Second only to lawn care concerns are the question in search for the easiest yet affective rose care guide. Below you will find my thought's and idea's that I recommend to my customers.
I am a believer in preventative spraying, heavy fertilization and heavy pruning. I don't believe that the practice of pruning a rose during the growing season back to the first fifth leaf stem is sufficient. I suggest pruning two thirds of the entire newest growth off after each blossom has finished. This practice will ensure compact growth, strong stems and an abundance of beautiful flowers throughout the entire growing season.
Now that I have your curiosity going, take one or two of your rose bushes and try my suggestions for yourself. It may seem a bit harsh, but you'll see for yourself at the end of the season which roses performed best. I will start at early spring as the roses are just coming out of dormancy, progressing through the growing season and end with the dormant season.
By this time a combination spray of Lime-N-Sulfur and Dormant Spray Oil should have been applied to your roses during dormancy, and your bushes pruned back to the height of twelve to fourteen inches tall. Pruning out all but between four and six of the strongest, and most healthy canes that are spread as far apart from each other as possible. Also prune out all limbs that would be growing toward the center of the bush structure. Pruning out these limbs will allow air flow throughout the plant and help prevent fungus growth and sheltering of damaging insects.
As soon as you notice the first sign of any new growth, I suggest that you apply your first application of a granule rose food plus systemic insecticide. Insects will start to feed on your roses new growth immediately and the systemic will provide you with up to six weeks of protection against insect damage. Make note that repeat applications of a granule rose food with systemic insecticide need's to be reapplied every four to six week's through out the growing season. My suggestion is to use Fertilome's 14-12-11 Rose Food with Systemic Insecticide.
By now you will be having nice new growth on your rose plants. It's time to apply a preventative application of a fungicide to your entire rose plant, from head to toe. This will help to prevent the growth of rust, leaf black spot, powdery mildew and any other fungus from attacking your roses. And don't be afraid to spray the ground beneath your rose bushes also. This will aid by killing any diseases that might be growing on the debris laying on the ground and prevent the reinfection of your roses. I suggest you use Fertilome's NEW Liquid Systemic Fungicide.
Fertilome has made available to us the first SYSTEMIC fungicide for the use on roses. This product allows the fungicide to penetrate the leaf's surface tissue and will allow the fungicide to work better, more efficient and longer. I suggest Preventative spraying which includes fungicides and recommend repeat application of Fertilome's Liquid Systemic Fungicide every four week's.
It's also time to apply your first application of a good granule rose food, I suggest Fertilome's 14-21-11 rose Food containing trace elements. This will continue to ensure just the right amount of new growth with the maximum bud set. Remember, roses are heavy feeders.
You are probably wondering why I suggest a granule rose food with systemic and then two weeks later suggest another application of a good granule rose fertilizer. I don't believe that the amount of fertilizer found in any rose food containing systemic insecticide's are sufficient to feed your roses for four to six week's, but the combination of rose food containing a systemic insecticide of straight granule rose food.
You will notice that I refer to GRANULE when I talk about fertilizers, this is because it is my opinion that on woody stemmed plants, as roses are, that granule fertilizers provide you with a better, longer lasting feeding than any liquid could do. Liquid type fertilizers are what I call a quick fix, they don't last very long and take more frequent applications. Leave the liquid fertilizers for your petunia's, marigolds, geraniums, perennial's and your hanging flower baskets.
It is again time to apply Fertilomes 14-12-11 granule rose food containing systemic insecticide to the drop line of your rose plants.
It is time to apply Fertilomes granule 14-12-11 rose food with trace elements to the drip lone of your roses, and to make another application of Fertilomes Liquid Systemic Fungicide to the entire rose plant. Repeat this program through the entire growing season up and until our first hard frost. At this time you will want to stop all fertilizing and allow your roses to go dormant for the winter months.
As your roses come into bloom and you prune, either for cut flowers or to remove spent flowers, it is my suggestion that you prune back two thirds of the entire NEW growth of the stem from below the spent flower blossom. This will keep your plant short, compact, reduce disease and the risk of breaking the graft in the event of a summer time wind storm.
This process is a whole lot easier than it sounds. The key is to mark your calendar for the entire growing season on the days in which you need to tend to your roses. You will find enclosed a calendar month and what it might look like according to my suggest schedule, and you will see that a short fifteen to twenty minutes per week is all that it will take you to tend to, grow and enjoy your rose garden.
One your roses have lost the majority of their leaves in the fall I recommend pruning your bush roses back to about your hip height. This will reduce any possibility of winter wind damage to your roses.
Winter Dormant Spray's should be applied three times throughout the winter months, just after the first frost and leaf fall in the fall, the second in December and the last just before bud break in the spring approximately the end of February.
For those of you who love roses but have not been able to have them because of deer, Tom's Garden Center now carries a pellet that when applied ONCE a year will protect your rose bushes and other non fruiting plants from those pesky deer.
"REPLEX SYSTEMIC TABLETS" slowly release, systemically, a bitter tasting substance to the roots of your plant, the plant's roots distribute this product throughout the vacuolar system of your plant and when a leaf eating critter like a deer tries to munch upon your roses they will find the foliage and flowers undesirable thus leaving your plants alone. No spraying, no mixing, no mess.
If you have any questions, please contact Tom's Garden Center at 541-928-2521 and either myself or any of my helpful staff would be happy to assist you. You may also stop in and see us at 350 NW Hickory St. here in Albany.
- Shrublets are roses of varying habits which are never too big to tuck into restricted garden spaces. We call them shrublets because they have proportionate smaller foliage. They bloom abundantly, have very good disease resistance and a high level of resistance and a high level of hardiness.
- Our Weeks Easy-to-Love roses are amazingly easy to grow. Naturally disease resistant, vigorous and flowerful. Because the foliage is so healthy, the plants are lush, bushy, and attractive from early spring until frost.
- Shrubs are free blooming plants with differing flower sizes and forms, broadly varying in mature size but of full bushy habit. Good disease resistance and hardiness, mostly grown on their own roots.
Rugosas and Foetida Roses-species or near species roses valued for their hardiness, old fashioned flowers and mountainous habits.
- Polyantha-small flowers in large clusters containing Medium to Short stems.
- Grandaifora-Medium-Large Flowers on single stem.
- Floribunda-Medium sized flowers mostly borne in clusters, often more compact in habit, medium length stems.
- Hybrid Tea- Large flowers generally borne one per stem, medium to tall in habit, long cutting stems.
More information at www.weeksroses.com
