Jackie kindly sent me some cuttings of Baysees Thornless a couple of weeks ago (Thank you very much). She had them wrapped in the basic burrito and I stored them in the garage. I checked them today and they were rooting on just about every bud. A second bundle is doing the same thing only the roots are longer so I didn’t want to unwrap them yet. I’ve never had this happen and I’m not real sure what to do with them. I thought about laying them in a tray of potting soil and then cutting them apart when they have some additional roots and top growth. Any suggestions?
That should work perfectly, Jeff. Leaving them long cuttings instead of hacking them into smaller pieces should also permit every bud to benefit from the total stored nutrients in the cane, where small pieces may dry up or starve before new plants are produced. Kudos!
I’m just wondering how Jackie got the cuttings to root so well? Were they staked to the ground prior to shipping? Can they be stored in the crisper for and does the cooler temp stimulate growth? and Is early spring the best time to take these cuttings?
Jeff, that’s Basye’s Thornless Wichurana, not “Basye’s Thornless”, aka Basey’s Legacy, isn’t it? The appearance of the wood and the way it’s rooted are very characteristically wichurana.
I have two plants of thornless wich. from Kim. One was labeled Basyes’ Thornless Wich. and the other was labeled Basyes Thornless W. with improved foliage selection."
There are a few old threads about a wrap or “burrito” method of rooting cuttings. Basically cuttings are about 10 inches long. All foliage is remove and they are then wrapped in damp, not wet, newspaper. The wraps are put inside a plastic bag and put in a cool place for a couple of weeks. I’ve used this method for several roses and it works pretty well. It’s one of the easiest methods I’ve used for rooting cuttings. This winter I have used it on Iceberg, Peace, Ingid Bergman, Marina and a couple of my own minis. It did not work on Fragrant Cloud and Double Delight. Here’s a link to Kim’s page about using the wrap method.
Here’s the result of laying these cuttings in a shallow tray with potting mix. I got 27 well rooted cuttings from this batch. I potted them this morning and if I don’t kill them, I’ll make some available to the RHA for shipping cost. I’ll let you know.
Yup, that’s what to expect from any rose happy to layer itself along the ground when it hits suitable conditions. Multiflora and Wichurana are notorious for doing it. They grow very much like Bermuda or “Devil” Grass. Or, even like thorny bamboo (which is just a giant grass).