I can verify if you don't remove Dr. Huey suckers they will produce a lovely 12 foot, arching, spring-blooming cane clothed wth bright red bloom clusters.

Don't I wish that sealant would prevent Huey suckers. No such luck.

Planted a Mr Lincoln, it bloomed one day and the next day petal blew away. Following day I dug him up, going down at least 2 1/2 feet following roots. Weeks later Dr. Huey came up in it place..... hmmmm looks like RU is the way to go to get rid of suckers. BTW, the Dr. Huey that came up I let live. Nice looking rose.... lol

I will see if removing this sucker leads to more suckers or what. I have a lot on my climbing rose John Keats, but I keep after it. I use a steak knife and I like saw them off, but I think I want to try a mini pruning saw. I get them when they are very small. I have a ginkgo tree that suckers way more then any of the roses, and I still cut them down with a steak knife, any time I am weeding.

Suckers are caused when roots are growing too close to the soil surface. Ways to prevent sucker growth are planting the graft at, or just above, the soil surface in warm weather areas; increase depth of water so roots grow deeper; watch for areas where soil has compacted and roots are exposed. Suckers grow anywhere the roots grow so sucker growth may occur several feet from the host bush. To remove sucker growth, dig down to where the sucker comes from the root and either yank out the new growth or dig out the root system of the older growth. A sucker that is cut off or pinched back does the same thing as a bedding plant - grows back thicker and stronger and sets it's own root system, too. Dr Huey is successful for grafting as the roots grow, regardless of whether it has much of a bush attached or not. Even after you dig up a spindly Dr Huey-grafted bush, you may find volunteer Dr Huey bushes within the year. That's one of the reasons why it is so important to remove as much of the root as possible when planting new roses where roses once grew.

Personally, I don't see any correlation between sealing pruning cuts and preventing sucker growth since suckers have to be removed from the roots.

If all you do is cut the sucker off at ground level it will definitely grow back. Whether it's quicker or not I don't know. In order to prevent the sucker from growing back you have to dig down to where the sucker is coming from off the root ball and tear it off or damage that connection in some way so that you destroy the growth node at that point. That will stop that sucker from regrowing but that isn't to say the roots won't send up a new sucker from some other point. If the rose is planted correctly and healthy the root stock shouldn't have any reason to start growing on its own. The only times I have ever had root stock grow is when I left the dead stump of a rose in the ground too long and the roots decided to grow up around it.

My thinking is to cut out the suckers while they as small as possible also. The big sucker, I had just bought and only noticed that one when planting it. It was almost as tall as the original bush, which why they did not notice it. I got it at Regan in Fremont and they are going out of business, so this is the last chance to get those roses. The problem is not that they are losing money, but the land is being taken away by the government with something like imminent domain. Unfortunately, they they had they hired someone to prune who just used straight cuts, and there was some cane die due to improper pruning. But, over all the roses had very good base canes. Chicago Peace for example has huge big base canes and they still had a lot of those left.

You have to tear off, not cut, the sucker at the point it stems from the root. The better way is to use a razor sharp knife or budding tool and remove some bark and tissue from the root effectively de-eyeing it at that spot.

Seil, for the win.

"you destroy the growth node at that point. That will stop that sucker from regrowing but that isn't to say the roots won't send up a new sucker from some other point."

Those growth points exist on roots, and there's nothing we can do about it. It's part and parcel of them being roses. Some of those points take off more effectively than others.

Back in the 20s there were plant propagation text books that had sections through the grafted parts of large roses. the complexity of transfer from root to scion was awesome and may have been a strong dose of reality.

Tens of thousands of rose growers still don't 'get' why their rose changed colors. A friend wanted to know how that hussy Europeana caused her Queen Elizabeth (the next rose) to turn into a Toro ( the read HT she was most familiar with). Took a while to explain to her what had happened and I think she only believed me when not-Toro refused to repeat bloom for her.

Unfortunately you were right and I was wrong. I notice it had a new sucker right under the pruning seal. This is the one of the roses that I think has Rossette. I am maybe going to throw it away today, and I did get it from Regan. I see no sign of any kind of positive growth on it either.

I had a beautiful Memorial Day last year but something happened and it started to struggle over the winter. Last week I noticed it was putting on some very nice stems then it dawned on me that it might be Dr. Huey. I dug down to the graph and yep those suckers were growing from below the graft. It was in a pot so I took the rose completely out and decided to get rid of all the soil too. Just out of curiosity I sifted the soil to see if there were an roots left in the soil. Sure enough there was so they went out in the trash.

I had a Paradise last fall that started sending up suckers so I dug down and ripped them off. So far this spring Paradise seems to be struggling so it too may be sending up suckers before long.

For those of you with a lot more experience that me; is a rose more likely to send up suckers if the rose above the graft is struggling?

BethC - yes and no. Depends on what is causing the rose to suffer. This weekend I was called to consult in a garden where the roses had been pruned down to less than 6 inches tall. The canes were about an inch thick and had been in the ground between 5-10 years. Some of those roses were pruned so hard, they had no growth nodes left above the graft. They were going to sucker-growth. Some roses are so root compacted, they have no place to grow below soil level and start to lift up out of container or ground. The bush on top might be struggling but Dr Huey isn't! Sucker growth is very simple to remove and discourage when young. After the sucker is 'cut' as opposed to yanked out, the sucker bush will develop a health root system and take the nutrients away from the grafted plant. When planting a Dr Huey grafted rose in a container, it's best to make sure you're using at least a 20-24" wide container by at least 24" deep. The planting hole in the ground should be that wide and about 16-18" deep. The bud union needs to be at, or just above, the level of the surrounding soil.