| Spring rose care will help get your roses off to a | | | | the live growth. |
| more enjoyable blooming season. Modern roses | | | | On all roses, remove diseased, dead and broken |
| are the longest blooming of all shrubs. Many | | | | canes. A cane that has blackened from winterkill, |
| varieties start flowering in mid-late spring, with | | | | or suffered physical damage, should be shortened |
| recurrent bloom cycles through late fall. Unless | | | | to an inch below the offending section. |
| you are looking to grow absolutely perfect | | | | Where possible, cut on a 45 degree angle. |
| blossoms for competitive exhibition, roses actually | | | | Once-blooming (as opposed to recurrent-blooming) |
| require much less work than you may usually | | | | roses require no further pruning in the spring. |
| read about. Carefully chosen varieties of shrub | | | | These are primarily antique roses and |
| roses will - with no summer spraying - yield a full | | | | old-fashioned ramblers. Do whatever additional |
| season's bounty of blooms. | | | | pruning necessary after blooming in early July. |
| Spring Rose Care - Timing | | | | Reduce hybrid tea roses to 4-5 vigorous canes |
| Spring rose care should be accomplished after | | | | not shorter than 30 inches. Grandifloras should be |
| winterkill (if any) has become apparent, but | | | | reduced to 5-6 canes not shorter than 36 inches. |
| before the new leaves unfurl. There are several | | | | Reduce floribundas to 7 to 8 canes not shorter |
| ways to figure this. I've found it is most | | | | than 24 inches. In general, try to achieve a |
| successful to work on the roses just as the | | | | vase-shaped plant for most roses in these |
| Forsythia starts to bloom, rather than slavishly | | | | categories. |
| following the calendar. | | | | Especially on hybrid teas and grandifloras, cut 1/4 |
| Spring Rose Care - Feeding | | | | inch above an outward facing bud. Cut so the 45 |
| If you hilled-up your roses with mulch last fall, the | | | | degree angle allows water to drain away from, |
| first thing you need to do is to tear down the | | | | rather than into the bud. |
| mulch mounds and spread it around the roses so | | | | Mini roses, shrub roses, rugosa roses and repeat |
| that the total mulch depth never exceeds 1 | | | | blooming antique roses just need a haircut, |
| ½ inches. If you have more, remove the | | | | trimming them to size. |
| top layer. The first spring rose care fertilization | | | | Treat English roses and romantica roses as |
| consists of four different products, a handful of | | | | grandifloras. |
| each should be sprinkled around the plant in a | | | | Trim modern climbing roses and pillar roses to |
| circle, about 12-18 inches out from the stem: | | | | shape. Aged canes should be removed, as should |
| Espoma Rose-Tone®, Espoma Kelp Meal®, | | | | those that grow away from the support or |
| Espoma Epson Plus and Greensand (Five additional | | | | criss-cross awkwardly. Massive rejuvenation |
| feedings, a month apart, consist of just one | | | | pruning is best postponed until early July and done, |
| handful of Rose-Tone®--nothing else Never | | | | if at all, every 3 to 5 years. |
| feed after September 1st; late feeding | | | | To prevent cane borer, put a dab of Nubark(TM) |
| encourages late emergence of tender growth, | | | | Rose Stick on the cut wound of any cut branch |
| which will be winterkilled). Use 1/3 to 1/2 as much | | | | greater than pencil thickness. |
| of all products, at all times, on miniature roses. | | | | To discourage diseases and insects, rake up and |
| Spring Rose Care - Pruning | | | | discard all pruned material, including leaves, with |
| Pruning is usually considered to be the most | | | | the trash. |
| time-consuming of all rose care tasks. Recently, a | | | | Spring Rose Care - Spraying |
| research study compared 2 beds of the same | | | | On roses that have been troubled by fungus |
| Floribunda roses. One bed was hand pruned by | | | | diseases a spray of lime sulphur during spring rose |
| skilled rose growers. The other was pruned with a | | | | care will kill the over-wintered spores of blackspot |
| combination of a power hedge trimmer and a | | | | and mildew. Mixing the lime sulphur with |
| lawn mower raised up on huge wheels. | | | | horticultural oil will control a broader range of |
| Throughout the season, the two groups were | | | | pests. To achieve full effectiveness from the oil, |
| compared for flower production. Guess which plot | | | | this spray must be applied on a day when it is not |
| did the best. Hint: it wasn't the hand pruned plot. | | | | going to freeze the following night. Spray the |
| Carefully chosen roses are much tougher and | | | | roses to the dripping point and spray all the |
| more forgiving then most people realize. | | | | surrounding mulch. This spray must be applied |
| At any rate, spring rose care pruning is not | | | | when the roses are still dormant--before they |
| difficult if you keep the following points in mind: | | | | start to leaf out. During the next few days, top |
| You will need five good tools: sharp by-pass | | | | dress with enough mulch so that total coverage is |
| pruners, by-pass loppers, small pruning saw, elbow | | | | 2 to 2 ½ inches. As roses leaf out, |
| length (gauntlet) leather or rubber/plastic | | | | occasionally they are troubled by green aphids on |
| impregnated gloves, and safety goggles. | | | | the tips. These are easily controlled with |
| Over-pruning roses in spring tends to weaken the | | | | insecticidal soap. |
| plant. Never prune away more than one-third of | | | | |