I've not had good luck with suckers. Somewhere I read they should be dug when dormant. Maybe sever the underground runner from the parent plant if you can find it, or cut deep straight down all around the sucker, let it recover from that, if it does, then dig and pot up as you did. That's probably what I will try next depending on the circumstances.

But now that you've dug them out, let's hope for the best. Out of about 7, one Harison's Yellow is still going but it grows so slowly!

Last year I dug out some very tall suckers from an unknown rose, cut them way back, potted them up and put in the shade like you, watered well. One died almost immediately. The other is still green, had to cut some rot off after winter, but no new shoots. I'm hoping it might put something up from the roots or yet send out a couple new shoots.

Another rose I rooted put out a sucker later in the season, it barely made it through the winter, then I had to cut some rot off, and it's history. Another one put out about 4 about 2 or 3' from the parent plant but early enough for them to overwinter well. I don't dare try to dig any out yet.

A lot of it probably depends on the plant. There has got to be a way to do it right.

I tried to find more info on propagating from roots, but didn't find anything very specific. I had read that one rosarian would propagate old cemetery roses, etc., he found that way.

Have you tried that? I tried with a piece of root from one of the pair that were so huge, but that didn't work either, probably not a big enough piece of root or more likely I don't know how the heck to do it right.

Good luck with them, and please let us know how it turns out.

Hi Aliska,

I had OK luck with putting some Harison's Yellow suckers under mist last summer. But there has to be a better way - how did the pioneers do it???

Anyway, I have an extra rooted Harison's Yellow that I'd be happy to send you. It's band sized, but looks good this year. You are welcome to it, since I know you have a thing for that rose. :-) I bought a larger copy for my yard, and then started the suckers off of a neighbor's plant just to see if I could.

Cheers,
Michelle

Hi Michelle,
I dig them this time of year every year. My gallicas, Belle de Crecy and Belle Isis, are easy. My alba, Mme. Legras de St. Germain, is a bit trickier, and it is better to get her done earlier with just buds.
I don't recommend washing them. I do recommend having a bucket of water to place them in as soon as you get them dug up. Then I get them potted and place in part shade as you've done. Because the roots are long and need big pots, I usually plant two or three in each pot. Sometimes they do fail to grow and then at least you'll have success with at least one in the pot. They may sulk for awhile, but that is ok. Sometimes they even loose a lot of leaves, but again this is ok. They will grow new leaves. I keep the pots moist until I see new growth. Then I treat the pot like any other potted plant.
Hoping you have success,
Remy

I try to shovel sever them several months before I dig them. If the stems are more than a year old, they are much tougher and can handle the dig better.
When I've been given really young suckers, I try to keep them under mist for at least a month.

Remy - these are growing in hardpan clay. I couldn't figure out how to pot up a solid hard mass of clay into potting soil & have that work (get the moisture right). Are yours growing in a garden type soil?

Ann - I really like that idea of severing the roots, and will try that with a Belle Sans Flatterie sucker. :-) The young sucker of BSF wilted over. I will try a more mature sucker and see how that goes.

Cheers,
Michelle

I don't think it matters much when you dig a sucker, assuming it isn't going into winter in a cold climate. The only limitation is to try to get a fairly stout cane and a nice big 10 inch piece of the fibrous root. I lay the root down a little sideways in a wide pot and do exactly what you did: put it in the shade, like outside the kitchen door, and keep the cane misted and the soil damp until I see new growth. I dug up R. californica plena in August and rooted two that had no feeder roots and were in bone dry clay. They were grateful to end up in potting soil. I've dug Charles de Mills the same way. It's like an abbreviated bareroot. I bareroot roses 11 months a year in my mild climate.

I heard on this forum a few years back to do what Ann says--sever the root beforehand from the mother plant.

Preferably in the very early spring, feel around underground for the root leading from mother plant to sucker. Go down on it with a sharp spade, then leave it there for a few weeks. Hopefully the spring rains and cooler temps will encourage the sucker to send out more roots, making it more likely to take up water when you do dig it up.

I have done this with Rugosas. I had an own-root Austin I did it with, but for that one I planned ahead and severed the sucker from the mother plant the year before I dug it. Now I have a good-sized baby Redoute for my new rose bed.

Ann,

I'd like to try your method of severing them from the mother plant before moving them, but I'm not sure if my suckers are too small and/or young. When you say to wait until they are around a year old, do you mean wait to pot them up, or even to wait to sever them?

I've got quite a few to work with - most are short, and a couple are very tall, but none are a year old yet. Should I go ahead and sever any of these now, and then wait to pot them up, or would it be better to wait a year to sever them? I am afraid it might get really congested in that area if I wait a year. The specific roses I'm talking about are Gloire de France and Banshee, both of which I've heard sucker a lot, so I'm afraid I'll have double the suckers next year if I wait. In retrospect, I guess I was really stupid to plant those two next to each other! :) Still very much a newbie in my fourth or fifth year of rose growing...
Thanks for any advice you can give me.

- robinia

I try to sever all suckers before they are a year old. That way if something kills or infectes the mother plant, I have a replacement ready to go.
I wouldn't sever a really fresh sucker, one that's brand new. I can't put a size on it, because I see suckers on roxburghii that are at least a year old (from the approaching woodiness of the stem and deep green leaves, but are only six inches tall (that's what happens when they come up in a mixed planting/patch of weeds). Others in better soil, air and light come up twelve to eighteen inches. Likewise with other OGRs.
The stems need to have hardened a bit, no longer be flexible, maybe have tried to put out a bud. Then I'm pretty sure they are no longer dependent on the parent plant because I think they're starting to put down roots.
If it's from some of the roses that root easily, their suckers will grow easily as well. IF they are hard to propagate, I give them more time because I think their meristems are slower to kick in and make roots.

Michelle, thank you for your generous offer. I won't trouble you over it this year because (1) although mine is small (yes I do have a THING for Harison :-)), it may sucker this year because it will be year 3 and I've pulled everything that was crowding it and left it plenty of breathing space, and (2) the lady who gave it to me has plenty more I can have. They have become almost a nuisance to her, grow in the cracks of the sidewalk. There's no stopping a healthy one once it gets going.

Absolutely no tip dieback on my Harison, unlike all the others, some only slight, some major, and I purposely made no attempt to protect it. It is in somewhat of a sheltered spot.

My mistake with that was to put them right in the garden in the sun, had a helper and they went into soppy soil. I did the one that lived. I think the only reason this one made it is because they are tough and it was more dappled shade. It was the bigger, healthier ones that died; maybe a smaller one has a better chance?

Reading this forum has helped a lot. I really don't want to set up misting (an excellent idea) on top of my elaborate light setup indoors which I procrastinated in doing.

I was thinking this spring to try to root Harison from some cuttings and see what happens; if I fail, no great loss. I certainly DO wonder how the pioneers did it. Maybe they potted up a more established plant with more than one cane; I can only guess.

I don't mean to go on and on, but my elderly aunt may have given me a clue before she died. She said they took a cutting, formed a clay ball around it, buried it and put a mason jar over it. Now that sounds primitive, and I doubt you put it in the sun, but I might try it just for the heck of it. I'm sure they didn't have rooting powder unless they knew the willow water trick which I doubt mine did here in the north.

I did get one to root under a mason jar, saw it was even getting hit by the sun in the AM but leaves stayed on and green, but I did use rooting powder on that and stuck it in the ground because I had too many cuttings to deal with. If I ever try any outside again, it will be on the north side.

That fall method of just using rooting powder and taking a dormant cane and sticking it in the ground sounds promising. Some I tried as an experiment I went out and found them lying on the ground. I threw some prunings in a pile and noticed one was still green a couple weeks later so stuck it in the ground, no hormone. I pull on it this spring, and it won't budge, but it hasn't shown any sign of putting out leaves.

Roses differ is how readily they send out feeder roots along the sucker roots. Charles de Mills, for example, can send out perfectly straight sucker roots many feet without any feeder roots. Those can be hard to deal with.

I've found that spinossisima types have to be dug early. Potted up while still dormant, they do quite well. If I wait, they die.

Interesting note on the Spins. I'll try one this summer. Spins are smart and go dormant early here. I imagine they need to get a head of steam before those triggers occur.

I found this very interesting. I noticed a sucker off of my Austin MaryRose today. It is about six inches tall. I would love to transplant this. I got it from Chamblees, so it is own root. How long do you think I should wait before I do the severing thingy and then move it? Any info would be appreciated. I live in the Upstate of SC, so it is in the 80's now, would that matter? Thanks,
Mary

Madgallica,
Thanks for the heads up on the spinns.
I'd planned a gathering of spinn altaicas later this year. Like berndoodle, I'll now be more careful and try a small take after the heat of summer shuts those beds down late summer and then a winter take as well. (I love that rose.)

Michelle,
Belle de Crecy is in good garden soil, and the suckers roam far away from the mother plant. So I got a laugh out of advice to sever from the mother plant. Not that is isn't sound advice! It works well when the suckers are close, but when the sucker is sprouted up 6 feet or more away that has roamed around plants and up and down in the soil. I just start digging looking for the root, and try to get a decent amount out with the sucker.
My other two are in fairly bad clay soil and they don't roam as far. I think you'll do more damage to the tiny feed roots that are developed along the sucker root if I try to wash it all away. Now if your are really talking a big wad of clay stuck to the root, I would maybe knock/wash some away but not all of it.
Remy

I look for a sucker which has made another sucker off the end of it. If you dig the one in the middle, it has roots going two ways.

Bump

I dig up suckers of harrison yellow in the spring right after the ground has thawed and way before they leaf out. The sooner you get them planted after digging the better off they are. If you can keep some dirt around the roots it is much easier on them. Then keep them watered good until they leaf out then you can cut back a little but they need water at least the first summer or two to get going. You can also sever the suckers from the plant using a shovel, the root will be between the mother plant and the sucker and it is quite easy to tell if you cut it with a shovel, I have done this in the middle of summer but you have to really water the sucker heavily and leave it in place or it will die. I have received very small banshee suckers fully leaved out through the mail both spring and fall and all I did was plant and water them and they did fine. Banshee is one tough rose.