Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
: Martin Brown wrote:
: On 07/07/2017 10:20, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
: I have some roses that I quite like, but they're rather old, too. I
: wouldn't expect that to be a problem, and it mostly isn't. But some
: have formed a large woody lump at the base (not suprising after years
: of pruning), and the plants seem only able to make new shoots around
: it, coming out horizontally, which doesn't help their habit. I can
: cut bits of it away, although I'm not sure that helps; but does it
: mean that something else is wrong? It occurred to me that it might be
: happening because the plants aren't buried deeply enough (and so not
: rotting away where they should)? Or is it time to replace them?
:
: Pegging a stem down onto a pot of compost and burying the stem might
: result in it rooting down wild rose style - much like brambles do.
:
: Or air layering. Seems more likely to work than a simple cutting.
:
: I'm usually pretty lucky with cuttings, but I hadn't even thought of
: that. But I will try it now. I suppose I was wondering if the plant
: seeming to be killed off by the woody/corky base lumps are just
: something that happens with age, or if it was an indication of a problem
: with the affected plants.
Hi Dan,
I have a rose exactly like this. Last year it produced a couple of
tiny spindly shoots from outside its dead woody lump, this year only
one. It is more than 50 years old and I am sure it is on its way out.
I did not want to lose it. My attempt to graft a piece of it onto a
Rosa canina stock failed I believe due to the tiny feeble axial bud
from one of its tiny stems. Instead I tried a cutting last year,
which rooted nicely and I was rewarded with this,
http://www.mklab.rhul.ac.uk/~tom/IMG...620_185015.jpg -- its first
flower, a few weeks ago. I believe the variety is most likely Crimson
Glory or Ena Harkness. How old is your rose?
Good luck with the cutting.
Tom
--
Ps. The email address in the header is just a spam-trap.
Tom Crane, Dept. Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill,
Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, England.
Email: T dot Crane at rhul dot ac dot uk