The majority of the Company’s product is a grafted two-year crop. The bud stock carries the select variety and the sturdy root stock ensures a strong, healthy plant.

From November to January, nine-inch root stock cuttings from the Wasco virus-indexed mother block of Dr. Huey stock plants are collected, de-thorned, de-eyed and stuck by hand for rooting in the fields that were cultivated and fumigated earlier the previous summer. After the top buds have begun to grow, the stock is T-budded by hand in the field at ground level beginning in April and finishing in June. The budwood used in grafting had been collected from the previous finished crop and is stored near freezing temperatures until the proper budding time.

In January to February of year two, the rootstock tops are cut back to just above the graft. The grafted rose variety forces out and is nipped at varying points through the remainder of the growing season to encourage branching. This crop, started two years prior, will be harvested in the November to January time frame for sale and shipment in December through March.

The own-root production cycle is used mostly for shrubs, miniatures, some climbers, heirlooms and floribundas. The finished plant is grown in the field for just over one year. Cutting stock is collected from the current crop in May through September to root plugs in greenhouses at Upland. Plugs are mechanically planted in the Wasco fields in August through December. Harvest and shipping time coincide with the two year budded crop.