Brenden - internet hug - it's my first and I gladly accept! Now regarding your questions .....
There is so much information in the internet published by people with far more experience than I. Two people that I would like to mention and from whom you can really learn a lot are:
George Mander: My rooting method is basically based his experiences (with a few changes). Here is a link to his method:
http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...
and
Kim Rupert promotes the ‘Burrito Method’ and has a lot of other great info on his blog:
http://pushingtheroseenvelope....
Basically, it is all trial and error and you have to find out what works best for you. In answer to your questions, my experience on:
Rooting hormone: I experimented about three years ago and stuck three cuttings each of the same rose, one lot with Clonex gel, one lot with Rhizopon rooting powder and one lot with nothing. I tried this with about 6 different rose and IMO there was no noticeable advantage to using a rooting hormone as I had about the results with the control group.
Water: I just use tap water. PH – no idea!
Humidity and rot: I dip my cuttings from the bush or the entire florist rose in a 10% bleach solution before I make the individual cuttings. I don’t know if it is my imagination but I think this helps and I had next to no rot. I also microwave the coir before I mix it with the perlite (50/50). I don’t have any ventilation in the propagator but the main thing to watch out for is the moisture of the rooting medium! If it is too wet you are going to have rot no matter how sterile things are.
Light and temperature: I have two Lightwave T5 LW 24-HO (4 tube 96 w) and set the heating matt in the propagator to 22C.
I would just like to mention that rooting florist roses is more difficult than rooting cuttings from your own garden. I don’t know if it is because the florist roses are somehow chemically treated to extend life or if it is due to freshness – the time between harvesting the rose and sticking the cutting. Although there are some garden roses that prove difficult as well, my success rate with them is much higher - cuttings harvested and stuck on the same day.
Budding (grafting) vs Rooting: First, when you root a cutting you land up with an own-root rose. Rooting is more time intensive and you need more material as each cutting has to have at least four bud eyes. If you used the same cutting for budding you will land up with four plants opposed to the one from the cutting.
Budding method: I prefer to T-bud however Chip-budding is an option that many favour. There is a season for T-budding as the rootstock has to be actively growing and the bark must slip whereas chip-budding, according to reports, can be done at any time of the year because the bark doesn’t need to slip. Personally, I haven’t tried any type of budding out of season. There are lots of videos on how to actually bud on the internet. The position of the bud depends on the type of rose you want. For a standard rose, you need a long rootstock cane and you bud at the desired height. For a bush rose you have to bud on the neck of the rootstock, that is to say below the points of growth, to avoid suckering.
This is the first time that I have ever written so much in a forum post. I hope sharing my experiences helps you find the best method best suited to your situation.
@gemini_sage
Neal:
I haven’t tried growing rootstock from seed but previously used my own rooted stock cuttings. I have now found a grower who supplies bare root Rosa Canina ‘Pfänder’ rootstock which makes life much easier. ‘Pfänder’ is more widely used for standard roses here in Europe, less for bush roses - Laxa and Inermis but also Multi Flora are preferred. I think it is best to use the rootstock best suited to your area. If you have access to Multi Flora seeds that must mean you have it growing in your garden. Have you considered air-layering? Works pretty well and you can bud and root in the same year.
The only problem I've ever had was from wood chips. They take a long time to decompose and the microbes that do the job use a lot of the available nitrogen. I saw yellowing leaves that signaled the problem and I compensated with additional fertilizer. The following year it had decomposed and everything was lush without additional fertilizer.
