Rose Cutting - One of the leaves that has sprouted has 7 'leaves'

Ana9

I'm hoping that someone can help me, a couple of months ago I took rose cuttings for the first time and they are coming along nicely, or so I thought until I saw my favourite one looking like this...  I've read that they should have 5 leaves and if they have 7 they are the suckers...?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dovefromabove

The theory of roses only having five leaflets is misleading. Different types of roses have different numbers of leaves ... ones with more old or species type in their genetics are likely to have more leaflets. 

I’ll tag @marlorena into this thread ... she’s very knowledgeable about roses. 

Marlorena

...nothing to worry about at all.... the kind of suckers you are referring to cannot grow from a cutting....

Uncle Mort

Is it to late to take rose cuttings. I have Gertrude Jekyl near my door and would like to have a go at hardwood cuttings but I was thinking it is maybe to late.

Hostafan1

Uncle Mort said:

Is it to late to take rose cuttings. I have Gertrude Jekyl near my door and would like to have a go at hardwood cuttings but I was thinking it is maybe to late.

No harm in trying I'd say.

Marlorena

Please be aware you can also take softwood tip cuttings in late Spring, if you don't want to do the hardwood method now...

Sandygarden

I have never grown a rose from a cutting. The nursery man grafts their roses onto a different root stock, but the cutting grows it’s own roots. How does this affect the growth of the rose in the long term? Will it be bigger/less healthy? Presumably they graft for a reason?

Ana9

Thank you so much for tagging @Dovefromabove I'm a lot calmer now! 

Ana9

@Uncle Mort I'd say not, I've even used cut roses from a bouquet I got recently after I'd finished enjoying them - I've now got 21 rose cuttings in my greenhouse, may have gone a little rose cuttings crazy! 

Let us know how you get on.

Mr. Vine Eye

Sandygarden said:

I have never grown a rose from a cutting. The nursery man grafts their roses onto a different root stock, but the cutting grows it’s own roots. How does this affect the growth of the rose in the long term? Will it be bigger/less healthy? Presumably they graft for a reason?

The main reason why Roses are sold grafted is because grafting onto a strong rootstock makes the rose plant grow faster, due to having roots already in place, and be of a saleable size much sooner.

Own root roses will take longer to develop but, at least going from what I’ve read, they will eventually meet or surpass the size and performance of the grafted variety. Just take a bit longer to get there.

You also don’t need to worry about suckers from the rootstock or the potential for the graft to fail.

So grafting is mainly for the convenience of the breeder/seller - in allowing them to grow a greater numbers of roses to sell in less time.

edhelka

There are other benefits of grafting, not only faster growth (which I would say is to benefit of not only the seller but also the buyer).

Some roses are not vigorous enough on own roots and grafting helps them a lot.
It makes some roses more tolerant to wider soil conditions because rosa canina 'laxa' can tolerate alkaline soils (which many roses can't, for example roses with multiflora genes) and also wide range of drainage/soil type and climatic conditions. It makes the grafted rose much more universal or adaptable.
It also changes the character of the rose somewhat, passing some disease resistance and growth patterns. They are two roses in one and they both have an effect on each other.
These points together mean that rootstock makes the behaviour of new rose varieties significantly more predictable and makes them easier to grow.

Without grafting, we would need to think about roses as a much more varied group than we do now, carefully considering which types of roses would do well in our gardens and which wouldn't.
Grafting is a good skill to learn if someone wants to grow a lot of cuttings or roses from seeds (either selectively breeding or just using seeds from open-pollinated hips, these will produce completely new varieties, which can be fun but also a lot of trial and error).

As far as I know the main benefit for the seller (grower, breeder) is the possibility of growing a larger number of new plants from a single mother plant in one year - only a bud is needed from the mother plant and a rooted rootstock cutting.