Hi luxrosa,

You can root rootstock just about anytime of year. Now is probably the best time of year for you in the SF area due to cooler weather. The key is to provide enough humidity to keep the stems from drying out. Also, last year's canes are best. I am in zone 6a in the middle of winter here and am starting to bring in some multiflora cuttings to root for this coming spring's grafting.

You can definitely graft buds from band size roses. Ultimately the size of the bud isn't much of an issue since it will grow much larger on the rootstock. If it weren't covered with a foot of snow, I could send a photo of one of my smaller scions grafted to a full sized rootstock. Maybe when we get some melting next month. :)

1/2 inch parafilm works. Just make sure to wrap it enough to cover the upper and lower parts of the wound as well as the bud. Also, try not to unwrap it too soon. It's very tempting to see how the graft is doing, but it tends to cause damage to the bud.

Good luck with the grafting!

-Will

Congratulations Lux, on your starting to bud. I think you'll be amazed at how fun it is & how dramatically buds on vigorous root stock push.

Timing: if you can get stocks to root now--go for it. I've been able to get Huey & Ragged Robin to root all year, though it's much faster & more successful during the warmer parts of the year--late May through Sept. for me. I haven't had great luck with burrito wraps, which are useful during the cooler months, but you've read here that many folks have. Fortuniana seems to require a lot more warmth to root. It rooted easily last summer, but I lost a lot of the stocks from Davis that arrived in late Oct.--just couldn't generate enough warmth, even in a covered hotbed.

Size: Only limited by your ability to manipulate the buds. I'm fairly comfortable with harvesting buds from cocktail straw sized twigs, but they're a lot harder to handle than nice fat buds from pencil-sized stems. Still, a lot of the things you'll want to bud are by their very nature, very twiggy. Slice the buds into a clean container of water so there is no drying out. I like a big pill bottle top--it's shallow enough to pick up the buds easily but holds a nice teaspoon or so of water.

I've been using 1/2" Parafilm, as that's what most demos I've viewed showed. The Parafilm is a wonderful product--stretchy so you can snug the bud in tightly (yes, you cover the bud, too)--self-sticking & it disintegrates nicely just as the buds swell.

Try sticking 3 buds on your stocks if they're broad enough. Lots of times all three will take. Also, a slim razor knife from the dollar store is easier to use, especially for little buds, than a grafting knife.

Have fun!

Lux,

Do you have some Pink Clouds? I know someone that has a spare plant she is digging up and I can bring to the Sacramento event if you are going. It roots like mad and is virus free

Kippy,

Bless you, I am planning to go to Sac -Cem for their sale, and I would LOVE a 'Pink Cloud" ... I have heard it is a great rootstock.
I'm a red head, so I should be easy to spot.

Thank you Spike and Bluegirl for your information, I would not have thought to keep the bud under water whilst working on it.

I'll start rooting rootstock this week while I show my neighbor how to root roses from hardwood cuttings.

Lux.

Lux, I also have several things rooted that have worked well for stocks. Hit me up anytime. Besides Pink Clouds, I have a Spray Cecile Brunner that has been fantastic at accepting buds (& pushing them well) plus Caldwell Pink (thorny, but roots very easily & has taken buds well) & some just-rooted Lady Banksia that is supposed to work well (but I haven't tried it yet).

Also have some rooted Fort, VID & regular --may not be thick enough to bud easily yet, but will make lots of stems for you in a year.

Ragged Robin--VID & regular--it takes buds well for me--easy to root.

Rooted Dr. Huey sticks, plus some VID Huey (just rooted). The VID is thick enough to bud to, but you might also want to reserve it for a clean mother plant to generate new clean rootstock sticks.

Lots of cool stuff--some things ready to bud to now, others will produce some later this year or next.

And just for practice, you can slap buds on anything. I have a couple of big plants of Spray Cecile, Ragged Robin & Fort. in the ground that have 6-8 different things budded along a single long cane. When the weather warms I'll cut them off & root them.

I would be very cautious about suggesting 'Pink Clouds' (Ralph Moore rootstock) is "virus free" unless you yourself have had that specific plant tested.

Hey Lux, there is a beautiful demonstration by Kitty and Bob Belendez on the Santa Clarita valley rose society website.

When you go to the link below it takes you to Miss Kitty's rose blog ( very education and very informative) and go to home page and scroll till the end when you see rose society favorite rose articles and click on the last line "and much more..." If you scroll down there is rose propagation and hybridization and there is a youtube link for chip budding. There are also some youtube videos on their amazing and wonderful rose garden..

scvrs.homestead.com

YouTube video: type the below line on youtube.
Chip Budding Roses onto Fortuniana Rootstock by Bob & Kitty Belendez

Hope this helps. I learned a lot from her blog, but unfortunately I live in Zone 5 and things and timing are very different here.
Madri.