Wondering why certain roses don't root for me

15 years ago

I have good results rooting most rose varieties but there are some that consistently don't root well. Do you have that problem , and if so have you figured out what causes it? Here are my hard to root ones - two of them have a lot of thorns or prickles:

Gertrude Jekyll

Marchessa Boccella

Hippolyte from friend's plant

I often remove thorns from the base of cuttings and have done that with these, which might be creating too many little wounds along the stems. Have you rooted thorny ones without removing the thorns?

Linda

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Comments (5)

diane_nj 6b/7a
15 years ago
I wouldn't remove the prickles, you are inviting disease. My Marchesa Boccella rooted from a cane that was touching the ground. You don't have to do much with that one.
hartwood
15 years ago
The only one of these that I have experience propagating is Marchesa Boccella, and it roots easily for me most of the time (last year was awful ... but so was everything else.) I don't take the time to remove the thorns from my cuttings. I just slice the bottom of the stem vertically two or three times, dip it into rooting hormone, and it's good to go.

I have never tried Gertrude Jekyll. Hippolyte hasn't rooted for me either.

Connie
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roseseek
15 years ago
Some roses don't have the genetic ability to root at all. Some don't root easily. Some require specific handling to successfully root. Remember J&P's "New Generation Roses"? They were their own root moderns, created to eliminate the expense of budding. They prematurely announced Henry Fonda would be available own root until they discovered it doesn't root well and doesn't make a good plant own root.

Week's offers some of their roses own root. Many, though, they don't because they don't develop good enough root systems to produce the quality of plants they want to have their name on.

Mermaid, per one nurseryman, won't root for him until September. Locally, I've been told not to even mess with trying Fortuniana until Mother's Day. This is going to vary depending upon the variety and location. Grey Pearl is difficult to root and makes terrible plants unless budded. Many of the Coffee Roses are that way. Some roses just don't have the genetic ability to differentiate their cambium layers and form roots well. You can continue trying it and you may hit upon the right combination to produce the plant, but then it may not grow well anyway. Personally, unless the variety has special meaning for you, I'd move on to more successful varieties and grow the difficult ones budded, or not at all. Kim
erasmus_gw
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you for your replies. Sometimes a variety will root well one year and not the next year. Marchessa gave me no problems at one time. The parent plant is vigorous enough. I will just keep trying, and experiment with not removing thorns. Hippolyte just seems so stubborn.
I have not met many plants that don't do well own root, but I think Reine des Violettes is better grafted.
Linda
sroberson
15 years ago
Iam looking for a cutting of the mini rose teddybear,can someone help me.