Reprinted from The Australian and New Zealand
Rose Annual, 1964
By P. B. Edwards, Burnie, Tasmania.
Growing your own bush roses by budding appears easy
when you read how it is done. It is easy, too, but
it can be very frustrating if you don’t live near an
expert to whom you can turn for those elementary
hints that don’t seem to appear in any literature. I
had to use the “sink or swim” method, learning from
my mistakes a few things that may be helpful to
other beginners.
First, find a rootstock that does well in your area.
I found a stock (R. indica major) that does well in
Burnie, growing from an Astrée bush. Apparently a
nurseryman’s oversight left a bud underground. If
you can’t find such a bud, you may have to appeal to
a rosegrowing friend elsewhere. Plant eight inch
cuttings in April-May with all buds intact as for
normal rose cuttings, and in twelve months one or
two plants will give you all the cutting stocks you
require.
Preparation of cutting stocks for planting in
April-May is straight-forward, but planting is a
different matter. Do not plant them vertically with
only an inch or so above the ground. If you do, at
budding time you will be scrabbling at ground level
with a quickly aching back and rising blood pressure
and will feel like giving the game away. They will
be much easier to work if you plant them twelve
inches apart at about 30 degrees to the vertical
with about three inches of their length above
ground. They will strike satisfactorily if you keep
them moist, using a mulch or flat stones as a cover.
The earlier budding can be started the better, so as
to get strong plants by winter, but stocks and buds
must be in good condition. December is a suitable
time to begin, and budding may be continued if
necessary to the end of February. Some of the later
buddings may not grow until early spring when they
will generally get away vigorously.
A razor-sharp knife and plenty of practice before
starting actual operations are needed for preparing
bud shields. There are several methods described for
removing the wood sliver taken with the bud and
bark, but I have only been able to get results as
follows. Separate the bark at the top of the shield
with thumbnail or knife and then pull the sliver
slowly but firmly with the point of grip moving
parallel with and close to the shield and moving
towards the bottom of the shield so that the sliver
bends 180 degrees. If you tear out the bud, try
again. If you leave a small shred of wood adhering
to the bud, it doesn’t matter. If you leave a large
piece of wood below the bud, try to get most of it
out with the knife, without damaging the bud.
Now come the two most important operations. Cut off
the top of the prepared shield cleanly and
transversely, getting as wide a cut as possible,
make the T cut in the stock, insert the shield, and
make sure you push the shield upwards so that there
is intimate line contact between the transverse cuts
in the shield and the bark. This is essential as
this is where the union begins. Then bind the shield
firmly into the stock from half an inch below and
above the T cut to exclude air and moisture and to
get all possible intimate contact. I use about ten
inches of half-inch wide polythene budding tape.
This has good resistance to air and moisture
transmission and, as it has the great advantage of
stretching as the stock grows, it does not strangle
the bud and need not be removed until transplanting
time.
In three to four weeks’ time the bud should be
growing and when it is about one-quarter inch long,
cut off the head of the stock just above the tie. If
it is dead, take off the tie and rebud lower down
the stock at 90 degrees to the first attempt. If the
second attempt fails, try a third time on the
opposite side. If a bud fails to grow on after
cutting off the head, do not discard the stock, as
buds will still take on it for weeks. The rest of it
is common sense. Surround your stocks with wire
netting to prevent damage by cats, dogs, and the
rest of the family, water well each week, tie the
growing shoots to sticks, and spray when necessary.
Growing a dozen or so roses in this manner takes
very little time and it gives much pleasure and
satisfaction to know that you were in at the birth
of the roses that you are admiring, cutting, or
showing. The next step for the beginner is to raise
roses from seed and then to bud the promising ones.
But that is another story.
