Second stem on standard rose

My standard rose seems to be putting up another ââ?¬Ë?stemââ?¬â?¢ about 8ââ?¬Â from the stem of the rose. (photos of it are at the link below)

http://fionasgarden.fotopic.net/c1035815.html

I am wondering can I try and grow this as a separate rose by ââ?¬Ë?diggingââ?¬â?¢ this stem up with some of the roots below it or am I likely to kill off my standard rose by doing this? I know it will not be a standard but normal rose.

If it is thought I can not try this am I as well to just cut it off.

 

Looks like a sucker to me BC, if so you just want to cut it off and disguard it, sorry. See what others think.

BM

 

I am a beginner with roses but i think it is a sucker too, sorry BC.

 

I, on the other hand, would dig it up with root and plant it as a wild rose somewhere in the garden.

 

It's a sucker. Best to remove it from the root node as meerly cutting it back will encourage it regrow although your rose is always likely to produce more.

Basically it's been grafted onto a rootstock that's too vigerous for it. Done for fast growth of the standard stem, plonk a graft on the top then into the GCs for a quick sale.

 

I have taken it out and took it back to the root as much as I could so fingers crossed that will not come back to soon.

I have never been sure about grafting, when you say it has been grafted onto a rootstock do you mean the 'stem' of the standard rose is infact a different rose to the 'standard' bit.

 

'Standard' simply means that a plant has been trained to have one single main stem with a large either ball shaped or trailing head.

Standards can be own rooted and a single stem allowed to grow to the required height and then only top growth kept on - all other side shoots and stems are nipped out. If you should get a sucker with this type the flower (and leaf) will be the same as the head.

With a grafted standard, a rootstock with the characteristics required for height, mechanical strength and vigor is allowed to grow a single stem then a graft of the required flower is made at the top. In this way its possible to have a weeping or trailing flower supported by a rigid stem. If the rootstock is too vigerous or the wrong type the rootstock will overproduce for the single stem and graft combination and will throw up suckers. Some rootstocks are notorious for suckering (eg. Prunus types used for cherry, plum gages etc.) The resulting sucker will bear different and normally very inferior flowers to the grafted head.

To answer your question about whether your rose standard stem is rootstock; have a look at the head where it develops from the stem and you will probably see a sort of scarring where the graft has been made. Anything above this point will be the named (blooming) rose and below it will be rootstock even if it is 3ft or more high.

 

Thanks for that, i will have a look at the plant when the rain stops...