# Micropropagation of Rose Plants
Micropropagation is a method of multiplying plants by taking a small piece of tissue from a host plant. These tissues are placed in a special medium, and tiny plantlets grow from the tissues. It is used to rapidly increase plant stock for nurseries, colleges or other commercial companies. It is useful for reproducing plants that have no seeds or don't easily reproduce through other propagation methods.
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Why Micropropagate Roses
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Roses are an important floral crop. Rapidly increasing the number of plants is a practice enabling breeders to quickly bring their roses to market. Roses grown in tissue culture are clones of the parent plant. Buyers know the rose they buy is like the one in a catalog or on line store.
How Roses are Micropropagated
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Tissues are taken from the rose, usually around the node. The tissue is prepared first by sterilizing and placing the prepared tissues into a special medium. This medium contains hormones, sugars, water and thickeners. The tissues produce tiny plants, which are then put through a process called elongating. This is where the tiny plants begin to grow stems. They are transplanted into soil shortly afterwards.
Home Micropropagation
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Kits are available including the test tubes. It's possible to make a home kit from scratch, but there are some ingredients that are hard to find. Some universities are willing to part with samples of some tissue culture supplies.
Other Propagation Methods
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Micropropagation is not for everyone. Other methods don't require as many supplies and are more amenable to the home gardener. Seeds harvested from mature fruits are planted after a period of stratification. Seedlings may not look like the parent plant. A cutting produced a clone of the parent and is taken by cutting a piece of the stem. Dip the bottom end in rooting hormone and stick in potting soil.
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