Cultivation Practices of Rose

Chhetri, 2020
How beautiful is rose ……………….?
Introduction

• Most ancient and popular flower

• Versatile plant adapted to varying climatic condition
• Belongs to the family Rosaceae
• Known as queen of flower
• Without rose gardens are considered incomplete
• Almost all colors are found except complete blue and black
• 300 species and 20000 cultivars
• About 250-300 new varieties are added every year
• It is top ranking cut flower in terms of flower trade on the
basis of average production and consumption
• Commonly used as cut flower and loose flowers
• Used for essential oil and rose water
• In Nepal rose are mostly grown in Kathmandu Valley,
Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Dhading, and Chitwan
• Hybrid tea type is the most commonly grown rose for
cut flowers
• Must commercial roses are hybrid European varieties,
grown in plastic house in temperate climate; while in
semi open condition in warmer climate
• Dutch rose and Local rose are the common rose
available in Nepali market
• Rose is cultivated in 172 ropanies and the demand of
rose is 7000-9000 stick/day(FAN 2012/013)
• The challenge of rose growers is in-stability of price in
Nepal
Types of roses
a) Hybrid Tea Rose
R. chinensis x R giganta R chinensis x R gallica or R
centifolia

Tea rose Hybrid perpetual

x

Hybrid tea rose

Characteristics:

Winter hardy, Blooms for longer period, blooms on long canes as

solitary flowers, elongated buds, slow opening of flowers, good
keeping quality
Some variety with different colors:

1. Bedding varieties: Golden gaint,

Dutch gold, Superstar, Picture,
Happiness, Avon, June bride
2. Exhibition varieties:
Eiffel tower, Pusa Sonia, Super
Star
3. Scented varieties: The Doctor,
La France
4. Commercial varieties: Sonia,
Happiness
b) Floribundas
• They posses the characteristics of both parents and produce flower in
cluster
• They have wide range of colors
• Varieties: Jantarmantar(R), All Gold(Y), Iceberg(W)

R. multiflora x R wichuriana/chinensis

Dwarf polyantha Hybrid tea

x

Floribundas
c) Climbers and Ramblers
Climbers
Characteristics: need support to keep them upright,
suitable for arches and pergola
Varieties: Compassion, Golden Shower, Royal Gold

Ramblers: produced by crossing Hybrid perpetuals with

R wichuriana or Multiflora
Characteristics: produced flush once in a year and last
for several weeks
Varieties: American Pillar, Sander’s white, Dorothy
Perkins
d) Miniature rose
Characteristics: called as baby rose, long blooming
period and least affected by cold weather and disease,
suitable for edge, pot plant
Varieties: Red flush, Cupcake, Yellow Doll, Green ice

e) Shrub rose:
Characteristics: suitable for informal layout, specimen,
hedge
Continuous flowering
Varieties: Delhi white pearl, Carefree beauty, Cocktail,
Fontain
Cultivation in green house
• In Nepal commercial rose cut flower production is carried
out under UV light protected plastic sheets i.e. under green
house
• Green house must be well ventilated and should be fitted
with drip system, cooling fans, heating pipe line and insect
net to prevent entry
• Green house should also consist of proper sanitation
measures at the entrance so that microbes can be prevented
• High temperature may impeded carbohydrate accumulation
whereas high humidity may impeded stomata function
thereby affecting vase life
• Green house temperature should be maintained at 20-21 °C
on cloudy days, 24-28°C on sunny days and RH 50-60% to
achieve optimum yield
Climatic requirements
 Average temperature 25 °C (day) 16 °C (night)
 Fluctuation in day and night temperature is detrimental
 Higher temperature causes increase in number of flowers
however, it reduces quality of flower
 Hot and cold blast of wind is harmful
 Bright sunshine and high light intensity is good for flower
production
 May grow in shade but more susceptible by mildew and
thrips
 Roses suffer heavily due to frost hence frost prone area
should be avoided
 Flowers opens and fade faster that grown in warmer
region than that grown in cooler region
Soil
 Rose requires sandy loam soil rich in organic matter
 Heavy soil is not suitable
 Good water holding capacity with proper drainage
since, they are sensitive to water logging condition
 pH between 5.5 to 6.5 is good but can grow in soil
having pH up to 7.5
 Soil treated with formalin solution (1%) or Slyvox
0.5 ml per liter give excellent result
Light
• Rose requires bright sunny condition for better production
(at least for six hours)
• Plant growing in shade produce thinner leaves with low
chlorophyll content than plants growing under full sunlight
• High light intensity is required for the development of
anthocyanin pigments in petals
Relative humidity
• In summer, humidity of 50-60% should be maintained in
green house
• Very high relative humidity at low temperature causes the
chance of occurrence of disease
• 1000 ppm of Co2 is also required for quality bloom
production
Propagation
1. Sexual propagation (seed propagation)
 Done for breeding purpose
and rootstock development
 Fully ripe hips are harvested
dried and then seed is sown in
well prepared nursery
 Seeds have poor germination due to presence of
growth inhibitors in seed coat and also due to
mechanical restriction
 To enhance germination, treatment of GA3 100 ppm
or with sulfuric acid before sowing for 1-2 hrs
2. Vegetative propagation
a. Cutting
• Cutting involves root and shoot cutting
• While planting the root cutting , the proximal end
always be up
• Hard wood stem cutting is practiced for polyanthas,
climbers and ramblers but softwood cutting is done for
miniature
• Rootstock are propagated by hardwood or semi
hardwood cutting (Sept-Oct)
• It takes 3-4 weeks for cutting to strike roots and bud
sprout
• For high success cutting should be treated with
hormones
b. Budding
• Shield or T-budding is the most common budding
method practiced for rose
• The right stage of budding is when plants have good
sap flow and the cambium tissue is highly active
• Hybrid Tea rose can be propagated by T budding in
spring in hills of Nepal
• Best budding time is Nov-Feb
• After two years plants become ready for transplanting
• Common rootstock used is R bourboniana, R indica,
R multiflora
• R. indica: Tolerant to powdery mildew and high pH
Irrigation
 Depends on soil type, season and stage of plant
growth
 Cannot withstand water logging even for short
period
 Winter: 7-10 days interval, Summer: 5-6 days
interval
 Irrigation is adjusted in such a way that soil is moist
but not wet so basin irrigation is desirable
 Watering too often or too lightly encourages the
development of shallow root system
Pruning

 Ideal time: After rainy season before winter

 Dead, weak, interlaced, over crowded, diseased
branches, suckers should be removed to keep the
center open
 Pruning improves the quality of blooms, regulates the
size and shape of the plant
 Heading back is done on cane
 Takes about 60-70 days for blooming after pruning
 Should be done to an eye pointing outward
 Opposite slanting cut to the bud
 Cut should be covered with fungicidal paint (3 Linseed
oil: 2 lime : 1 Cuso4)
 In HT and Floribundas amount of pruning is done
according to the age of the plant
o Light pruning (<4 years): 6-8 canes and 6-8 buds in each
cane
o Moderate pruning (4-8 years): 4-6 canes and 4-6 buds in
each cane
o Heavy pruning (>8 years): 2-4 canes and 2-4 buds in each
cane
 Root exposing is also done at the time of pruning for 15
days
 For commercial crops medium pruning is done while for
exhibition purpose hard pruning is followed
 Time of flowering can be adjusted according to the date
of pruning
 For commercial and exhibition: pruning in Oct
A research conducted in Rampur Chitwan (2014)
revealed that:
• Rose plant pruned heavily produced flowers with
the longest stem length and diameter, largest floral
bud length and diameter, highest fresh and dry
weight of flower stem as compared to moderate
and light pruning
• Flowers from heavily pruned plants had early bud
opening, highest floral diameter and longest vase
life
• But plant with medium pruning produces flowers in
greater quantity compared to that of hard pruning
Root exposing/Wintering
• The roots of rose plant is exposed to the sun and air by removing
the soil to a depth of about 10-15 cm and a diameter of 20-30 cm
• The infected roots are pruned and staking is provided
• During this operation, a couple of roots may become distorted,
but this will not do harm to the plant
• The pruned plants should be left in this condition for 8-10 days
and then the soil is kept aside should be mixed with 5 kg cow
dung, 100 gm bone meal, 50gm TSP and 25 gm MOP
• Many researcher recommend to apply 50 gm rose mix (5:8:18
NPK)
• This should be followed by heavy irrigation
• This practices increases the flower size of the rose due to
physiological stress to the plant
• It increases the C/N ratio and it also makes the plant healthy
• Generally, the economic life of rose is 8 years, but above practice
Site selection for rosarium
 Do best in sunny locations where they are sheltered
from strong winds
 Site should be open, well drained and deep soil profile
 Should receive more than 8 hrs of sunlight
Planting
 Can be planted any time of the year if irrigation
facilities prevails
 In terai best time of planting is Sept-Oct and in hilly
areas best time of planting is Jan – Apr
 Winter month are the best and safest as the plants
are in dormant stage at this time and are easy to
handle them
 Bud union should be just above the ground
 Light prunning i.e. tipping back should be done after
planting
 Irrigate immediately after planting
 Staking
 Pit of 60 cm diameter and 60-75 cm depth

Spacing
 HT Rose: 75 X 75 cm
 Floribundas: 60X60 cm
 Miniature rose:45X45 cm
Manure and fertilizer
 Needs high fertilization
 Depends on fertility status of soil
 25:20:20 g NPK/plant, 8-10 kg compost per plant
 Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn are also applied based on
soil test
Care and management
 Hips should be removed regularly
 Disbudding and pinching
 Suckers from the rootstock should be monitored
regularly
Use of plant growth regulators
• Growth regulators like GA3 and retardants like
Cycocell (CCC) are used to get more number of
flowers with good quality
• GA3 @ 250 ppm has been found to increase
the stalk length, flower size and reduce
number of blind shoots
Harvesting
 Flowers in June- Aug and Dec-Feb
 Done in cool hrs of the day; morning or evening but
evening is the best time
 Immediately after harvest put the flower in bucket
containing water (disinfectant+ AgNo3)
 For local market: one or two petals are open up
partially or fully
 For distant market: tight bud stage having 2-3 sepals
fully separated from flower bud and showing color
 Flower stems are dethroned at their base and
graded according to their length
 Roses are graded as follows on stem length basis:
i)60 cm ii)45-60 cm iii)30 to 45 cm
 After grading flowers are bunched, wrapped in
the newspaper, keeping the flowers end slightly
showing and packed in card board boxes

Yield
 In the second year, per plant 30-40 flowers are
obtained, while from 3rd year onwards, about 50-
65 flowers are obtained
 The economic life of the plants is 8-10 years
Post Harvest Practices in Rose
Storage
• After cutting, flower stem should be placed in water,
any delay in keeping flowers in the bucket causes air
entry and vascular blockage
• Higher temperature facilitates problems like bent neck
and microbial infection
• Therefore, rose should be stored in cool temperature
at 4.4-7.2°C for about 6-12 hrs
• For easy handling, leaves and thorns are removed
• The cut rose stem should be treated with 200 ppm
aluminium sulfate or citric acid and is stored in 2-4°C
temperature and 60-70% RH for distant transport
Packaging
• The cut blooms are graded
according to the length of
stem and then placed in
corrugated cardboard boxes
• The blooms are generally
packed in the bundles of 20
and tied in rubber band
• Properly packed cut roses are preferred by
florists and fetch better price in Nepalese
wholesale market
 Packaging for
local market
Putting in trolleys
Harvesting with preservative Handling of rose
solution in Holland

Grading for long

Auction or Transportation Packaging distance market
Shop
Insects
1. White ants: problem when soil is dry, damage
the root system
• Control: Apply Imedachloropid
2. Red scale: Problem during Aug-Sept and suck
the sap of the new shoots
• Control: apply parathion
3. Aphids: problem in winter months, affects in the
leaves and buds during winter months, buds fail
to open, suck all sap and discolor leaves
• Control: Apply malathion
• Aphids

• Red scale
Diseases
1. Powdery mildew: Affect in warm humid and cool
weather, Young shoots and leaves are covered with
white growth, Flower bud fail to open
• Control: Dusting 50% sulphur
2. Dieback: Appears after pruning, Drying up and
blackening of pruned shoots extends downwards
• Control: Pruned cut end should painted immediately
with fungicidal paint
3. Black spot: Appears in Nov-March, Circular black spot
in leaves(<1 cm size), Leaves becomes Chlorotic dry up
and drop
• Control: Spraying 0.2% captan
• Powdery mildew
• Die back

• Black spot
Reduced water uptake cause bent neck
Re-cutting with sharp knife to
promote water uptake and avoid Avoid selecting roses having bent neck.
bacterial infections.