I have 3 successful rose cuttings on long stems, is it possible to make these into standard/half standard roses? They are very healthy and flowering at the moment.
I've never done it myself, but I would assume that you keep rubbing growth off the stem and just let the leaves on the top grow and prune the top branches into shape as they grow outwards.
Standards are usually grafted on to a wild stock which isn't allowed to grow side shoots and is generally stronger than the cultivar. Your cuttings will grow both side shoots and from the roots. Since they cost nothing but your time, you could always stake a solid looking shoot then keep trimming the side shoots at the bottom and remove any shoots from the roots and see what happens. I did miss pruning a shoot from a New Dawn climber and it grew to the top of an apple tree which was about 10 metres or more high! The stem became very woody, was marked so that no one cut it and the flowers looked spectacular from the upstairs windows. It did of course have the tree as support and is a large climber. You could always use a cane as a splint in the hope that the stem will grow straight and strong enough to support the top. (Wrap a spiral of soft string around the rose and the can to splint it. A thin cane is best and needs only to touch the ground.)
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