What do roses need to be healthy?

[woodstock]

thats a place I would love to go to bushart gardens.......

I have three knock out roses and they are doing great......totally carefree except cutting the dead roses off of them...

ok I have a question....my neighbor had a rose bush for yrs.....this year it got these long branches on them but no roses......she cut it back and fertilized them......it did the same thing.....got these long branches about 6 feet high and no roses, just leaves.....Ive never seen anything like this before???? did anyone have that happen to them......

 

[RonsGarden]

When that happens it usually means the graft died!
The stock takes over and produces the long canes which will bloom the following year! The stock plant is a hardy wild rose.
The flowers are small and usually form in clusters along the top 1/3 of the canes. Their color is normally either white or light pink.
They are usually highly fragrant and bloom in May/June.

 

[woodstock]

interesting Ron......so they take a wild rose and graft another rose onto it....thats the little bump at the bottom base?? so she should have some wild roses next yr....I cannot wait to see what happens......

 

[RonsGarden]

All the energy goes into the graft, if the graft dies then all the energy goes into producing buds below the graft and the stock reverts back to it's wild heritage!
They use wild stock in order to produce endless number of specific hybrid roses! You only need to produce one cultivar then graft buds onto the stock! That goes for all the hybrid apples, peaches, pears and so on! You can create millions of identical roses and trees quickly rather then trying to start them from cuttings. Also the stock plants used are very hardy so can extend the range where the roses and fruit trees can be grown!
That's a bit of botany 101!!!

 

[Crabbergirl]

Wild roses can be beautiful in their own right. Usually unruly and need to be trellised or tied. I had a white on and a pink one and they grew on a chain link fence. Everyone thought they were beautiful.

 

[Trax]

Hi! I'm back!
Avacodo trees are grown using stock too.

Well, after 2 unbelievably hot summers, my roses are still alive! They don't look as healthy since we had water rationing and way too much sun but they're still okay and the yellow tea rose is even flowering!
Here's some pics I took today.

The Lavender tea rose. Some leaves burned up but most of the leaves are still healthy and when it blooms, the flowers have a really strong perfume smell.

Z009 by Trax, on Flickr

The Yellow tea rose and a bloom!

Z005 by Trax, on Flickr

Z008 by Trax, on Flickr

And the Red-Orange tea rose. I don't remember the actual names of these 3 rose bushes but they are long stem, ever-bearing tea roses that were bought from Gurney's.

Z006 by Trax, on Flickr

All the rose bushes bloomed a lot till the heat wave started. They'll prolly start blooming again after it ends.
Btw, what is a "knock out" rose?

 

[Wombat]

Geez considering the heatwave you've had they look pretty good! Will you get a repeat flowering in the Autumn?

 

[Trax]

@ Wombat. Yeah! Even after the heat wave last summer they started blooming again and kept blooming till almost Christmas! I'll post some pics when they do.

 

[Wombat]

Wow that's great they must be tough little buggers! They do prefer a dry heat rather than the high humidity I have here, but I try lol!

 

[Trax]

Cool! I'll be watching for pics of your roses too, this summer! Well, I mean when it's summer in Australia, lol.

 

[Trax]

I was looking at the last shots I took of my roses and omg! They're prolly 4 times that size now! I haven't been adding any fertilizers. The only thing I did differently was adding the bone meal and epsom salt every spring. It totally is epic food for roses!
I'll post up some shots when I get some time.

 

[lynpenny]

Hey Trax we have missed seeing you around. can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[Trax]

Hey Trax we have missed seeing you around. can't wait to see the pictures.

Thanks! My PC died and it took $1,300 and 2 months to get it fixed. I coulda got it fixed for $1,000 but I wanted a new monitor too and it was still gonna take 2 months to save up that much $ anyway. I added another $300 and got a tablet so if anything happens to my PC, I can still get online with that now.

Okay. My roses are looking awesome now but I read that people trim their bushes in the spring. Is that to make them look better or does it help them grow? Also, I've been using a really toxic fungicide for spots on the leaves. Is there a natural fungicide I can use?

 

[lynpenny]

I always trimmed the dead ends off from winter kill when I lived in Kansas but I don't trim my roses here unless it is to be able to mow near them. They like to reach out to me and bite me while I'm mowing.

 

[Trax]

LOL! Roses just like to reach out and bite period! :O There's not much winter kill on mine cause it was too warm but I think I'll trim them anyway. This is my first win since I started growing them and I don't want anything to go wrong. The bushes are almost as tall as me!

 

[lynpenny]

Since I moved to Austin I've not had any winter kill either. Let me know if you find a cure for black spot. I have tons of trouble with that one.

 

[RonsGarden]

If there are fruit trees around like apples, pears or plums you will never get rid of black spot on your roses. All you can do is try to control the fungi by removing the infected leaves and dispose of them.
Use a water solution with baking soda and a few drops of dish soap, and spray all parts of the rose bushes.
Keep the soil area around the roses clean and use fresh mulch each year, after removing the old mulch!
Copper sulphate works well, but it is toxic!
Spray in the early morning when there is no wind, or air movement! The spray should dry before the heat of the day.
Keep your pruning tools clean, and sterilized! Use a solution of bleach and water.

 

[Scarez]

Good morning everyone!
I never realized I needed to sterilize my pruners before but wow it sure makes sense!
Thanks. I prune my roses back 1/3 of their height in the late fall and once again in early
spring. So far they are happy campers. I can't get rid of blackspot either, and that
baking soda remedy just leaves white spots of dried powder. Sheesh. Any other ideas
around?

 

[Randy]

We have some rose bushes here but they aren't my responsibility. I have watered them when they were dry, but they get abused a lot.

 

[Trax]

Sterilize tools and water, baking soda, and dish soap. Got it! Gotta go help mow the yard but I'll look up that toxic stuff I was using on the roses when I get back. It works great but I don't like using so many toxic chemicals. Btw, there's no fruit trees where the roses are.