Not in my experience, but I'm not aware of the science either way. Basal breaks can be rose specific or nutrient-specific, and they can come from underground just fine for those of us who have to bury the grafts. If a rose dies to the soil line, it can be the only way it survives the winter.

The most consistent advice I see to encourage basal breaks is to feed the rose some alfalfa in spring. I prefer alfalfa hay (from the local farm store) rather than pellets, because I've had trouble with the alfalfa burning some canes, but others like the convenience of the alfalfa pellets.

Cynthia

I've been feeding it Alfalfa since planting....they get the feed when I feed the lawn with alfalfa.

Got a few -2 stump - roses and branching off 2 stems. Might do a XL feed this year to hopefully spur something ....which I've never gotten in previous (with alfalfa feeds as such).

Was just thinking outlound as I was muching thinking maybe a bit of sun encourage it and maybe I should pull back the mulch in some of these 2 stumpers being discussed.