Pre-callousing cuttings...

Looking at the set up now I think maybe a little more than $100K to start with.

Nope... was about $100K they escaped with. The glasshouse you see is a rented ex-tomato grower's glasshouse and all the hydroponics equipment was already in place. They received business assistance to get started and have built it up to where they are now and have since been able to secure loans to expand.

I went to their site, very impressive. I hope they do well, I am going to email them to see where they source the original rose plant material, some of the rose names I have not heard of.

Roseman, I wonder what rootstock they are using to grow in coco-peat. I also went to their site and was very impressed. If I ever happen to go to Australia, I'll try to visit them.

Alee, they are not on rootstock, they are cuttings. Not all, but most hydroponics are cuttings. Less time to get the flower and easier to replace. Flowers come on quicker which mean money as hydroponics to start up are costly.

Here's some more cuttings using the pre-callous method. These are only two weeks old. The variety is "Temple Bells". Photo taken tonight.


Each cutting is approx. 15cm long. Results like this always make me wonder why one would bother grafting ever to be honest...

Simon, good take on the cuttings and callous. Question time, how many went in and how many failed if any.?
Are they semi-hardwood or a mix?
Damp paper and placed in dark spot or foam box method?
Upside down?
In other words more info please Simon.

Very interesting, Simon. Just catching up on all this. I'm off to put some cuttings on the HW heater in the laundry.

Dave, can you tell us what the cuttings are of please.

Semi-hardwood, 100% take (pictured is all the cuttings prepared... 25 in all... there are two pictured above that are behind the rest but will catch up). Placed in moist newspaper fish-and-chips style, placed in a plastic bag and sealed, left in a warm dark place. I gotta get to work now

As Dave said, very interesting.

Simon, what do we do from there after callus? Do we plant them or wait for the roots to appear?

That's the bit I am experimenting with. David has said in the past that when multiflora cuttings form a substantial callous they should be planted as though they have roots and allowed to finished striking from there. On the 8th April (3 weeks ago) I was in Hobart (Oatlands), and got some cuttings of 'Nancy Hayward' as mentioned in a previous post and I checked these last night and they too had all calloused. One had formed a single root in the bag and so was potted up and put on a sunny window sill. So I've bagged all these up again and am going to see if I leave them in there another 2 weeks if I can get them all to form roots before potting them up. They still need hardening off and are particularly susceptible to dying at this stage. Dave Clark recently sent me cuttings of some lovely Teas and they got the bag treatment and every one of them also calloused up and looked really good. I potted them up when their callouses were nice and large and I lost the lot. They still all went black and died on me. So... I think leaving them a little longer, when roots begin to appear, is probably the way to go.

Simon out of interest the teas that DC sent, were they semi-hardwood or mature wood. In the rootstock we used it was was the immature wood that would go black first. Other things that occured in that time was, we only let the stocks get that far because pushing them into ground pulled any roots off, so if you can achieve roots Simon I would go for it. The original budwood/cutting that we got from Ruston's came in foam boxes and cardboard boxes. They were stored in pub coolrooms till needed. The paper surrounding the wood was JUST damp when opened. The ones in cardboard were wraped in black plastic to retain the dampness. The amount of dampness seems to be the influence in the proccess of keeping the wood alive I think Simon.

Barbara, what were the results with rooting hormone and without?

Hi,
I ended up not using the hormone powder. I had a reasonable, but not good strike rate. I think next time I may try letting them all develop roots before planting them out.
Barbara B

The wood Dave sent was the same as this; stems that had previously flowered. They all developed callouses and didn't go black until I potted them up. I was thinking there were soil borne pathogens that may have contributed to their demise.

Will have to visit them, surprising how much we learn from different nationalities new to our country.
Their set up appears similar to a rose growing Hydroponic Farm 5klm from me. Don't know where they came from but their roses and set up is amazing.
The Lebanese hydroponic tomato grower next door all but one is very successiful having brought the knowledge from his old country. Wish he spoke better english for he is a wealth of information. He gives me free his Hydroponic nutrients.

The Rooting cabinet I have most of the materials to build will root just about any cutting and is all hydroponic. No soil at all for this is where the damping off problems start. The cuttings will be grown in coconut fibre and peat using the flood and drain method. When the roots emerge outside the pot medium they can be planted into pots or Styrene boxes for further hydroponic growth by the drip method. Peat and coconut fibre is the medium to support the roots however reticulated foam has been used successifully though costly.

The cabinet will have bottom heat control 25 to 28 degrees C, light control and supply of hydroponic nutrients. Testing equipment is essential to maintain the solution.

Thereis another system that is called the splash method but will stop here as this might disapp.ear

The splash system is simple and goes like this. Suspend the cuttings in medium filled mesh pots just above the surface of the hydroponic bath.
Airate the solution with a good supply of air so the air coming to the surface splashes the bottom and lower sides of the pots.

If anyone has an old glass fish pond then the equipment could be ulilised to
set up this method provided the air supply through aeration stones is sufficient. If I ever get the enthusiasm will try this both ways, airation and
flood and drain systems. I had visions of making this large enough to accomodate 100 cuttings.

When Simon mentioned they buy the roses in already rooted thought you might like to have an idea of some methods used prior to the roses being planted in the styrene boxes.

I've been looking at this splash method too Bruce. They call it aeroponics. This is what I have been reading about: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I was thinking that with rose cuttings I would use strips of narrow plastic, or even wood, and line one side of each with some kind of a foam/cushion. Then I could lay all the cuttings between two strips and join them together like a sandwich and suspend the cut ends over a tub with an aquarium heater and big air stone. The bubbles would rise, then burst, splashing the base of the cuttings with water and liquid rooting horone. Haven't got the bumps ironed out yet but that's how I am starting to think...

Hi Simon, I have nearly everything but have to have a large sheet of Colourbond folded for the tray. I could do it but a friend has a folder that can do up to 2000mm lengths, his will look a lot better and not rock when in place. The clear cover is not a problem, made by stretching cling wrap over a frame and coating several times with very clear Epoxy.

The system I want is based on Flood and Drain. This will allow 100 cuttings to be rooted in a much smaller space. The cuttings are in gauze jiffy pots kept in place using square mesh 25mm square ID. Above this will be the same size mesh that allows the cutting to be held vertically. I may have to start with a more open rooting medium but will try the jiffy pots to start.

I can source small blocks of reticulated polyurethane foam with a cell count of approx 20 to 30 to the inch. This foam has the windows burnt out leaving the main frame only, similar to a course filter . This will allow the solution to drain quickly allowing the oxygen to get to the roots several times a day. Before the root surfaces have dried the pots are flooded again, hence the name Flood and Drain System. I actually prefer the foam to jiffy pots. The correct number and length of times is yet to be worked out.
Under the solution holding tray is a sealed space that contains a domestic oil heater and thermostat that holds the temp of the solution to between 25 to 28 degrees C .The top of this compartment is the bottom of the solution tray. Will make up a air holes both ends of the cover that can be adjusted open ,closed and inbetween.

Most of the components I have picked up for nothing, council clean-ups are a great source of supply.

Hope this explains the system which has the advantage over splash types which take up a lot more space.

Do the rooting at the right time for cuttings and reduce the power consumed.

Simon, are the cuttings rooted now?

I have done the same with six cuttings last Friday. I used a little rooting hormone.

Yep - all potted up and growing now Same with Nancy Hayward cuttings

So did it go directly from pre-callus stage to the pots or did you wait till the roots were formed?

I decided to pot them up before roots developed based on something Dave said. He said he would plant the cuttings when the callouses were large because the roots would break off when pushed into the soil. Got me thinking that these new roots are very delicate so if I potted them up before they appeared they could develop unhindered and avoid the risk of breaking them off.

Simon, how are the potted cuttings going? Checked mine today and they are showing white callousing at the ends after nearly 4 weeks. Should I pot them up about now?