North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] Rose grafting question(s)

FWIW, most roses are so easy to root from cuttings, grafting is mainly for emergency situations, as far as I'm concerned.   One season I planted cuttings from a Queen Elizabeth rose in late October by just lining them in a row in the garden.  They sat over winter with no care and were watered and fertilized during the summer.  By the next fall, I had a row of rose bushes, many of which were three feet tall.  All but about two of over 100 cuttings grew.  We have relatively mild winters here in Oregon, but I'm sure this would work anywhere roses can be grown without winter protection.  I've grown lots of roses from cuttings in summer, too.
    The nice thing about own rooted roses is that if something damages them, they come back from the roots.  Damage a grafted rose and all you get are rootstock shoots.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com
Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003 


> I had purchased some roses this past spring.  I moved
> into a new house with the typical quality of
> lanscaping that a builder gives.  Anyway, I had looked
> at rose grafting as a colleague has near a hundred
> bushes of different varieties.  I don't know how to
> graft (yet - something I plan to tackle this spring)
> but here's a web address that seemed pretty detailed
> and this might help as well.
>
> http://www.oberlin.net/~obieroses/Graftall.htm
>
> Regards,
> Todd Ravitch
> NE Oklahoma USDA Zone 6B