Ways Roses Can Be Propogated

Seed

• Growing roses from seed takes a long time and is often disappointing due to poor viability of the seed. The plant produced may not resemble the parent plant and instead may look like one of the varieties in the heritage of the rose.

  The flower dries on the stem to produce rose hips, a round capsule that ripens in autumn turning red. These capsules contain hundreds of seeds extracted by cutting the hip in half and taking them out. Seeds are cleaned of excess pulp then chilled for six to 10 weeks prior to planting. Fruits and vegetables emit a chemical that kills the seed, so do not store them in the same refrigerator. Trays are used to plant seeds inside.

Layering

• Layering works well with climbing roses because the canes are more pliable than other roses. A branch is bent to the ground and a portion of the outer layer of bark is scraped away and buried under the soil. A 6- to 12-inch tail should be left above ground. The scraped area is buried 3 to 6 inches underground and held down with a rock or staked in place with a U-shaped piece of wire. It is left six to eight weeks or over the winter, to be snipped from the mother plant in spring and transplanted.

Grafting

• Grafting is a complicated technique for propagating roses. Only certain roses are used for rootstock while the scion, or cutting, comes from the rose that is being propagated. A cut is made in the rootstock and a mature stem bud is cut from the scion and placed inside. The cambium layer (first layer of the stem) of each plant grows together and heals. Once the bud starts to swell, the rootstock is cut just above the inserted bud to stimulate it to grow.

Cuttings

• The rose produced from a cutting may not look as expected if taken from a grafted or cross-pollinated rose. It may look like the rootstock or nothing like any of the rose's relatives. Cuttings are taken from recently blooming stems that have hips starting to form in late summer or early fall. A 6- to 8-inch long cutting is taken at a 45-degree angle below a bud, or bump, in the stem. Hips are removed to the first set of leaves and a 3- or 4-inch area at the bottom is stripped of leaves and scraped. The stem is put in rooting hormone, then placed in potting soil with the scrape and one or two buds under the soil and three above. It is placed in indirect sunlight under a plastic bag and misted until root growth occurs and the plant is planted in a permanent position.