Propagation page at The Flowering Shrub Farm in Voorheesville, NY. Its a good idea to reload this page in case your computer has it cached as we add new pictures occasionally. Click on the picture and it may open a larger version with more detail. I am rewriting this regularly so if the wording is confusing, Sorry! 14:15
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We use potting soil and sharp sand in various combinations to root cuttings from roses (roses root well in coarse sand but are likely to become too dry without something to retain even moisture). We start sticking cuttings July through November with semi-mature heel cuttings, August with stool layers, November with hardwood cuttings or seed started in one gallons and December through April with root cuttings and Divisions. In spring we take softwood cuttings from Pinxterbloom Azaleas, Blueberry bushes and Lilacs.
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We take hundreds of cuttings from the really large roses, those that will be easily identifiable from the flower may be shipped out to a contract greenhouse (sometimes as a mixed bag of cuttings using only an individually numbered label as an identifier (note those that show a number painted on the side of the pot alongside the year planted in one gallon pots) as we wont sell them anyway until they are identified from the flower (those that are not easy to identify will be propagated in-house). We always note on the side of the pot; numbers and notes that may help to identify it later and wait for it to flower identifying the variety.
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We may end up with thousands of plants that we wont sell until after they have been identified (or that we know is a hybrid rugosa, gallica or damask just not which variety yet). In July and August we use a special misting bench to propagate plants that I may show pictures of pots of cuttings but they will still be bagged up in September and through the winter.
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I stick 4 cuttings in each 1 gallon pot. The variety name and the date stuck are printed on the side with a paint pen. At least one of the four always ends up rooting so I will pull out the cuttings that didn't root next spring. We over winter new rooted cuttings in the plastic bag in a raised bed each bagged pot surrounded with other bagged pots in tight proximity. Using a paint pen works really well; it doesn't fade and I can always erase the notes by lining them out or using a rag soaked in paint remover (initially we attach a label then paint on the pot if cuttings root). Those that have come back from greenhouse are potted one to each 1 gallon pot with the year it was potted and what variety we think it is noted on the side (if it has month day and year it was rooted in house).
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Cuttings should be thick as a pencil but no thicker than a finger, be around 6 inches long and have at least 3 sets of leaf nodes with at least one set of nodes above soil to grow leaves and at least one below soil to grow roots. Auxin is naturally generated by any cutting that has leaves but I use Rootone partially for the added auxin (especially when there are no leaves) and additionally for the fungicide that can help prevent mold that might compete with roots. Cuttings that are thinner than a pencil must be quite a bit longer than the 6 inches so that they have adequate starch stored so they stay alive while rooting.
After rooted cuttings are large enough to overshadow their pots and some of the surrounding soil I move them out into the fields under drip line. Each emitter drips water at the rate of one half gallon an hour. Turning the water on for two hours waters each plant with one gallon of water.
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I stick at least 4 cuttings in a 1 gallon pot, the variety name and the date the cuttings were stuck painted on the side with a paint pen. Compare the date this picture was taken (in the lower right hand corner) and the date on the pot. Sometimes it takes as little as 2 weeks to root while at other times it can take 8 weeks but as long as it still has leaves or at least the stem isn't blackened the cutting is still healthy.
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The roses I love are the really big ones with massive bloom in June with hundreds or even thousands of fragrant flowers. Each of these stems ending in a faded flower is a potential cutting to be taken and rooted in July.
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Usually the best way to communicate with me is to read the current newsletter. I take pictures of what I am doing and insert them here (later I may or may not add a line of print). Customers sometimes send me a text on 518-526-9978 asking me to call them back. Texting works pretty well because I am in areas of bad reception at least some of the time. And I can always call you back from a digital phone with a land line. If you send me an email I may answer your questions in the latest newsletter and just send you a link to the page but if I have the time and you include your phone number I may call you back.
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Heres a copy of a web page for;
Picture of Crop #146 'Souvenir de Philemon Cochet', Hybrid Rugosa Rose, zones 4-10, 5x4, pink, shade tolerant, continuous blooming, introduced around 1900. Click picture for a larger version that can be saved as wallpaper or studied more closely for inventory information. Do you want to purchase? Contact me. Notice the picture on the right below will show either cuttings we are trying to root in a plastic bag, Cuttings that we have already rooted or the stems of a plant that we have in the nursery where we are looking for the thickness of a pencil and so I point at them with a pencil.
Pictures on the right and below should show our available roses of this variety or type (the variety name abreviated on the side of the pot with a paint pen) in 1 and 2 gallon pots (larger sizes may be available for pickup at the plant sale) as of the date in the corner. Click the picture for a larger image that can be studied more closely or saved as wallpaper (if a different picture I will over-write with the inventory picture next spring). You might want to reload this page in case your computer has it cached or check my Roseraie Page where I show how I propagate, grow and sell roses. One of these pictures shows cuttings taken from this variety in late summer (in plastic bags that we will over-winter them in) and will be over-written in spring to show how many rooted (with the bags removed). We stick 4 cuttings in each 1 gallon pot (once they root I will put a number near the rim of the pot that shows how many rooted cuttings there are in this single one gallon pot). If I have not taken cuttings yet or have no rooted cuttings left the picture may show potential viable cuttings (thick as a pencil) being pointed at with a pencil. We over-write inventory pictures frequently. Want to purchase? Contact me but check the rosegro page first.
www.floweringshrubfarm.com/rosegro.htm
Notice the picture below showing rooted cuttings all of this type, either hybrid rugosa, rambler, gallica, damask, alba, etc.
Availability? Rose Guide & Inventory. We grow plants to sell at our plant sale. Go to my growing page to see what we do and when we do it. Read my notes on the zone hardiness numbers I use. Do we do mail order? Check my picture-newsletter Want to purchase? email me.
Do you want to purchase? Contact me.