Return to the Roses Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Overwintered Roses throwing shoots--to prune, or not to prune?
| | |
Posted by etherealsunshine 5a (My Page) on Tue, Feb 9, 10 at 13:03
| I planted my first rose last year, a white iceberg climber. It had good growth and I carefully wrapped it for the winter and tied it to its trellis.
However, I wanted red climbers elsewhere in the yard and purchased two smallish Dublin Bays late in the summer. I transplanted them to gallon pots and left them outside until late October, when I gave them a good watering and pulled them into the unheated garage.
Due to their small size (1/4" stems and about 8-9" tall), I didn't trust leaving them outdoors through a cold Illinois winter. The stems have stayed pliable and the leaves eventually dried and dropped, so I believe they have had a short dormancy, but now they both have green shoots coming out of the tops--and there's 6 inches of snow on the ground!!
I imagine I should've covered them loosely with some black plastic to minimize light getting to them from the garage door window and perhaps a cooler place in the garage (closer to the garage doors or outer wall) to keep their temps a little lower.
I'm happy that they've survived, but my question is: should I prune off the new growth to try to keep them dormant for another month or two? Should I bring them upstairs to some good light and start their spring a little early indoors and encourage the new growth?
I've read of others who have found shoots on their overwintered roses and have pruned them off. I'd like to get a good first year on these roses. They are both own-root (a little insurance against future harsh winters).
I'm also a bit confused about when to unwrap my established Iceberg and plant these Dublins. Should I wait until danger of frost has passed (sometimes mid-May) OR unwrap/plant a bit early and cover plants on frosty nights?
Help!! I want to get these babies established and maybe see some blooms this year :)
Much thanks in advance!!
Sunshine |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Overwintered Roses throwing shoots--to prune, or not to prune
| | |
I'm just glad you did NOT cover your roses in black plastic bags, that may of caused fungus problems.
I'm sure someone from zone 5a will answer your questions. |
RE: Overwintered Roses throwing shoots--to prune, or not to prune
| | |
| I thought the garbage bags were maybe asking for disaster, too, although I would've made sure they had enough air circulating--the black plastic being for light protection only. I think I'm going to bring them upstairs and start their season early. I took a look at them this morning and the new shoots seem surprisingly robust and are twice the size they were last week. I did give the boyfriend a frown last month, as his four or five attempts at getting the garage organized this winter usually began with heating up the garage, then turning the heater off after a few hours after he loses motivation. I told him he's waking up my poor roses out of dormancy and confusing them! I think that was part of the problem, so there may be no getting them back into an effective dormancy at this point after they've spent so much energy on the premature shoots. Any more suggestions would be welcomed. If I don't hear any better ideas, the roses will be growing upstairs by the weekend... |
RE: Overwintered Roses throwing shoots--to prune, or not to prune
| | |
| Seeing as how it is already mid-February, they're probably best off where they are until you can begin to move them outdoors during the day and slide them back inside if the nights get very cold (20 F. or lower.) Once a rose breaks dormancy, you're not going to get them to stop, only slow them down a little by keeping them cool. The reason I say this rather than encourage you to "bring them upstairs to some good light and start their spring a little early indoors" is that what is "good light" to you and good light to your roses are probably two very different things. Unless you have floor to ceiling glass with a favorable exposure you are going to have to supplement with artificial light, such as a florescent fixture just above the plants for 18 hours a day. And then in that dry indoor warmth there will be spider mites, aphids and other issues to contend with, believe me. Keeping a rose healthy indoors is not an easy task as many here can tell you from experience. Oh, we northern rose fanatics may dare to take on the challenge; yet seldom does it yield the results we hope for, but instead a lot more work than we bargained for! |
RE: Overwintered Roses throwing shoots--to prune, or not to prune
| | |
I was thinking about supplementing the natural light with grow light, but it just so happens that we have two sliding-glass doors--one with Southern exposure and the other on the Southwest corner facing West.
I did bring them up over the weekend and did notice (aack!!)that my temporary spot for them had a heat vent blowing on them. I moved them away from the direct, dry heat and placed them over some shallow pans of water to hopefully keep their immediate surroundings humid enough for their liking.
I'm crossing my fingers that they'll make it to spring without too much trouble. They need to grow big to survive next winter outside! Thanks for the input :)
Sunshine |
|
|
|
|
