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HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 1 |
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Until fairly recently everyone planted dwarf roses and climbers with the budding just below the surface of the soil. It was generally claimed that by so doing a double rooting was ensured, rooting from the stock in the usual way and, in addition, rooting from the bud. Low planting is probably to be preferred in very cold, or hot, dry climates, since it gives protection from extreme cold or sunburn to the union and the stock.
I followed this rule for several years and was very disappointed with my results. I replaced most of my dwarfs with standards because I found that they grew better for me. I blamed my soil and my district. Later I was amazed at the wonderful growth of dwarfs in a garden less than one hun-dred yards from mine. They were all thriving and the only difference was that the union of scion and stock had been placed about one inch above the ground. It was hard for me to realize that what I had always been taught to be right had proved to be wrong, but I tried my neighbour's method the next year and got similarly good results. Since then I have found that practically everyone who plants in this way, either by ignorance, accident or design, has success. I have found too that almost all successful growers of roses on stocks of jR. multiflora and R. fortun-iana plant with the budding above soil level. Thus most rose-growers in Western Australia and north-eastern Australia, as well as in other parts, have ceased to use the old type of planting. In the last few years I have bought mostly dwarfs, on various stocks, and have always planted high. In Tasmania and south-eastern Australia, where R. indica major is used as a stock by most of the nurserymen, probably fifty per cent of rose-growers still plant the union below the soil surface. The root system should never be deeper than six inches below soil surface, even in low planting, and any stock longer than eight inches can consequently cause trouble. Unfortunately such plants are sometimes sold. The greatest fertility and best growing conditions are always in the uppermost four inches of soil. It is there that the greatest number of soil bacteria is to be found, and the rose roots should be placed in or immediately below this soil.
Fig. 7. 1. Rose budded on cutting stock. 2. Rose budded on seedling stock. A, level for planting with budding at ground surface; B, level for planting with budding below ground surface; C, level for "high planting". |
