Roses: Part 3-Care and Pest Mgmt.

If you have not already read Roses: Part 1- The History or Part 2 – Varieties, please go back and read the previous Blogs to get a foundational knowledge of the plant itself. I hope you will find it beneficial. In Part 3 of Roses, I’d like to share about the care and pest management roses.

It is always important to under how a plant is classified. Trying reading the Jan blog about understanding Classifications.

Scientific classification

Kingdom:Plantae

Clade:Tracheophytes

Clade:Angiosperms

Clade:Eudicots

Clade:Rosids

Order:Rosale

Family:Rosaceae

Subfamily:Rosoideae

Tribe:Roseae

Genus:Rosa

Rose Calendar

January-

1. Buy, plant and prune roses this month. The goal of pruning is to have satisfactory airflow and sunlight penetration into the bush.

2. Consider painting the ends with pruning sealer to prevent bugs.

3. Spray bush with dormant spray to eliminate overwintering fungal spores, insect eggs and dormant insects.

4. Clean up dead leaves, clippings and spent flowers to decrease the spread of disease and pests.

5. Place 3-4 inches of mulch under the rose bush avoiding contact with the trunk

February-

1. Finish any pruning of your roses, even if they are still blooming.

2. Remove all leaves and blooms.

3. February is the last month to plant bare root roses or to transplant.

4. Fertilize this month or wait for first new growth.

5. Fertilize before an expected rain or give the plant a good soak.

March-

1. Once new growth is 2-4 inches long, apply fertilizer, granular or slow release are best and water well. Roses are heavy feeders so you will need to fertilize throughout the year.

2. To encourage an open center, pinch away any growth toward the center.

3. Remove any suckers from below the graft union.

April-

1. This month marks the development of new buds along with pests and disease.

2. Every few days, monitor for aphids and other honeydew producing insects and control with a strong stream of water.

3. Releasing ladybugs is not a reliable way to introduce and maintain beneficial insects to your yard. The ladybugs could smell the nectar in your neighbor’s yard and fly off. It is best to attract them by planting a diversity of flowering plants that provide the needed resources.

4. Watch for rust and mildew. use neem oil to control mildew and prune our rust.

5. Continue to remove suckers.

May-

1. Your roses should be in full bloom this month. After the first flush, fertilize and water it in to avoid damage to the bush. Mark your calendars to fertilize every 6 weeks.

2. Dead head spent flowers throughout the season for continuous blooms.

3. If thrips are present, evidenced by brown spots on lighter colored roses, place a drop of Neem oil on the buds before they open.

4. Clean up debris and weeds under bushes to discourage pests and avoid overhead watering to discourage disease.

June-

1. In areas with summer fog, watch for mildew and apply Neem oil as needed only in early morning or evening hours as heat and the oil will damage the leaves.

2. Watch for evidence of earwigs chewing on outer petals. Use rolled up newspaper at night to allow a place for them to hide and remove in the morning

July-

1. Develop and maintain a regular irrigation schedule: water about once a week to 18 inches. If it gets hot over 90*, you may need to water up to 3 times a week. Check the depth of the soil moisture before proceeding.

2. Roses in pots will need water more frequently as they dry out faster. Water when the top inch is dry.

3. Control spider mites by minimizing dust, keeping the underside of the leaves clean by spraying bushes with water or wiping with a gloved hand or soft cloth.

August-

1. Maintain consistent irrigation practices.

2. If spider mites continue to be a problem spray with Neem oil targeting the undersurfaces.

3. Do not over fertilize when it is hot as roses do not take up fertilizer under these conditions.

September-

1. Prune back any leggy growth, if weather is starting to cool, the plant will develop larger blooms.

2. Watch for rust if weather becomes too foggy or wet.

October-

1. Apply the last fertilizer of the year You do not want to encourage any new growth in fall or winter.

2. This is a good time to freshen mulch under bushes.

3. remove any weeds and debris

November-

1. Some roses will continue to bloom while others will enter semi dormant stage.

December-

1. Most roses will be dormant when evenings drop to 32* you can start to prune if this is the case.

Pruning Roses

All roses are not equal. All classes of roses should not be pruned in the same way. The old, historic roses such as Albas, Centifolias, Damasks, Gallicas, and Mosses should be pruned soon after their blooms are spent for the season. Most of these once-blooming roses can be cut down by one-fourth to one-third, except for Centifolia and Moss roses.

Centifolias (the old cabbage roses) should be shortened to about six bud-eyes.

Mosses should be shortened by half except for the new growth, shortened to three bud-eyes or so. But if it is a repeat-blooming Moss, prune when the plant is dormant and reduce it by half.

A word about Damasks: remove old growth from the bottom to encourage young shoots. It helps to know one’s roses. Bourbon roses, whether of the recurrent sort or once-blooming sort and once the plant is three years older or more, are to be shortened by a foot. Portland’s, which do rebloom, can be reduced by a fourth.

Most Hybrid Perpetuals are to be cut down by a fourth also, though if the plant is especially vigorous, remove two or three old canes in November. Some Hybrid Perpetuals are more temperamental: ‘Baronne Prevost’, ‘Dr. Andry’, ‘Dupuy Jamain’, ‘Fisher Holmes’, and ‘Monsieur Boncenne’ should all be pruned more lightly, and ‘Duke of Edinburgh’ should be pruned lightly or not at all.

Hybrid Chinas should be pruned down to from six to twelve bud-eyes, but never shorten tall canes of six to twelve feet. Chinas, however, require some pruning when dormant but only lightly to shape the bush. This class of roses tends to build on itself. As for drought-tolerant Tea roses, the perfect roses for the Sacramento Valley, they require very little pruning, just enough to shape the bush and to remove the three D’s. (Damage, Dead, Disease)

DO NOT prune rugosas, spinosissimas, or wichuranas, nor miniatures nor ground cover roses. But do remove any obvious dead wood. Also, do not spray these roses with anything stronger than water.

Roses in pots need a pruning much closer than those in the ground—except for Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Bourbons. Prune these down to two eyes. Keep in mind that roses in pots require more water and nutrients than roses in the ground. In the 1990s several organizations including the Royal National Rose Society of England tested what came to be called the “Easy Care Method” of pruning roses. Simply cut all bushes to half their height, quickly, with either secateurs and loppers or a hedge trimmer. The angle of the cut is ignored as are weak and twiggy growth, which is left on the bush. Water a good long time, drip line is best as water on roses not recommended on the ground

Fertilizing Care

Roses are forgiving. Once the pruning has been completed, toss a tablespoon of Epsom Salts (magnesium sulfate) around the foot of the rose bush. It aids the plant in using nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus and encourages growth of new canes from the crown.

Then spread a three-inch layer of organic mulch or sterilized steer manure around the base of the roses, to within a few inches of the crown (the base of the plant). This covering keeps the soil moist during the dry seasons, reduces weeds, discourages blackspot, and improves the structure of the soil.

In early spring fertilize the roses with a plant food high in nitrogen. Suggested to use fish emulsion or feather meal, but you can make a 32-gallon container of alfalfa tea and pour a gallon or two around the base of each plant. (Add a gallon or somewhat more of alfalfa pellets to 30 gallons of water; allow it to sit for three to five days, stirring it vigorously at least once a day. Some rosarians also add a cup or two of molasses. You’ll need a lid. The smell isn’t pleasant.) Roses in pots should be fertilized every four to six weeks, their access to food and water being limited. Do deadhead the spent flowers to encourage more blooms,

Good Luck with your roses. Send me a picture of babies, I would love to see them!

#roses #flowers