A rose sends up a new shoot - should you pick it and stir-fry it, or just leave it alone?

If you have grown roses, you have probably seen a shoot - it pushes up out of the ground just like a bamboo shoot, with slightly reddish stems and leaves, and it is so tender and green that it makes you want to pick it and take it home to stir-fry. So should such a shoot be picked to "stir-fry" and eaten, or left alone?

Why do roses grow shoots?

Rose shoots generally emerge from the root crown area of the rose. If other branches are blooming or growing, most of the nutrients get absorbed by the top branches and flower buds, so the shoot buds do not get enough nutrition and therefore grow somewhat more slowly.

After these mature branches finish blooming, the flower stalks get cut off or the tips get pinched, so the nutrients sent to the top cannot all be used up and flow back down again. The shoot buds then absorb this portion of nutrients and turn into tall shoot canes - the shoots we often see that are taller than the rest of the plant.

So should the shoot buds be picked to "stir-fry" and eaten?

This is just a joke here - picking it to "stir-fry" does not really mean eating it, but rather pinching off the tip. Because if you ignore this shoot bud, it will grow taller and taller, surpassing the other branches, and all the nutrients will be supplied to this tall shoot, while the other branches will grow slowly due to lack of nutrients. And because this single cane has plenty of nutrients, it will not only grow tall but also bloom - but usually just one flower - causing uneven branch growth in the whole pot of roses, which is what we usually call a "tyrant cane", making it harder for the rose to fill out the pot with blooms.

Even if the shoot bud cannot be "stir-fried", it still cannot be kept

We all know that shoot buds cannot be kept and must be pinched off, that is, cut off. If the plant is under 30 cm, then cut off the branch above the top few pairs of leaves. If the plant is taller than 30 cm, consider cutting the branch back by half, the purpose being to ensure enough nutrients for the branch to push out side buds, while also supplying nutrients to the other branches, promoting vigorous growth of the plant, lush green leaves and more flowers.

Let the shoot bud grow horizontally, and it will bloom in clusters

To break the apical dominance of the shoot bud, besides pinching off the tip, a better method is to bend the branch down horizontally. But be careful not to snap the branch - you can use string or fix it with a wooden stick, so that nutrients are released toward the side buds, growing more side branches and naturally producing more flowers.