The PRO breeding programme originates from the breeding programmes at Wageningen University in the 1970-ies and 80-ies. Based on this work and later as a private company we have been focussed on breeding new rose rootstocks since 1996.
The excellent Natal Briar was introduced by our founder, Dr. Peter van de Pol. One of our breeding targets is to develop rootstocks capable to replace Natal Briar and other old rootstocks for roses by producing at least 10% more biomass in the greenhouse. At PRO we have made it our goal to breed better rootstocks than Natal Briar which has been the leading world standard from its introduction until now.
Protatu (PRO3) was bred by us to deliver significant better results than Natal Briar or other rootstocks like Inermis, Manetti, Laxa, Dr. Huey or roses growing on their own roots (cuttings). Protatu is capable of delivering more than 30% extra when compared to Natal Briar. This is translated in number of stems and often length.
The fact is that most cut- or garden roses will profit from a good rootstock. Originally root stocks were selections from wild botanic roses like Rosa canina. The invention of top grafting (Stenten) made it easy to use other types of hybrid roses. Natal Briar became a huge success as a result of the invention of Top grafting “Stenten”. However: this is not the only way to propagate on our rootstocks, Very good plants are made with eye budding (“miniplantas”) on PRO rootstocks.