I found this on the internet, so it must be true. /s
Rose bushes can be a little pricey, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have one of your own! Simply buy individual roses and cut about an inch off of the stem. Dip the ends in cinnamon and place it inside a potato. Sounds strange, right? Once you plant the potato you’ll have your own rose bush in a few short months!
Karl, have you tried it, I have read about previously and may give it ago as we are coming into our Spring here in Australia. If it works I would assume it is the starch in the potato which helps it grow, just guessing.
Karl, did you use cinnamon on the nail and did it root? LOL!
Maybe they forgot to mention that the key ingredient here is actually zinc cinnamate produced when the nail leave some zinc that reacts with the active ingredient in the cinnamon. If someone will send me a dozen roses, I’ll provide the spuds and do a completely blind test of zinc, iron,copper and aluminium nails. For a second dozen, I’ll double the replications and report the results. I left out finger nails because they aren’t the right size for making useful holes in potatoes. (Toe nails don’t work well either, I’ve tried it.)
I’ve never tried it, but since the birth of the internet, I’ve read of propagating in potatoes. I’m not sure at what level we are mocking the idea, but I don’t know that the idea is entirely without merit. When I was in middle school, we actually used clean potato slices for microbial cultures. In principal, the interior starches are sterile in a healthy potato, and would have the nutrients a developing plant should need – that, after all, is the inherent purpose of a tuber – so the concept seems reasonable. The cinnamon part is new to me, mind you, but a quick search indicates that it is supposed to have antimicrobial qualities when used as a rooting adjunct. I doubt the technique is as effective as commercial processes using chemicals, but is accessible to any homeowner.
I have heard of putting rose cuttings into potatoes to protect them during shipment, but I haven’'t tried using spuds for rooting the cuttings. It does seem to be a “thing”, though.
https://www.google.com/search?q=rose+cuttings+grown+in+potatoes&oq=rose+cuttings+grown+in+potatoes&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.642638j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Roses Down Under: The World’s Most Beautiful Roses, Where They Came From and Where They Are Going, p. 12 (2013)
By Dawn EagleOne story of a long sea voyage has survived many years. It starts with a young man who was transported to the colonies, a harsh sentence for the petty crime of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his near starving family.
All through the voyage he carefully protected an oddly shaped article wrapped in his kerchief. Others on the sailing ship were curious about this package which he valued so much, but he kept it from their sight through the howling gales of the roaring forties and the long still hot days when the ship was becalmed.
Pure water was scarce during the many weeks on board, and rainwater was carefully collected whenever it fell, but this young man did not use the water he had collected for drinking or bathing, as the others did. His drinking water was the green brackish water from the bottom of the water barrels, and he bathed in sea water. He took the fresh rainwater to a secluded area deep down in the bowels of the ship, and the more observant passengers wondered why.
When at long last the ship arrived in the colonies he was questioned as to what he was carrying in his pocket so carefully protected by his kerchief and he unwrapped his treasure for all to see.
Inside was a withered, shrunken potato, and poking out of it were three sticks. They were not healthy, and only one had some tiny pale green leaves, with the others brown and shrivelled. He explained to the onlookers that just before he had been leaded onto the ship to be sent into exile his mother had pressed the potato, together with its precious cargo of rose cuttings into his hand, saying as she did so, “This will always remind you of home and the people who love you.” The onlookers then understood why he had tended this so carefully using the precious rainwater to nurture the cuttings, to be rewarded by the survival of one.
The author goes on to express doubt that rose cuttings could survive the slow and uncomfortable voyage to Australia, which rather spoils the charming tale.
Not to mention the salt air. Growing roses close to the beach is “challenging” to say the least. Salt air is something they do NOT enjoy.
I tried a quick and dirty version (no cinnamon, no nail) that failed.
Even if it is successful though, I think you’d just end up with a potato plant growing up beside your rose cutting.
Well, I note that every online video showing you how to root roses in a potato never actually shows you the outcome… I guess I’ve always maintained a good deal of skepticism. Its telling enough that I’ve never been willing to sacrifice a potato to the cause in the name of science – it would be a small price for a modicum of success in view of my current track record with rooting cuttings.
Geesh. It’s enough to make you worry that some of that other stuff I’ve been reading on the internet might also not be true…
I am also too fond of potatoes to waste one on a dubious experiment. Even so, I can imagine that a spud would be a suitable way to protect cuttings for a fairly short time, if nothing else were available.
Coincidentally, I later happened upon a short article by McNab (one time director of the Edinburgh Botanical Garden) on the best ways to ship seeds, and a single paragraph on cuttings.
http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Heredity/McNabSeeds1872.html
His recommendation for storing seeds in soil, dug up from a depth, reminded me of Beal’s experiments on the long-time survival of seeds.
http://bulbnrose.x10.mx/Heredity/BealSeeds1905.html
These examples seem to support the observations I’ve read elsewhare that seeds need oxygen to germinate.
… probably only works with use of “Stomping Tom Connors” “Bud the Spud” product from the bright red mud … as they grow pretty big back in the mud” …
I had heard that if the potato had been treated to not develop roots that the method would not work.
“First, most potatoes in the grocery store have been treated with a sprout-inhibitor that prevents the potatoes’ eyes from developing while in storage and on the shelf.”