Basic Rose Care etc

By Phil Ash

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The principles of basic fall rose care are really pretty easy. They include Cleanup, Shapeup, Startup, and Grow! As usual the principles are a snap; it's the details or how-to-do-it that becomes involved and sometimes confusing!

Cleanup means getting rid of some of the growth problems that the rose has created during the summer. You didn't get all the blooms cut off and they went to hips, those round green bulb-like things on the end that will soon start turning a pretty shade of orange-red. They are the seed pods and they gotta go. The mission of the rose plant is to reproduce itself. When it has all the rose hips created, it has done its job and the plant shuts down producing no more blooms. Think of the seed pod as a flower and cut the cane back just the way you'd cut a bloom. You can collect hips, put them in refrigerator for a month, cut them open, take them out, and plant the seeds. But get rid of the hips because they signal your plant to shutdown growth and now is when you want more blooms.

Clean out trash in the center of the plant, which obstructs airflow. It could be dead leaves, broken or dead-brown canes, crossover canes, etc. To reduce spider mite opportunity, strip off the leaves up to about 12" from the ground. It makes it harder for them to get up (but not impossible mind you), so keep any eye out for them! If the underside of the yellowing leaves appears to have salt and pepper sprinkled on it; your magnifying glass will help you spot those ugly tan, brow, green, or clear spider mites. Your summertime feeding and watering has probably produced a great crop of oxalis, thistle, dandelion, etc. So do your weeding. Get roots if possible, but carefully. The feeder roots of the rose are very close to the surface.

Shapeup comes next, and here you literally shape the plant to maximize future growth. Every time you cut a bloom from a rose you are pruning it. Fall pruning involves selecting outward facing buds with thick-enough canes and pruning about 1/4" above. Budeyes are found in the leaf axil just above where the leaflet is joined to the stem. Picking an outward facing budeye helps give the plant an open urn shape so air can blow through. What's thick enough? It's thick enough to support the size bloom or spray you'd like to have. New growth can't be any thicker than where you cut the cane.

Cutting back stimulates new growth. Disbudding is a vital part of shapeup. On HTs and Minis, leave the top or terminal bud and pinch off side buds. The earlier you do this the less scar will be seen. For Floribundas & Shrub roses, you usually pinch off the terminal bud. All of the other buds will then grow at about the same rate producing a spray with the remaining buds in bloom almost simultaneously.

Startup includes fertilizing and watering. Remember to water the day before you feed or spray. Roses aren't too picky and will love whatever fertilizer you give them. You may scatter some dry fertilizer on surface around the plant. Scratch it in gently, and then water it in well. Plant can't use it until it's in liquid solution. Or use one of the blue crystal dissolvable fertilizers. Or try the organics like urea, fish emulsion, kelp, Mills Magic Rose Mix, etc.

Be sure your watering program is adequate. Adequate could be defined in inches or gallons if everyone's soil was the same. It isn't! Roses are not very drought tolerant. As I travel around San Diego, almost without exception, the roses I see are not getting enough water. How much water is a function of the water holding capability of your soil. We have 55 different soil types here in SD County. Water your roses the way you usually do and then take a trowel and dig a small hole and see how far down the water went. Rose roots are usually in the top 12-24" of the soil. That's where the water should be.

As you dig, sniff and smell. A fetid, rotting odor could indicate rotting roots from too much water. Look at the pieces of roots that you dig up. Healthy roots are not dead black, but rather a gray to white. Roses would like to live in a moist environment. Moist is when you stick your finger in the soil and pull it out, your finger is lightly covered with dirt and feels cool in the breeze. Roses would love to be hand-watered. You wash dust, dirt, and insects off the upper leaf surface using your spray wand and then turn it upside down and wash the mites and others off the undersides. There are all kinds of drip or sprinkler watering systems. Make sure yours delivers enough water for your roses where and when they need it.

Grow is when you pamper, push, and care for the day-to-day traumas of the rose. Bugs leave holes, defecate (that clear sticky stuff) on your leaves attracting other pestilence, lay their eggs, suck the juices out of tissue, ruin blooms, etc. Please don't grab the nearest insecticide and spray toxics around willy-nilly! Specifically target your pest. Water can usually do a great job of blasting insects off.

A variety of diseases can attack your plant. Once infected, picking off leaves with powdery mildew (the white dusting on top) or rust (the orange spots or globs on the underside) helps reduce the spread. Bag and trash them, don't compost them. There are a variety of organic kitchen-type mixes (usually thought of as "good") or commercial sprays (all of which are closely regulated by CA, despite which they are frequently thought of as "bad".) You decide the method of attack. Follow the labels very carefully. More is NOT better. Always water 24 hours in advance of spraying or feeding your roses. There is less spray drift first thing in the morning and sprays can frequently dry before the sun damage can occur.

Clean them up, shape up the plants, give them the startup energy and push, grow them well and start cutting the gorgeous blooms that will appear, and that's Basic Fall Rose Care.

This article was originally published in Rose Ramblings, Vol. LXXIV No. 8, September, 2001. © 2001 San Diego Rose Society, Inc.