How to plant a rose in a potato and what is good about this method?

Rose is the queen of the flower garden, no florist will refuse to plant another beautiful and desirable bush on his site. Buying another seedling is like a gamble: was the variety grafted correctly, wouldn't a tenacious ubiquitous rosehip grow instead of a beautiful rose? Planting material is not cheap, sellers are not always conscientious. To the aid of summer residents comes the cultivation of new inhabitants of the rosary from cuttings, for the rooting of which they have to resort to various tricks. Growing a cut of a rose in a potato is an unusual rooting method that has gained great popularity, although very often flower growers make mistakes and do not achieve the desired result.

Why potatoes?

Potato tubers have proven to be the most effective natural material for rooting rose cuttings. There are several reasons for this.

• The potato tuber contains 35% of dry matter, including minerals, vegetable protein, starch, vitamins, phytohormones necessary for plant development.
• Potato protects the cutting from hypothermia and pathogenic soil microorganisms that cause mycoses and bacterioses.
• Tuber is a long-term storage of moisture.

For rooting, choose medium or large potato tubers, without mechanical damage, healthy.

Preparing cuttings

Domestic varieties and hybrids that are successfully grown in this area are considered the most suitable for grafting roses. Summer residents often try to root imported varieties from flower shops, but the chances of successfully growing such roses by cuttings are small - 10-15%.

Cuttings of dark varieties are considered the best for rooting, the worst option is white roses. Orange, yellow in rooting rate take an intermediate place.

In addition, they pay attention to the type of rose - climbing, polyanthus, bush and dwarf rooted more successfully, since they are quite close in genetics to wild rose hips - the progenitor of garden roses.

Cuttings from bushes are prepared as follows.

• The best dates are from June to July.
• Stems are chosen mature, elastic, with a diameter of at least 1 cm. They should be green or starting to grow stiff.
• The length of the cuttings is 15-20 cm, each one should have three viable buds.
• The lower cut is made 2-3 mm below the kidney at an angle of 45 °, the upper cut is straight, 1-2 cm above the kidney.
• Thorns and leaves are removed, except for the upper pair, which is shortened by a third.
• The upper cut of the cutting is covered with garden pitch or candle paraffin to limit the evaporation of moisture.

A sign of the maturity of a rose shoot - the thorns break off easily when pressed.

How to plant a rose in potatoes?

The method of planting roses using potatoes is very simple. When landing in open ground, they act according to the following algorithm.

1. Prepare a place for landing. It must be well lit and protected from the wind. A groove 30 cm wide and 20 cm deep is dug. A 5-cm layer of river washed sand is poured onto the bottom. The groove is covered with a mixture of fertile soil and peat. For a single planting, the size of the hole is 30x30x20 cm.
2. Cuttings are kept in a rooting stimulator for at least 12 hours, immediately before planting, the slanting sections are sprinkled with powder or moistened with a rooting agent solution.
3. The eyes are removed from the potato, a hole is made with a depth of 2.5 to 5 cm, depending on the size of the tuber. The holes are cut with a sharp instrument (nail, thin knife, screwdriver), previously disinfected.
4. The stalk is stuck into the hole of the potato with an oblique cut down so that the lower bud is completely immersed in the tuber.
5. The tuber with the handle is dipped into the soil and covered. Then cover with glass or plastic dishes. At the same time, make sure that the leaves of the cutting do not touch the walls of the vessel.

Cuttings cut in the first half of summer are rooted in the ground. Young potatoes are taken - last year's tubers no longer have nutrients by this time.

Seedling care

The main care measure during the rooting period is adherence to the humidity regime. Water the plantings daily, in moderation. Once every 5-7 days, the cuttings "pamper sweet things": pour water with sugar at the rate of 2 teaspoons per 200 ml of water.

Two weeks later, the seedlings begin to harden, removing the protective container for a few minutes. The airing time is gradually increased in order to remove the protection completely after two to three weeks.

The seedlings will be ready for transplantation to a permanent place (if necessary) in the first decade of September.

A young rose can form one or two buds by the time of transplantation. They should be removed so that the bush continues to grow the root system.

For the winter, seedlings are insulated, since self-rooted roses endure the winter harder than grafted ones.

Growing roses in potatoes at home

A bouquet of roses in winter has become quite commonplace, but the desire to root a new stalk does not diminish from this. A rose from a bouquet can also be planted in a potato at home, following the method described above. Only the role of beds will be played by large flower pots - 2.5-3 liters. The soil is taken purchased - universal for flowers, sand is added to it (1 part of sand for 2 parts of soil). The substrate is calcined in the oven or spilled with potassium permanganate. Keep the pots on a warm windowsill with bright, diffused lighting.

It is believed that cuttings root only in special varieties of potatoes with a higher moisture content. It's good if the potatoes are on the site and the summer resident knows exactly what kind of variety he is growing. If there is no such information, you need to more carefully monitor the moisture content of the soil.

Rose in potatoes as a way of growing full-fledged plants that are fully consistent with the mother, has earned the recognition of flower growers. If the preparation and the rooting process of rose cuttings were carried out without errors, about 90% of the planting material successfully take root, delighting with luxurious flowers the next season.