Home › The Propagation of Roses › The Propagation of Roses

The Propagation of Roses

In budding roses a strong stock is secured and the variety selected is budded upon this stock, eventually becoming a part of it. The actual operation of budding is merely to cut off the dormant bud from the variety which it is desired to perpetuate and, cutting a slit in the bark of the stock, to introduce the bud into the same. When the bud so transplanted becomes somewhat established, all growth above it is removed and the whole vitality of a proved stock is thrown into the bud, giving it the nourishment which a tried constitution insures. In England the two stocks most commonly used are MANETTI and BRIAR. In the case of roses with a preponderance of Hybrid Perpetual blood the Manetti stock is generally used; for those containing much Tea blood the Briar has been found the better stock.

A few growers in this country are trying Japanese Multiflora, and with some varieties secure stronger and better plants than those grown on the ordinary stocks as generally used. Sometimes Rugosa stock is used for budding and a very few roses do quite well on it.

Undoubtedly the ideal stock for all roses has not yet been discovered, and a great advance should be made in this most important section of rose culture. In order to secure a perfect rose list, budding on different stocks should be tried. If cuttings are employed, very many roses will not succeed as well for outdoor culture.

There are two objections to budded roses. First, they occasionally break off at the bud, but this has so seldom occurred in actual practice that it is not worth consideration. The second and main reason is that the stocks upon which the roses are budded throw up shoots of their own below the bud, usually called suckers, which, if left, take the entire nourishment of the roots and check the budded growth. These shoots from below the bud may be very easily detected upon their appearance, because they come up from the ground outside the plant and also because of their different habit of growth, containing, as they do, seven and sometimes nine leaves on each lateral, instead of three and five as in most budded varieties. (Note illustration.) The foliage is of a much lighter shade of green than the shoots from the bud itself and its point of junction with the plant is below the bud. It is very easily removed by carefully digging up the ground, cutting it off with a knife at its union with the plant below the bud, and rubbing some earth over the cut. In addition, this main reason is not a valid objection, because it only happens with about one per cent. of the budded FIG. 2