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Once planting a magnificent rose in your backyard, you will probably want to propagate it in order to create a new flower arrangement, share beauty with friends or acquaintances. The easiest way to propagate roses is cuttings. It can be done in spring or autumn. Cutting roses in autumn at home will not be difficult if you know and use the basic rules for this procedure. It is about them that we will talk in more detail later in the article.
Advantages of cuttings
A gardener can propagate roses in his backyard in two ways: cuttings or grafting. Moreover, grafting is the preferred method, since it has a number of comparative advantages:
- Roses grown from cuttings have a modest but well-developed root system, which simplifies plant care.
- Plants obtained by cuttings tolerate cold winters better.
- When the above-ground part of the rose freezes, its cutting will give a full-fledged, varietal shoot from the lower dormant bud.
- Cuttings are very easy to get, because they, in fact, are waste from autumn pruning of plants.
- By cuttings, you can get planting material from a magnificent bouquet of roses, preserving the memory of the gift for a long time.
- Cuttings can be used for almost all types of roses. At the same time, difficulties can arise only when propagating park and remontant varieties of this “prickly beauty”.
- Roses grown from cuttings have a long life cycle.
Thus, if the question arises of propagating roses, then do not hesitate, because it is much easier and more efficient to do this using cuttings. The only “thin” moment in this case will be the preservation of the culture in the first winter after the emergence of sprouts. Young and not yet fully rooted seedlings should be well covered to prevent them from freezing.
Preparation of cuttings
You can cut roses in spring and summer, when the plant is about to bloom or is about to shed its magnificent petals. It is also possible to effectively propagate a rose with cuttings in late autumn: in the last days of October – the first decade of November. It is at this time that it is recommended to prune the plants in the garden, which means that planting material can be obtained without any problems.
Cutting cuttings consists of the following steps:
- from the total number of shoots, you need to choose ripe, healthy specimens, 4-5 mm thick;
- shoots of roses should be cut into pieces, leaving 3-5 well-developed buds on each of them;
- the upper cut should be made straight 2 cm above the extreme kidney. The lower cut on the shoot must be made oblique directly under the lower kidney;
- on the handle, remove the lower leaves and leave a few upper leaves. The left leaves are also recommended to be cut in half.
Important! Cuts on the handle should be made with a sharp garden pruner, which was previously disinfected with a manganese or alcohol solution.
As can be seen from the description, the process of preparing cuttings is quite simple and will not cause any difficulties even for an inexperienced gardener. Also, a fairly detailed description of the preparation of cuttings and a clear example of the manipulation can be found in the video:
Rooting of cuttings
Having prepared the cuttings of the rose, you can begin to root them. This rather complicated process consists of a number of important points that you definitely need to know about:
Soil preparation
Rose cuttings should be rooted in well-drained, nutritious soil. It needs to be prepared from sand, humus and soddy land. So, the optimal composition of the soil includes 2 parts of the earth, and 1 part of sand and humus. Clean river sand will also be needed for rooting. It is poured in a layer of 3-5 cm on top of the nutrient soil. River sand will provide the necessary air circulation and drainage.
Prepared soil is filled with small plastic containers, the bottom of which has drainage holes. If necessary, at home, you can use water bottles or plastic buckets, containers.
Planting cuttings in the ground and optimal conditions for rooting
Before planting a rose cutting in the ground, it is recommended to treat its lower cut with Kornevin or another growth stimulator. This will speed up the rooting process. In the absence of such a special preparation, it is also possible to successfully root a rose cutting, however, it will take a little longer.
The cutting of the rose is embedded in the top layer of sand by 1,5-2 cm. As it grows, the roots will go deep into the soil and begin to feed from the lower layer of fertile soil. It is recommended to close up the cutting at a slight angle to the soil surface. The distances between seedlings in one container should be at least 8 cm. After planting the cuttings, the soil must be slightly moistened by spraying the top layer with a spray bottle.
Further growth of the roots directly depends on the conditions in which the plant will be located. So, for the first 3 weeks, rose cuttings should be in conditions with a humidity of 80-90%. It will be possible to maintain such humidity in a greenhouse. To create it, you can cover the container with a film or a transparent plastic lid. It is necessary to spray the plant and soil inside the greenhouse 1 time in 2-3 days. In the evening and morning hours, the greenhouse can be ventilated. During the day, it is recommended to hide pots of roses from direct sunlight in order to avoid burns.
After 3 weeks, a warm and sufficiently humid microclimate should be changed. Lower the pots with cuttings into the cellar or basement for long-term winter storage. Storage temperature should be +1-+30C, the optimum humidity is 65-70%. In the spring, with the advent of heat, roses are planted in the ground and cared for in accordance with the requirements of a particular variety.
The above method of rooting is quite simple. It is he who is most often used by gardeners to propagate roses in their garden. Subject to all the rules of rooting and preparation of cuttings, the probability of survival of each seedling is very, very high. It is worth noting that cuttings can be rooted in this way not only in pots, but also in the garden, but in this case you need to take care of a good and reliable shelter for the winter.
Rooting cuttings in potatoes
Throughout the history of growing roses, many different methods have been invented for rooting cuttings. One of them is to use potatoes. The tubers of this vegetable contain many useful substances and are a source of moisture and food for the cuttings. You need to use fresh and healthy tubers, a plastic pot and some fertile soil.
Eyes should be removed from the surface of the potato. The rose cuttings themselves are harvested in compliance with the above rules. The prepared planting material is treated with “Kornevin” and the lower part of the handle is stuck into the potato tuber. Beforehand, a small hole can be made in the potato so that the stalk does not break.
Rooting will also require a plastic container and nutrient soil. At the bottom of the tank it is necessary to pour a drainage layer of expanded clay. In the top layer of nutrient soil, plant potatoes with shoots and lightly water it. For rooting as soon as possible, it is recommended to cover the plantings with polyethylene or plastic to create a greenhouse effect.
An example of how to root a rose cutting in a potato is shown in the video. An experienced gardener will not only tell, but also show by example the process of rooting cuttings.
Rooting bouquet roses
Probably, every woman is pleased to receive bouquets of roses as a gift, but, unfortunately, beautiful and bright buds please the eye for a very short time. You can save memories and decorate your garden with new plants by rooting bouquet roses. They reproduce in various ways. The two above options are also suitable for rooting, but there are some features:
- only fresh roses are suitable for rooting, which have not been “preserved” with various additives for long-term transportation and storage in a store;
- slightly sluggish roses with wrinkled stems are not suitable for breeding. They will soon just begin to turn black;
- cuttings should be dark green with no signs of damage or disease.
You can root bouquet roses as follows:
- The stalk prepared according to the above rules must be placed in a glass of water.
- Cover the shoots with a plastic bag, tie it loosely, leaving a small hole for air to enter.
- Place a container with plants under a fluorescent lamp. As soon as fresh leaves appear on the shoot, it is cut again, leaving several developing buds.
- Place the growing cutting in a dark glass jar filled with water. Place a clear plastic bag over the plant.
- After about a month, roots will begin to appear on the shoot. When their length is 1 cm, the plants can be planted in nutrient soil.
The proposed method of rooting roses in the fall is quite long and requires patience and care from the gardener. At the same time, the rooting result is always excellent, because as a result of such manipulations, half of the breeding seedlings will go to the flower bed in the spring. Another way to root bouquet roses in newsprint can be found in the video:
No wonder the rose is called the queen of the garden. Her beauty and grandeur involuntarily attract the eye of any person. Many gardeners strive to create a magnificent rose garden that will delight and surprise relatives, friends and just passers-by. For these purposes, there is no need to buy a lot of seedlings, because the propagation of roses by cuttings in the fall will not be difficult and will not take much time. If everything is done correctly during the breeding process, then you can get a lot of young plants, and each presented bouquet or cutting from a neighbor will become another decoration of the garden from the general collection of roses.