So I was wondering how others deal with species that sucker? I never had to deal with this as all mine are in pots but I will be moving in a month and will be planting them in the ground because I have finally gotten a house which we are closing on later this month.
Also does anyone know if these sucker or are shade tolerate. R. pisocarpa, R. nutkana, R. arkansana, R. virginiana, R. glutinosa and R. palustris. Right now all of these are seedlings. I think I will plant in a pot size bigger before actually planting them out. The yard has parts of it that are shaded at least half the day the rest is full sun.
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Thats one of the biggest challenges with species, imo. No one wants a “golden bamboo issue” going on unless they live in a harsh climate where anything growing is welcome.
Adam, shade tolerance is as much a function of climate as it is the individual rose. Closer to the Equator, with the resultant intensity increase in light and heat, many plants will tolerate less of it than they will farther away. As long as you aren’t dealing with something like a Stellata, you can probably get away with half days sun for most of them. In the wild, many will grow under the canopy of surrounding trees. While they may not flower as much and many will probably reach for the light, elongating into semi climbing plants as they do.
A benefit of the partial sun/shade, could well be the flowers which do form, may be larger and should last longer and be of more intense coloring. I’d imagine the hip set in that kind of situation would be better, too. At least that’s what I find in my more “intense” climate. I’d never really thought of how much the light intensifies with latitude until back in the Dark Ages when customers traveling to Egypt, Hawaii and like latitudes, had to purchase Kodachrome 25 and 64 instead of the higher speed films because 100 and higher ASA ratings would over expose due to the intensity of light.
You’ll notice how adaptable the plants will prove to be, too. A half inch leaf in all day sun will develop into a full inch or larger with lower light so it can absorb at least its threshold of energy. Disease resistance may suffer because of malnutrition as well as the higher humidity and lower temps in the shadier part, but that’s part of exploring and observing how varying conditions affect the rose.
If you have spots on the land with poorer, heavier soil, those can be well used to limit the spread of the suckers. Fedtschenkoana wants its half right out of the middle. Putting it in the heavier clay on the edge of the old garden helped prevent it from helping itself to all of the hillside. Once pots of it got loose in better soil, it was fully as bad as letting blackberry loose! I’ve known folks who cut Rubbermaid Roughneck trash cans in half to use as root barriers. It seemed to work, though that’s quite a bit extravagant for my budget. The plastic lasted in the soil where the metal ones wouldn’t and they were able to make them deep enough to keep the roots corralled. At least with bamboo, about 18" is deep enough to contain it. Roses are MUCH more “persistent”. Kim
Kim the clay soils in this part are pretty much everywhere. The light intensity is very high due to altitude. I was thinking about sinking big pots in the ground maybe. I will have several of these when I plant out some of my other roses.
Jadae I will have to look up the golden bamboo as of right know I am ignorant of it. But it sounds from the context to be like Russian Olive or kudzu vine.
I bought in a R. virginiana a bare rooted stock, within 6 mths I was finding suckers 6ft away from the base, starting to wonder if it has a bit of bamboo gene in it lol
Suckering is easily steadily and surely eliminated in a few generations crossing to non suckering roses.
Ancestral species gallica is a very heavy suckering one.
Adam,
We have a R. nutkana growing here in our back yard. It does sucker! I hit it with my lawn tractor every time I cut grass to keep it in check.
Adam, second generation Fedtschenkoana hybrids with non suckering roses are suckering out the drain holes of fifteen gallon cans. I’d think you would need something a whole lot deeper than that to contain them. Kim
Does R. multiflora sucker at all? I have a thornless one and want to eventually use it for budding/grafting. I have had some problems with others suckering and want to eliminate them as own roots.
Thanks,
Jim
Kim you certainly dashed my idea. But its very good info to know. Thank you all.
“Does R multiflora sucker at all?” It will form an impenetrable mess 20ft in diameter by 10ft tall.
As far back as 1993, R. multiflora was classed as a noxious weed in at least ten states, taking over valuable pasture land. I imagine that designation had more than a little to do with its ability to sucker. I seem to recall reading that RRD (rose rosette disease)was actually introduced as a biological control, but that might not be correct. I know that RRD infection is usually fatal in R. multiflora.
I’m sure multiflora CAN sucker, but I’ve never experienced it. What I have seen it do is root anywhere a piece of it touches soil. This is where my exaggeration, “dead leaves root in fire” came from. It also sets prodigious hips which birds find completely irresistible. They’re the perfect size to pass through their digestive tracts, encased in guano, which is ideal for germination. They will germinate ANYWHERE.
I know there were plans to release RRD infected mites as a “biological control”, but I thought it had been squelched due to the inability to prevent the spread to non targeted roses. It does occur naturally in some places. Kim
Regarding containment of suckering cultivars/species: Purchase an inexpensive plastic garbage pail, at least 24" deep and whatever diameter seems appropriate. Remove the bottom of the pail so that what you have left is essentially a large plastic tube. Dig a hole large enough to accommodate this “pail-tube” and bury it with at least 1" of the top rim above soil level. Back fill the pail/tube and plant your rose in it. This will effectively create a root barrier for any suspect suckerers. You can buy fancy root barrier containers designed for this purpose, but they are generally far more $$$ than Ye Olde Garbage Pail with the bottom cut out.
Good idea, Paul, thanks! Then, watch any suckers which jump the edge of the pail and remove them ASAP. It’s like containing a raspberry or blackberry. Don’t slack off or it will WIN! Kim
Great idea Paul. Kim I love certain plants but they can definitely win if you are not careful. For an example I remember weeding mint and hermocallis fulva every year when I was younger at my moms house.
Spinosiossimas also produce suckers. If you don’t want suckers from spinosissimas Peter Boyd advises you can put Caceron G on your beds each winter. I do not know how well this works because I want mine to sucker. This provides me with plants to give people when they visit our garden.
Hi Adam,
For me, suckering species seedlings are a problem, so I tend to get rid of them. If I were to use one for desirable traits, I would graft it to a root stock. If you want to assess the degree of suckering as a trait, I would leave it in a pot to avoid a possible nightmare.
Jim Sproul
What Jim said, plus, put that pot on pavement or elevated where it can’t touch soil. These things crawl out of pots like nobody’s business! Kim
Adam, if you use that sinowilsonii pollen it too can sucker. I was amazed last weekend when weeding around it that I saw sinowlsonii suckers sprouting a meter away from the main stem. I hope I didn’t kill the parent plant because the suckers were coming up in the weeds that I had just applied glyphosphate too and they got a dose too.