grocery store mini on my birthday

19 years ago

i got a grocery store mini for my birthday -- don't groan.

it's flourishing. it's actually a little freaky, it's flourishing so much. if it isn't an orchid or an african violet, and it blooms, i usually kill it. i've killed minis before. this little guy is growing so fast, it's put out several new *sets* of leaves in a matter of days. and it's forming new blossoms, and several of the blossoms that have formed before i got hold of it have opened.

is this type of aggressive growth normal? can i look forward to this thing growing inches in days, or do most minis tend to grow in spurts?

i'm keeping him in a nest of orchids, in a south facing window, on top of a door mirror. every morning before work, i mist the whole bunch with a weak solution of superthrive and orchid food, emphasize the word "weak". i've gotten a few oncidums to bloom there, and it experiences temperature drops nightly, so much so that i'm ready to move my warm loving orchids away from the window now.

it's remarkably charming to look at. and so healthy, with all that new growth and all those new buds. i've already bookmarked a few sites which i've seen linked to on this forum, hopefully it won't number among the tragicly short lived.

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Comments (7)

Megsroses
19 years ago
While difficult to grow in-doors, it isn't impossible to have them growing and blooming especially given the type of care you describe.
However...be very vigilant for Spider Mites. An aggressive spray bath at the kitchen sink at least once a week and additional humidity will hopefully be beneficial in keeping the mites at bay.
It sounds like your new 'baby' feels right at home with the orchids!
Good Luck
Meg
shebear
19 years ago
I'll bet there's more than one rose in that pot. If you repot in the future, you might want to look for that. Many of the minis I pick up at different places put as many as seven plants in the pot. You could end up with a mini garden of minis.
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That's because of the difference in conditions, Kitty. Those little potted roses are bred and propagated in controlled greenhouse conditions. Then you bring it home and put it outside in totally different conditions and the rose performs completely different. And not all of them are minis either. Some of them are just small because of the conditions they've been grown in and when you get them home and plant them they turn out to be pretty good size roses instead of the mini you thought you bought. You have to remember that they actually breed and sell these to be throw away plants like a cut flower bouquet. They've probably never been tested in outdoor conditions. Most purchasers treat them that way too because they don't understand that they're regular roses and can be planted outside. I hear people in the stores all the time saying things like "Oh, look, a toy rose! Isn't it cute." They take it home, stick it in a window and throw some water at it occasionally (if it's lucky) and when it dies they toss it out. Which is exactly what the seller wants because then you'll come back and buy another one. I've had a few over the years. Some I did manage to ID others I never could. The best one I've had is my Isolde Hit rose that my brother got me one Valentine's Day. (I've trained him very well and he actually got it at a local nursery, so it was healthy, and with a name tag!) It's lasted 3 winters now and is growing and blooming very well. The others didn't winter well and dwindle away. But I've also found that the chances for survival are better if you don't try and split them up when you plant them. Every one that I tried splitting out and planting dies almost immediately from shock. Isolde I left as is and it thrived from the get go.
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Not only are there multiple cuttings per pot (sometimes up to five), but multiple varieties are substituted for each name. What you find in April as "Red Kordana" (or whatever other name the specific producer calls the rose) isn't necessarily what you will find as "Red Kordana" a month later. The names are trademarked and the outlet simply orders them by quantity and color, or as a quantity of mixed colors. Whatever the company which owns the patents substitutes for that color at that order time has ready is what the retailer receives. From a marketing standpoint, it's great. From yours, perhaps not so much. If the one you found is ideal for whatever use you have for it, you may, or may not, be able to find it again. That was one of Ralph Moore's huge complaints about how the mini market was changing before his death. He believed in creating a specific good rose and offering that rose under its name. Not in making a name and offering a dozen different "disposable" roses under that name. Your rose may remain healthier due to not being as crowded, or it may return to the black spot issues. Only time will tell. Many of these grocery store minis will perform outdoors, but not all. They weren't bred nor selected for garden use, so finding one which doesn't either become a "Jack and the Beanstalk" plant with small flowers; a diseased mess; or one which won't grow or flower in less than greenhouse conditions, is likely to be a hit and miss proposition. My youngest sister filled her front yard with those nearly twenty years ago. They receive virtually no care, pruning, fertilizing, etc., and they have lived and produce flowers. Hers aren't "pretty plants" but they fill volume, occupy space and require nothing of her other than the sprinkler irrigation they receive.
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legray
Original Author
19 years ago
Megsroses - yeah, I remember thinking to myself, when I was reading the material I found, that miniroses seemed to require care very simmilar to my orchids. So I just tossed them into the mix, and it appears to enjoy it.

shebear - Definately more than one. I count four, total, which means that I'll probably be repotting it sometime in the near future.

The problem is, I have a naturally addictive personality, and now I find myself wanting more more more. >Maybe if this one is still healthy when spring rolls around, I'll humor my appetite and get ONE more....
legray
Original Author
19 years ago
i wonder if i'm orchid people, or mini rose people? ARE there mini rose people? this whole forum is so quiet, all things considering....

my mini continues to thrive, but i notice the buds are opening as they are very tiny, i assume that has to do with the amount of sunlight it receives? the spike on my sharry baby is opening before it gets long enough to match its histor (this is my first actual winter with it), so i think that the sun is effecting everyone.

do you think this mini would be happiest if i repotted all four of them before they started to die off? i've depotted the guy, and the soil *was not* a mash of roots, and i've only lost a few spriglets of leaves to browntip, and no infestations at all so far.

the leaves that were tiny when i purchased the guy, are huge now. it looks like it *might* be trying to be leggy, but i can't tell yet.

pardon me for saying so --

but damn, mini roses are engrossing fun.
LauraN
19 years ago
Oh Rats! I just bought a grocery store mini.
I just couldn't help myself. I know better. I know roses are suppose to grow outside. I know it is very late to plant them outside now even if I had room. But it is just too lovely. It's orange on the reverse and the outer edge of the petal with yellow going down to the base of the petals on the inside where there are little red flames. It's one of the Cupido series which, I must confess, have junped into my basket in the past. Where else can you buy happiness for $4?
They really are fun, aren't they? And since they are so small they don't really count!
Laura
User
19 years ago
I used to grow mini orchid species! I'm not at the present time (but I will again down the road). I tried to grow minis with my orchids under flourescent lights, but the plants got leggy and didn't bloom very well. I had 4 40 watt gro type bulbs on each shelf. The orchids did fine (I didn't grow high light lovers like catts and dends so maybe I didn't have enough light for the roses?). If you can keep the rose alive this winter I'd plant it outside in the spring. I hope you have better luck than I did.
jpw_chi
19 years ago
Last weekend, I just shovel-pruned my once-amazing grocery store mini-rose (a Poulsen Parade rose). It went from a mere six inches tall to two feet x two feet plant with nearly constant blooms. Then powdery mildew took hold and consistently destroyed new leaves.

Even then, the nearly-bare canes still hung in there though and continued to put out new leaves -- all of which got PM. I tried various non-toxic options inside the house. Sadly, the bare canes just looked horrible. I had to '86 it, and replaced it with new roses(Poulsen Palace roses this time).

grocery store mini on my birthday

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grocery store mini on my birthday

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