December 9, 1020 



The Florists* Reviev/ 



45 



9e CARE OF THE CUTTINGS x 



PROPAGATING OWN-BOOT ROSES. 



To Propagate or Purchase? 



In most establishments roses are 

 propagated for greenhouse forcing be- 

 tween the months of November and 

 March. A florist inquiring as to the 

 best methods of propagation remarks 

 that in his estimation it seems to be 

 cheaper to buy all rose stock than to 

 propagate it. "The only advantage 

 in doing one's own propagating," he 

 says, "is that the plants are on the 

 place when they are needed and de- 

 structive rose pests are kept away from 

 the establishment." It must be admit- 

 ted that the latter part of this state- 

 ment is important, since in some sec- 

 tions of this country today the plants 

 of some growers are badly infested with 

 midge and another still worse insect 

 which must be kept within bounds. 



Whether it is cheaper to buy rose 

 stock or do one's own prppagation is 

 something of a question, but many of 

 the largest rose growers today make 

 contracts with reputable propagators 

 to do their grafting or propagating 

 for them instead of doing it themselves, 

 and concentrate entirely on the cut 

 flower end of the business, so as to 

 keep their benches working 100 per 

 cent every day of the year. The stock 

 of every reliable propagator, if grown 

 for sale, is examined once or twice a 

 year by the department of agriculture 



in his state, and if the stock is clean 

 he gets a certificate from the state to 

 that effect. In buying rose plants, as 

 in buying anything else, one must con- 

 sider the quality and cleanliness of the 

 stock in considering the cost. Of course 

 it would be better to do one's own 

 propagating than to buy inferior or 

 diseased stock. 



Choosing Clean Cuttings. 



In propagating roses from cuttings, 

 it is first of all important that the 

 foliage be absolutely free from mildew, 

 black spot or insects. Many growers 

 fail through lack of care in this respect. 

 They do not worry about mildew on 

 their stock because they feel sure they 

 can get rid of it as soon as the plants 

 get rooted. Any grower who benches 

 cuttings infected with black spot, even 

 to a small degree, should know that the 

 black spot will be greatly aggravated 

 and in most cases the foliage will fall 

 off entirely before the plants are rooted. 



Granted, then, that one has clean, 

 healthy stock to work on, the cuttings 

 should be made of half-ripened wood. 

 By half-ripened wood is meant wood 

 that is in the stage when the flower bud 

 is ready to cut. This is the simplest 

 description of wood that is ready to be 

 put in the sand. The rose will make 

 roots whether cut above or below a 

 joint. The ideal cut has three eyes, one 

 immediately beneath where the cut has 

 been made, and one or two above the 



soil. Three-eye cuttings make plants 

 much more quickly than smaller cut- 

 tings without the eye below the ground 

 when benched. When a three-eye cut- 

 ting is used, the plants begin almost at 

 once to produce growth shoots. A plant 

 that does not have a base eye when the 

 cutting is made will not produce ground 

 shoots nearly so quickly or in such 

 quantity as when the cutting is prop- 

 erly made. 



Temperature of House and Sand. 



The proper temperature at which to 

 keep the house is also important. Many 

 growers blot out the north bench with 

 plant cloth and use this for propagation 

 and it does fairly well. The ideal con- 

 ditions, however, are in a north house 

 where the winter sun will not affect the 

 temperature, and where the temperature 

 can be kept at 70 degrees in the sand 

 and 65 degrees in the house itself. 



Eoses can be grown in many ways, 

 but I am speaking now of the ideal way 

 and of the conditions under which own- 

 root roses are propagated most success- 

 fully. I may mention in passing that 

 wood from plants that have been ex- 

 cessively fed with nitrogenous fertilizer 

 will give a high percentage of loss in 

 the cutting bench. This is another 

 reason why it sometimes pays to buy 

 from a dealer who makes a specialty 

 of growing young plants, as he would 

 naturally pay more attention to the 

 condition of his wood than to the condi- 



Rooting Rose Cuttings on a Large Scale in a Big Middle Western Establishment. 



