Plant Tissue Culture PPT

Mature rose plants can be quite expensive to buy, so its good to know that you can grow young rose plants successfully by taking cuttings. Roses are relatively easy to grow from cuttings and will grow on to make healthy flowering plants. September is a good time to take cuttings. Roots will be produced over the winter months and the rose cuttings will be ready to pot on in the spring. Choose health stems from the current seasons growth and follow these few easy steps to produce more of your favourite rose varieties.

Almost all rose varieties make successful plants from cuttings. Make sure you select long, strong and healthy stems from this year's growth and not older woody stems. Cuttings should be about 25cm in length. Cut the stem above a bud at the top to remove the shoot tip and below a bud at the base of the stem. Make slits in the bottom inch of the stem to encourage rooting. This is known as wounding. Remove all the lower leaves but leave one at the top of the stem. Next, dip the base of the cutting into hormone rooting powder. This will help speed up the process by stimulating the growth of a new root system. Fill a 10cm pot with gritty compost and insert several cuttings around the edge of the pot. You should be able to get around four or five cuttings per pot. I find it best to make several pots of cuttings so as to allow for a percentage that don't root. Placing them around the edge of the pot is better than just inserting one into the middle of a pot as it encourages root growth and lessens the risk of rotting off. Water the pots well and place them in a shady spot. A cold frame or sheltered part of the garden should be fine.

Remember to label your cuttings. Keep the pots well watered and in position until the cuttings have rooted. If you don't want to use pots for the cuttings, roses do propagate very well if planted directly into the soil. Again, choose a sheltered spot and give them plenty of room so they are not crowded out by other plants in the border. After a few weeks you should see more leaves start to appear which is a good sign that the cutting has taken root. Once the cuttings have rooted, probably by the next summer, tease them apart and plant them up into individual garden planters.

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