Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
How to hybridize a rose
COVER emasculated flower with bag so no pollen will be carried to it by insects or wind.
MAKE CROSS later, when stigmas are sticky. Cut flower having pollen-laden stamens, remove petals, rub stamens onto stigmas of prepared bloom, replace bag for week. If successful, ovary will swell.
MAKE CROSS later, when stigmas are sticky. Cut flower having pollen-laden stamens, remove petals, rub stamens onto stigmas of prepared bloom, replace bag for week. If successful, ovary will swell.
How to hybridize a rose
TO HYBRIDIZE, select a 1/2 flower shows pollen-bearing open bloom, remove petals male stamens, female stigmas, and pull off stamens to and unfertilized seeds. prevent self-pollination
How to hybridize a rose
CROSS SECTION of rose flower shows pollen-bearing male stamens, female stigmas and unfertilized seed
Growing the seedlings
Here again-as with seed planting-you have a choice of two basic ways to handle the seedlings: indoors or out. Traditionally, rose seedlings would unfurl their first blooms in greenhouses, but this was done mostly to beat the often miserable spring weather in England and parts of France where so much hybridizing was (and still is) going on. A greenhouse still is quite satisfactory but by no means necessary. You can just as easily flower seedlings indoors in a sunny window or under artificial light.Any of these indoor methods are most popular with hybridizers living where long and cold winters make the growing season short. A bush hybrid tea seedling may bloom as early as 6 weeks from germination (climbers and old rose seedlings may take 2-3 years), so cold-climate gardeners can flower rose seedlings during winter and early spring before roses outside even have new growth. This gives seedlings the advantage of a long growing season the first year. During this period, the hybridizer has a chance to evaluate new plants early, then again on second and even third blooming, before the season is over. As soon as spring frost danger is past, you can move your seedlings outside. Protect them from wind and direct sunlight for about a week, until they adjust to the outdoor atmosphere. If you wish to try them under artificial lights, use the 40-watt fluorescent tubes made especially for growing indoor plants. A two-tube fixture is satisfactory, a four-tube one even more so because of its better light distribution. Locate the lights about 6 inches above the containers in which the seedlings are growing, and leave the lights on for 16 hours each day.
Where winters are relatively mild, there's not as much to be gained by flowering the seedlings indoors. If you wish, you can prepare your seed beds outside. Just a raised bed with light, fast-draining soil could do for both germination and first flowering; although to save space you might want to germinate in flats or pots and transplant to the raised beds.
Damping off-a fungus which rots young seedlings at soil level-can plague seedlings of almost any plant. This is the reason for using sterilized soil and clean containers. As an added precaution, you may want to dust the seeds with captan before planting. Should any seedlings damp off, water the seed flats or pots with a fungicide solution or dust with captan. Mildew may bother seedlings, especially those grown outdoors.
Any seedlings you select may make fairly thrifty plants by their second or third year in your garden. But the only way you will be able to compare them fairly with commercially produced roses is to bud your seedlings onto one of the standard commercial under stocks. Sometimes you will notice improved blooms on your budded plants and you may get a larger, more vigorous bush.
New plants from seeds
Rose breeders wanting to produce totally new rose varieties pollinate one rose variety with another and grow hybrid plants from the resulting seeds. The activity is known as hybridizing and can be an engaging pastime for the home rose grower as well. The mechanics of hybridizing are so simple that insects, the wind, and the roses themselves do it with the greatest of ease and frequency. The hips that decorate many old roses in autumn or that you remove from your hybrid teas are the result of such natural forces at work. At first you may want to plant seeds from hips that form naturally. Until the mid-19th century most new roses came from such unplanned crosses. Doing this will give you the experience of harvesting, planting, and raising new plants with the minimum of disappointment should any fatalities occur. The blooms on these seedlings are likely to spur you on to planning and making definite crosses-either because they are so fascinating or because they are so nondescript that you feel a little guidance is needed!
When to hybridize In all regions where you can count on frosts in October, do all your hybridizing with the first crop of bloom in spring. Hips require about 4 months to form, mature, and ripen, and you want this process completed by the time cold weather arrives.
When mature hips turn orange, yellow, or brown, they are ready for picking. Usually this is in early autumn. In regions where the growing season is short some rose hybridizers cover the full-sized hips in midsummer with aluminum foil. This hastens ripening so that all hips will be ready by the end of the season.
An after-ripening period of low (but not freezing) temperatures combined with moisture is claimed by some hybridizers to improve the percentage of germination. As you pick the ripe hips, put them in boxes or plastic bags where you can cover them with damp sand, vermiculite, or peat moss. Then, put these in the vegetable crisper of your refrigerator. You can leave the after-ripening hips outdoors if you prefer, but see to it that they are safe from mice and squirrels.
Any time from the beginning of December to mid-January, remove the hips from their after-ripening quarters (they'll be black and partly decomposed by then) and shell out the seeds. These will be of odd sizes and shapes, but a convenient indicator of which are good and which aren't is the water test: plant those that sink in water; discard seeds that float.
Planting the seeds Growers of rose seedlings have many favorite ways to plant and germinate the seeds, but they break down to two basic methods: either you plant the seeds close together in fairly shallow containers and transplant seedlings soon after they come up, or you sow them in flats or boxes where they will remain until they flower. The first method probably is more popular because, initially, it uses less space and less potting soil. But it does require more labor because you have to transplant. If you plant seeds where they are to bloom, use a flat or box at least 3 inches deep; sow the seeds an inch apart in rows about 2 inches apart. In either case, cover seeds with 3/8 to 1/2 inch of the potting soil.
Seeds often will start to germinate within 6 weeks of planting and will continue for about 2 months. The first two leaves to appear are oval shaped and not at all rose-like; it is the second set that proves they are roses. As soon as this second set is out, you can transplant the seedlings. As an improvised trowel to lift the tiny plants, use something like a nail file, knife, or ice cream stick; try to keep some soil around the seedling roots during the operation. If it is a cross you particularly value, you may want to keep the seed bed intact for another year. Some seeds which fail to germinate the first spring may grow the next year.
Rose breeders wanting to produce totally new rose varieties pollinate one rose variety with another and grow hybrid plants from the resulting seeds. The activity is known as hybridizing and can be an engaging pastime for the home rose grower as well. The mechanics of hybridizing are so simple that insects, the wind, and the roses themselves do it with the greatest of ease and frequency. The hips that decorate many old roses in autumn or that you remove from your hybrid teas are the result of such natural forces at work. At first you may want to plant seeds from hips that form naturally. Until the mid-19th century most new roses came from such unplanned crosses. Doing this will give you the experience of harvesting, planting, and raising new plants with the minimum of disappointment should any fatalities occur. The blooms on these seedlings are likely to spur you on to planning and making definite crosses-either because they are so fascinating or because they are so nondescript that you feel a little guidance is needed!
When to hybridize In all regions where you can count on frosts in October, do all your hybridizing with the first crop of bloom in spring. Hips require about 4 months to form, mature, and ripen, and you want this process completed by the time cold weather arrives.
When mature hips turn orange, yellow, or brown, they are ready for picking. Usually this is in early autumn. In regions where the growing season is short some rose hybridizers cover the full-sized hips in midsummer with aluminum foil. This hastens ripening so that all hips will be ready by the end of the season.
An after-ripening period of low (but not freezing) temperatures combined with moisture is claimed by some hybridizers to improve the percentage of germination. As you pick the ripe hips, put them in boxes or plastic bags where you can cover them with damp sand, vermiculite, or peat moss. Then, put these in the vegetable crisper of your refrigerator. You can leave the after-ripening hips outdoors if you prefer, but see to it that they are safe from mice and squirrels.
Any time from the beginning of December to mid-January, remove the hips from their after-ripening quarters (they'll be black and partly decomposed by then) and shell out the seeds. These will be of odd sizes and shapes, but a convenient indicator of which are good and which aren't is the water test: plant those that sink in water; discard seeds that float.
Planting the seeds Growers of rose seedlings have many favorite ways to plant and germinate the seeds, but they break down to two basic methods: either you plant the seeds close together in fairly shallow containers and transplant seedlings soon after they come up, or you sow them in flats or boxes where they will remain until they flower. The first method probably is more popular because, initially, it uses less space and less potting soil. But it does require more labor because you have to transplant. If you plant seeds where they are to bloom, use a flat or box at least 3 inches deep; sow the seeds an inch apart in rows about 2 inches apart. In either case, cover seeds with 3/8 to 1/2 inch of the potting soil.
Seeds often will start to germinate within 6 weeks of planting and will continue for about 2 months. The first two leaves to appear are oval shaped and not at all rose-like; it is the second set that proves they are roses. As soon as this second set is out, you can transplant the seedlings. As an improvised trowel to lift the tiny plants, use something like a nail file, knife, or ice cream stick; try to keep some soil around the seedling roots during the operation. If it is a cross you particularly value, you may want to keep the seed bed intact for another year. Some seeds which fail to germinate the first spring may grow the next year.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Step-by-step budding
WHEN BUD sends out a strong new shoot next spring, cut off under stock growth about 1 inch above it.
Step-by-step budding
FIRMLY TIE bud in place, wrapping both above and below it but leaving bud exposed
Step-by-step budding
PEEL BACK under stock bark at T cut, insert bud shield. Bud should be at least 1/4 inch below top of T
Step-by-step budding
FOR BUDWOOD, choose a stem that has just bloomed. Slice under bud to j get 1-inch bark shield with bud in it.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Perhaps the simplest under stock source is sucker growth from any of the roses in your garden.
If one got away from you during the previous year so that it grew long and matured its wood, you could cut it into 8-inch pieces and root them as described for hardwood cuttings on page 92. The only difference is that you'll want to gouge out all eyes on the cuttings except for the top two; any eyes left below the point where you would insert the bud are potential sucker sources.
Since your budding will be on a small scale and for your own amusement, all you need is something that roots easily and well and that will accept the majority of buds you put on it. Among the old rambler types, `American Pillar', `Crimson Rambler', `Dorothy Perkins', and `Veilchenblau' have been successful. If you live in a mild-winter area, you might also try Rosa banksiae and `Climbing Cecile Brunner'.
Sometimes you can buy Multiflora plants for hedges or erosion-control plantings. These plants may be suitable for budding the summer after you plant them; just one, allowed to grow, will supply you with under stock cuttings for years to come.
Whatever you select to be your under stock, the process of budding onto it is much easier if the under stock is grown in a container. Then you can perform the operation at table height instead of at ground level.
Spring and summer are budding seasons; the earlier the growing season begins, the sooner you can bud. The under stock must be succulent enough so that its bark will peel back easily from the woody core of the stem.
You need two "tools" for budding: a very sharp knife and something to tie-in the bud when the operation is finished. You can buy special budding knives that assure you of a good, sharp edge. Some of these are made with flattened handles designed to lift the flaps of bark formed by the T cut (see drawing on page 93). Moistened raffia once was the standard tie for budding, but this has been replaced by rubber strips 5-8 inches long known as "budding rubber." Even simpler to use-because they require no tying-are plastic bud coverings. These are clear plastic patches which you wrap completely over the bud and clip together on the opposite side of the stem from the bud. Both plastic and rubber budding wraps are sold by horticultural supply houses. A good local nursery or your county agricultural office should be able to suggest a source for them.
Three to four weeks after budding, you should have evidence of your success or failure. Cut the wrapping and look at the bud you inserted: if it is plump and green, you have the beginnings of a new rose bush. If, instead, it is black and shriveled, don't despair; try another bud on the opposite side of the same under stock and a little lower than the original.
If one got away from you during the previous year so that it grew long and matured its wood, you could cut it into 8-inch pieces and root them as described for hardwood cuttings on page 92. The only difference is that you'll want to gouge out all eyes on the cuttings except for the top two; any eyes left below the point where you would insert the bud are potential sucker sources.
Since your budding will be on a small scale and for your own amusement, all you need is something that roots easily and well and that will accept the majority of buds you put on it. Among the old rambler types, `American Pillar', `Crimson Rambler', `Dorothy Perkins', and `Veilchenblau' have been successful. If you live in a mild-winter area, you might also try Rosa banksiae and `Climbing Cecile Brunner'.
Sometimes you can buy Multiflora plants for hedges or erosion-control plantings. These plants may be suitable for budding the summer after you plant them; just one, allowed to grow, will supply you with under stock cuttings for years to come.
Whatever you select to be your under stock, the process of budding onto it is much easier if the under stock is grown in a container. Then you can perform the operation at table height instead of at ground level.
Spring and summer are budding seasons; the earlier the growing season begins, the sooner you can bud. The under stock must be succulent enough so that its bark will peel back easily from the woody core of the stem.
You need two "tools" for budding: a very sharp knife and something to tie-in the bud when the operation is finished. You can buy special budding knives that assure you of a good, sharp edge. Some of these are made with flattened handles designed to lift the flaps of bark formed by the T cut (see drawing on page 93). Moistened raffia once was the standard tie for budding, but this has been replaced by rubber strips 5-8 inches long known as "budding rubber." Even simpler to use-because they require no tying-are plastic bud coverings. These are clear plastic patches which you wrap completely over the bud and clip together on the opposite side of the stem from the bud. Both plastic and rubber budding wraps are sold by horticultural supply houses. A good local nursery or your county agricultural office should be able to suggest a source for them.
Three to four weeks after budding, you should have evidence of your success or failure. Cut the wrapping and look at the bud you inserted: if it is plump and green, you have the beginnings of a new rose bush. If, instead, it is black and shriveled, don't despair; try another bud on the opposite side of the same under stock and a little lower than the original.
New plants by budding
Virtually all rose bushes sold bare-root are budded plants. At the proper time of year, professional budders slice growth eyes or "buds" from stems of the roses they want to propagate. They insert these buds into incisions in the bark on well-rooted cuttings, called "under stocks," of another rose known to give good root systems. There are several good reasons for propagating roses this way.
• To the commercial grower it means faster production of new varieties: a cutting long enough to be rooted will have at least four buds, but each of these buds inserted into under stock could produce a separate plant.
• The commercial grower also needs plants which can be dug up easily without damage to roots and which have roots that will pack and ship easily. Most commercial under stocks have relatively flexible and not-too-thick roots.
• Some roses, regardless of the quality of their own roots, are difficult to root and would always be in short supply if they had to be propagated from cuttings.
Commercial growers who ship nationally also look for under stocks that will grow well under the greatest possible variety of growing conditions. As yet, no perfect under stock has been developed that is suitable for all regions, but two of the most widely adaptable are Rosa multiflora, a species from Japan, and the semi-double, maroon-red climber 'Dr. Huey'. Multiflora is preferred for cold-winter areas; 'Dr. Huey', with a shorter dormancy requirement, is better for most of the Southwest and other mild-winter regions. Other mild-winter under stocks are 'Odorata (an old Chinese garden hybrid) and Rosa fortuneana-the latter good for the unusual conditions in Florida where roses never go dormant and many soils are fast draining and nematode infested.
Virtually all rose bushes sold bare-root are budded plants. At the proper time of year, professional budders slice growth eyes or "buds" from stems of the roses they want to propagate. They insert these buds into incisions in the bark on well-rooted cuttings, called "under stocks," of another rose known to give good root systems. There are several good reasons for propagating roses this way.
• To the commercial grower it means faster production of new varieties: a cutting long enough to be rooted will have at least four buds, but each of these buds inserted into under stock could produce a separate plant.
• The commercial grower also needs plants which can be dug up easily without damage to roots and which have roots that will pack and ship easily. Most commercial under stocks have relatively flexible and not-too-thick roots.
• Some roses, regardless of the quality of their own roots, are difficult to root and would always be in short supply if they had to be propagated from cuttings.
Commercial growers who ship nationally also look for under stocks that will grow well under the greatest possible variety of growing conditions. As yet, no perfect under stock has been developed that is suitable for all regions, but two of the most widely adaptable are Rosa multiflora, a species from Japan, and the semi-double, maroon-red climber 'Dr. Huey'. Multiflora is preferred for cold-winter areas; 'Dr. Huey', with a shorter dormancy requirement, is better for most of the Southwest and other mild-winter regions. Other mild-winter under stocks are 'Odorata (an old Chinese garden hybrid) and Rosa fortuneana-the latter good for the unusual conditions in Florida where roses never go dormant and many soils are fast draining and nematode infested.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
New plants from cuttings
Propagation from cuttings is the simplest way to grow additional plants of a favorite rose. Most vigorous roses-shrub and climbing sorts, most old garden roses, polyanthus, floribundas, grandifloras, and many hybrid teas-will grow well on their own roots. In most cases, a cutting-grown rose won't make much of an impression in your garden until its third year, at which point it is the same age as the newly planted 2-year-old bare-root bush from a nursery.
You can start cuttings from dormant wood at pruning time or take softwood cuttings during the blooming season. For dormant cuttings, select wood that's pencil-thick in diameter and make each cutting about 8 inches long. Remove the lowest two eyes, dip the end to be rooted in a rooting hormone powder (sold at most nurseries), and insert the end 3-4 inches deep in a pot or in the ground. If you plant directly in the ground, make a trench in the soil, put 1/z-1 inch of coarse sand in the bottom, and fill in around the cutting with a half-and-half sand and soil mixture. Firm the soil and water the cutting. For starting in pots, a light, sandy potting soil is the best. Start cuttings in a spot which receives little or no direct sunlight.
During the flowering season, you can start softwood cuttings from stems that have just bloomed. Cut off the faded flower just above the first 5-leaflet leaf and make the second cut farther down the stem just below a leaf; you'll want at least four growth eyes on the cutting.
Cut off all but the top two sets of leaves, dip the cutting in a rooting hormone, then pot it in a sandy potting soil as described for dormant cuttings. Finally, water the cuttings in, cover the pot with a plastic bag or invert a glass jar over the cuttings, and place the pot somewhere out of direct sunlight. In a month or two, when new growth appears, you can remove the bag or jar. If you enclosed the entire pot in a plastic bag, you shouldn't need to give the cuttings any additional water during their rooting period. But if a glass jar is covering them, check often to be sure the soil doesn't dry out.
Propagation from cuttings is the simplest way to grow additional plants of a favorite rose. Most vigorous roses-shrub and climbing sorts, most old garden roses, polyanthus, floribundas, grandifloras, and many hybrid teas-will grow well on their own roots. In most cases, a cutting-grown rose won't make much of an impression in your garden until its third year, at which point it is the same age as the newly planted 2-year-old bare-root bush from a nursery.
You can start cuttings from dormant wood at pruning time or take softwood cuttings during the blooming season. For dormant cuttings, select wood that's pencil-thick in diameter and make each cutting about 8 inches long. Remove the lowest two eyes, dip the end to be rooted in a rooting hormone powder (sold at most nurseries), and insert the end 3-4 inches deep in a pot or in the ground. If you plant directly in the ground, make a trench in the soil, put 1/z-1 inch of coarse sand in the bottom, and fill in around the cutting with a half-and-half sand and soil mixture. Firm the soil and water the cutting. For starting in pots, a light, sandy potting soil is the best. Start cuttings in a spot which receives little or no direct sunlight.
During the flowering season, you can start softwood cuttings from stems that have just bloomed. Cut off the faded flower just above the first 5-leaflet leaf and make the second cut farther down the stem just below a leaf; you'll want at least four growth eyes on the cutting.
Cut off all but the top two sets of leaves, dip the cutting in a rooting hormone, then pot it in a sandy potting soil as described for dormant cuttings. Finally, water the cuttings in, cover the pot with a plastic bag or invert a glass jar over the cuttings, and place the pot somewhere out of direct sunlight. In a month or two, when new growth appears, you can remove the bag or jar. If you enclosed the entire pot in a plastic bag, you shouldn't need to give the cuttings any additional water during their rooting period. But if a glass jar is covering them, check often to be sure the soil doesn't dry out.
Rose gardening in South-Africa
Three Propagation Methods
Every winter and early spring, nurseries bulge with sturdy bare-root rose bushes, and mail-order nurseries, are ready to deliver equally husky plants at the drop of a letter. Why then, you might ask, should you bother to propagate roses when good plants are so available?
Various practical considerations aside, the chief reason for wanting to propagate your own roses is the pleasure of it. Words can't quite capture the satisfaction provided by beautiful blooms on a rose bush that you nurtured from a scrap of wood. Of course, if you want more plants of a particular rose that no longer is sold, or of one you can't identify, then you'll have to grow your own-either from cuttings or by budding onto under stock plants. If you have the creative urge (and are somewhat of a gambler at heart), try raising entirely new roses from seed.
Every winter and early spring, nurseries bulge with sturdy bare-root rose bushes, and mail-order nurseries, are ready to deliver equally husky plants at the drop of a letter. Why then, you might ask, should you bother to propagate roses when good plants are so available?
Various practical considerations aside, the chief reason for wanting to propagate your own roses is the pleasure of it. Words can't quite capture the satisfaction provided by beautiful blooms on a rose bush that you nurtured from a scrap of wood. Of course, if you want more plants of a particular rose that no longer is sold, or of one you can't identify, then you'll have to grow your own-either from cuttings or by budding onto under stock plants. If you have the creative urge (and are somewhat of a gambler at heart), try raising entirely new roses from seed.
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