In part one, I went into detail about how I at RS Gardening Services would go about planting a clients rose.
Here in part 2, I will tell you how to care for roses through the spring to the winter.
How to Care for your roses in spring
Spring is when the season starts to get busy .with the first shoots appearing on roses.
If these shoots are left to grow they will make the Rose look very unsightly indeed.
Plus the fact that:-
- (a) The branches will rub against each other and cause cancerous growth.
- (b) The center will be overcrowded and thus stop the vital air flow to the plant.
Leading to an infection of Black Spot and other pathogens to infect the plant. - (c) Cause of a large number of branches your roses will only produce small flowers instead of large one.
- (d) And finally, it weakens the stability of rose itself as it becomes top-heavy
So pruning them right down is essential if you want good healthy roses.
How to prune your roses
When Pruning roses its essential you use a good quality secateurs
I prefer the Bypass ones as they cut cleanly than the others that seem to me anyway to squeeze the stems.
Sharp ones don’t snag the stem and leave a scraggy end.
Should the stem be too thick to cut with these use the same bypass Loppers to and a good tree saw for larger trunks
I always carry these tools with me cause I never know when ill be needing them
There are three things that you should be aware off when pruning rose
- There are three different types of roses, that need to be pruned differently:-
- The floribunda like the name suggests “floribunda” is Latin for Flora-Flowers & bunda – many ie many flowers.
These flowers are small but are very vibrant and only need to prune very lightly ie I usually prune these to three buds from the top just to keep the shape as they can become untidy
This picture is an exception here the rose has been pruned not quite hard back but just about the size to get these blooms
Remember the harder you prune the less number of flowers you will make.
A process of trial and error is always at play when you prune these roses. If its too short this year try pruning it a bit higher up next year or visa versa
-
(2) Standards
When pruning standards the first thing is to think of is its shape.
so like the floribunda, a very light pruning is needed to keep it symmetry if its a bush type
With other standards you have to think do I want more or little flowers on the bush. In case of My clients its always bigger and better blooms so a hard pruning like the other varieties are needed.
For normal roses, I prune them quite hard down to two or three out facing buds from the bottom or even down to one out facing bud if its old wood.
The basic rule for pruning is to keep to the what I call the 3ds
- Cut out any dead
- Diseased
- Dying branches first
- Then concentrate on the branches that are
- Inward pointing to the center of the bush to improve ventilation
- Always cut with a slant – as the diagram shows bellow this helps water to run off and not rot the shoots
Don’t be afraid to prune them quite hard they can withstand any harsh treatment
Mulching
Now that you have pruned your roses they will need a good solid feed to keep them healthy. This is done by a well-decomposed compost around the base of the of the roses. ( I prefer this way as I have experienced in my trials of different products that some fertilizers have a high content of nitrogen which can produce sappy growth.
on the other hand, too much organic matter can lock in nitrates. so a careful balance is needed.
More details can be found on the following blog on mulches .
If the clients got any handy I prefer to use green waste from the recycle places since they don’t carry any weeds.
But if all that fails normal organic matter from there compost heap mixed with a special blend of J bowers fish blood and bone fertilizer or Vitax Q
When applying a mulch always leave a gap around the stem so you can water around the base of the plant
Autumnal Rose Care
Their Show might be over but like one rosarian ounce said
If you give your roses some care during autumn, they will get safely through the winter, coming back healthy, vigorous and full of flowers next year.
So here is how IDogardening4U looks after your roses
Firstly
- I will dead them ( Sometimes leaving the hips on depending on the clients choice ) So that though they have finished flowering the hips will add that splash of colour to what could be a dull wet day
Secondly
- I will pick off all the dead, diseased foliage on the plant and around the base of plants as it can be splashed back on to the plant when it rains
Thirdly
- I will prune out all the dead, diseased and dying stems on the bushes with a clean cut secateurs
Four
Due to the heavy winds, we get in August to March it is advisable to do a light prune of large leggy branches that will get knocked about.
This may or not leave your hips intact
Five
Finally Ill will thin out the heads of crowns on your standard roses as the wind will in case cause them damage
Winter Pruning
The only purpose for winter pruning is to reduce the wind rock on the rose and remove any dead, diseased and dying branches.
So ideally the rose should be only cut down by half to outward facing bud.
And with anything else, all branches should be burnt in an incinerator to avoid recontamination of the soil. AS its this time of year when the weather damp that Black Spot spores begin to spread
I hope you found this of good use and informative in part 3 Ill will look into Pest and Disease control of Roses .
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