Question

rose trunk  

full trunk   Hi Jay, thank you for sharing your knowledge with novices like me.  My wife and I have two beautiful 5ft tall knockout roses in our flower bed that we planted early summer.  Unfortunately last week we had a bad rain/wind storm that knocked one of the knock out roses over and broke the stake that has holding it to the ground.  The main stem/trunk didn't break completely as it was hanging from some of the bark but it was a pretty bad break in the center as it was like a tree branch that you bent in half and didn't crack completely but did a decent amount of damage.  Since we were off from work yesterday - 4 days after the storm - we took some time to re-stake it, tie it up and I tried to secure the point of breakage.  I had some of Olivia's cloning solution so I soaked it in a towel and rapped it to the section that was broken.  From your experience, is there anything else we should do in attempt to salvage and help repair this broken trunk/main stem as it would be such a a shame to lose this beautiful knockout rose.  Also, since the break was maybe a foot above the roots, is there such a thing of cutting above breakage point and trying to have that part take new roots somehow? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Mike,

My first suggestion is to use 3/4 inch metal electrical conduit for your stakes.  I have learned the hard way that wooden stakes cannot hold up a heavy knockout tree rose. My wife has never let me forget.

As for the break, wrap it with duct tape.  Go at least 3 inches above and 3 inches below the actual break. You want the tape to act like a cast so the bark can callouse over.  Then once you get the heavier stakes, make sure to secure the trunk above and below the break just like I see you did in the pictures.  Also secure the actual head or bush part to the stake. It would not hurt to put water on the break to keep it moist.  That will help with the healing. The main thing is to keep it from moving and breaking what bark is still there.

Sounds like you did everything you can/could do.  It just takes time.

The trunk is too big and the head of the plant to big to root.

Good luck,

Jay

Thanks for the pictures.  They really helped.