roses deep to bury the graft union or not to keep union well above the ground for roses??
there is clearly a difference of opinion even from the experts.
I have one rose...plenty enough for me ......that has its union maybe 3" below ground level. This according to David Austin. This morning an expert on the radio said to keep union high.
my natural inclination is to avoid burying the union....as in fruit or grafted shrubs
personally I see no reason to bury the union at all but, surely, by so doing the scion could be overrun?
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I always bury them myself, have done for years despite differing advice. You get the odd sport but I always get plenty of new flowering stems, so on balance I'd prefer to bury them.
Rootstock on a rose is just to aid initial rooting. Rootstock on fruit is to determine adult tree size.
By burying the union on a rose, you encourage the top growth to form its own roots, the reverse of what you want fruit trees to do.
Simple really.
I find that experts older than me plant with the union above ground.
Experts younger than me bury the graft union.
I plant with the graft well below ground. Apart from any other reason, I find that in windy East Anglia, if the shrub is planted deeply it helps prevent wind-rock.
I've seen old HT roses with the graft above ground suffer really badly from wind-rock, which encourages the growth of suckers from the rootstock.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove has said just what I find and do.
I like roses on their own roots. No suckering problems from the rootstock. It is easy to take hardwood cuttings now.
When you know better, Hortico
An expert, is someone who knows more and more,
about less and less,
until they know everything, about nothing!
Union above ground for me.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border