How to Splice Roses

Splice grafting a rose plant is the process by which you join the scion, the top portion of a rose plant that contains a bud, to an inactive root or stem piece of another plant. Splicing your rose plant will help your roses grow and bloom better. Splice grafting a less hardy rose scion to a root of a hardier rose bush allow growers to have different kinds of roses in several different hardiness zones. You can perform rose grafting from early spring to early summer.

Shears

Knife

Cup

Rubber grafting tape

Grafting wax

Select a particularly strong rose plant to use as your stock. Do not use a plant that has been grafted to in the past.

Trim the stock plant. Do not leave any particularly long branches on the stock plant.

Choose the rose you wish to use as the scion. Young and firm plants produce the best scions but to give the process a chance to work pick a shoot that came in strong the previous year.

Remove the scion from the donor plant by making a diagonal cut with a sterile knife. Choose a section that has many (at least three) new buds forming.

Place the scion in a cup or vase filled with water.

Cut the rootstick on the stock plant with a clean knife. Make the cut about six inches above the ground. The cut should be made diagonally to better graft the plant.

Remove the scion from the water and take it to the rootstick. Use the knife to trim back the rootstick until it fits perfectly with the scion.

Bind the scion to the rootstick with rubber grafting tape. Seal the tape with grafting wax.

Water the stock plant sparingly until the graft takes.

Remove the tape when the graft has fully healed.