Shade clothing my grafts.

Tas, I grafted 2 Vivid buds and 2 Leda buds onto 4 diferent canes on Veilchenblau late yesterday. Then I give it some water and covered it with Shade cloth. Today the buds still looked green.

Excellent Karen Hope they do well. Were they lower buds and did you still plant the cuttings so the spot where the buds were acts as the wound on the cutting?

Wanna hear something strange? A cutting that Dee sent up was in the fishtank and not doing too badly. I'd removed a bud from it when it arrived to graft and then planted the cutting. The wound was above the ground by a good 5-8cm. A couple of weeks later I noticed the wound above teh ground was callousing... I expect this was because the air was very humid.

No I used a short bit of Vivid I thought you might have put in for the purpose of grafting, the same with Leda I think. I will remember to do what you said about using the de budding area as the area the calloues can form, a brilliant idea.
Simon, I saw the same strange thing. I think it may have been on Stanwell Perpetual, which I have not been able to get to callous ever . But when I was going through my bottles and pots recently I saw a callous which I reckoned must have been above the ground before I noticed and cut the bottom off as it was going black. But when I was putting it back in the sand I saw this fine callous where like a cut seemed to have been. So I replanted the callous carefully under the sand.
I didn't check the label that was stuck in the sand, as I reckoned by looking at the foliage that it had to be Stanwell Perpetual. I hope when I come across it again, that it has gone on to grow roots.

Well that Stanwell Perpetual I came across again and it was dead. Had to get all my cuttings out of the put back together bottles and put them back into pots with the 2/3 bottles over, as the rain got into the bottle ones.
Billndees cuttings never calloused so I cut the buds still left on them and grafted them on the Veicheblau and my remaining weeper rootstock. The weeper rootstock was so much easier to work with the knife. We have had some cool days and I have had some shade cloth over all my grafts.
They still look green, the Vivid and Leda ones I have uncovered. How long do you leave your grafts tapped up if they look like they have taken? Do you get callouses on grafts as I have never seen any ?
Can you tell me if there is still a bit of green left of what you grafted, but the bud part seems to have died back a bit, can you still get other little buds in that green bit to grow and take the dead one's place ?
The other root stock weeper I grafted before, where I did find a few that had survived down where the cane bent over and where they might have got a tiny bit of relief from the sun, but as I stupidly stepped over the cane I hit it with my gum boot and the weeper snapped below my first graft, completely broke in half. So I cut them up and stuck them in a pot together with a bottle over the top. They are so short and don't have any leaves so they probably won't survive. With the other weeper I have done recently, I left some leaves at the top of ever graft, so when I cut them up they will have leaves to help them take root.
I tried that cut that Ralph Moore talked of and I have seen no callauses start from that way yet. Maybe I am doing it wrong, too sharp and expecting callouses too soon. Will keep experiment with the different cuts with cuttings taking from my own place.
I am waiting before I ask for any more cuttings or budwood from anyone to see if any of your cuttings callouse or whether my graftings take. I have about 12 roses already uncovered from their bottles that are growing on their own little roots. There are lots more covered over cuttings callousing, etc following. I have got rid of most of the cuttings that have not struck.
We got a total of 29 mls which has really helped my outside roses. Need lots more rain though.

rosemeadow wrote:How long do you leave your grafts tapped up if they look like they have taken?

I probably leave mine on too long... I leave them on until I notice them starting to grow.

Do you get callouses on grafts as I have never seen any ?

Nope... me either.

Can you tell me if there is still a bit of green left of what you grafted, but the bud part seems to have died back a bit, can you still get other little buds in that green bit to grow and take the dead one's place ?

I was wondering about this too. I've got a few that are still green (on the shield) that are a few months old but the bud itself looks dead. I've left them hoping another bud will shoot to replace the dead one.

Karen... Every single one of those cuttings you sent me look really good and are shooting new leaves don't know what I'm going to do with them all . The Rugosa alba cuttings have shot little leaves and most of the others have little swelling buds it all looks very promising. They are in that big 90L clear plastic tub I was telling you about with unwashed river sand and perlite and seem happy enough. I budded Montrosa and that un-named tea and they seem to be getting bigger too so with any luck they'll be ready to strike soon.

Thanks for your answers Simon, it really helps. The next ones I will prabably leave covered longer too but I was anxious to see if they are going to live with the shade cloth over them, I kept unwrapping them to see the green sheild and bud clearer and then rewrapping them, so when they stayed green I thought I might as well leave the tape off as its had been several days or more. Some of the ones I did last Autumn were still green after 4 weeks in the shade house and then when I unwrapped them they died. I think this happened, from memory anyway. I have started writing down the dates I put cuttings in and when I do grafts, and what I find with each pot of cuttings in the period of time when I am pulling them up out of the sand, eg. how many have calloused or are doing nothing, also if it is a really good callouse or just starting, or if it has a little root or a few. The ones that have calloused I start leaving them alone, just uncovering the bottle off them to check fo dying cuttings, moldy wood or fallen leaves which I take out.
Your cuttings look good too, I will dig them up tomorrow and see whats happening under the sand. I think with your cuttings I used that slanting cut that Ralph Moore was talking about but I am a bit nervous about it now. Though the only other cuttings I have checked with this cut, other than yours and a few latters cuttings I got from my garden, are cuttings that weren't callousing and I used this cut to re cut them and I have tossed some of them out. So they were cuttings that didn't want to live anyway. When I see a cutting with a slanting cut that has calloused I will be happy.
I have have cleaned my shade house up heaps so I will take a few photos of my Summer cutting project tomorrow.
I am glad you have budded the two roses and they are swelling. Least you will have these if the cuttings shoot leaves but no callouses. I have found the climbing Teas and most of the Tea bushes have been very good at striking.
The unamed Tea is a nice one. It does have a name but I just lost its name while propagating it a few years ago. I will put a photo of it on here when I can.
I was going to say in a earlier post that you could always give them to friends if you didn't really want that rose or roses, or sell them. Sorry, I got carried away.

Another question. How old can a cutting be before it is no longer any good for taking buds off for cuttings budding ? Is 3 weeks or a bit more too old if they have been kept moist with wet paper, water and then in sand ?

I reckon you should try and resist the urge to lift the cuttings or move them You know what they say about a watched pot I reckon you should just put them in and then forget them for a while, except to watch for downey mildew then before you know it they will have grown through the bottom of the pot and will be on their way I think with the buds from cuttings you should take your cue from the bud not the cutting. If the bud has begun to break it's probably too late. If it's relatively flat still it's probably too early. If it is swelling and looks like it wants to grow then it's probably ok to use still.

I have watered cuttings before that were a complete waste of water, I like to know what I am watering is worth the water. The calloused cuttings seem to go on growing after I have disturbed them, but there may have been some that have died because of me looking at them. I like to see how it works too, this callousing. The callous stuff is fairly tough I think. That way you know what you might have to sell down the track too.
Some cuttings look good on top and are going bad undernealth so you can get rid of them too.
I think Vivid and Leda might be starting to Callous, and thats with the Ralph Moore cut. So I will give them a week and then look again. I am a impatient person, had too know as soon as I could whether I was having a girl or boy when I went for my Ultra Sounds each time when I was pregnant.

Karen, This just a thought that could save keep pulling you cuttings out to check on them. So I can see how the roots are progressing I put a few small holes in a clear plastic cup, like those you get beer in at things like the races or shows. Using these with your sand you could keep an eye on things. Keep an look out for used ones or you can buy packs at the supermarket where they keep the paper plates and party things. I hope this helps. C

A good idea Carol, but I would probably still have the urge to tip it out to have a look to see if they are callousing. Now they are on their way with a callous I am leaving them in peace, just checking for mold and ones that have died.