Is this what my rose bush should look like?

9 years ago

KO rose planted last June, very small. Got somewhat bigger over the summer (maybe 18-24")

I did not prune it at all because I read not to for the first two years.

Now it is almost mid May here in Mich and it mostly has leaves on the bottom half and and top half the canes are brown and bare.

Should I just leave it or lop off the brown canes down to where the greener part starts? If I do this, the plant will probably only be about 10" tall!

For the record, it has been a cold spring and is just now starting to warm up.

PS: The lush one behind it was just bought and planted.

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Comments (7)

User
9 years ago
Cut it down to the leafy parts.
User
9 years ago
Yes, you should cut the brown cane off. You can cut more if you want a more rounded, even look. Fertilize it after you are done (but probably not the newly-planted one, at least if you use chemcial fertilizer). Knockouts are tough, tough roses, and yours won't be bothered if you pruned "wrong".
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stir_fryi SE Mich
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks.

Should I wait until the first bloom cycle to fertilize or do it now?
mzstitch
9 years ago
Fertilize this rose now, but wait to fertilize your new rose until after it's first bloom cycle. Personally I only fertilize my new roses at half strength the first year. I'm not sure why they tell you not to prune your knock out the first two years, likely just to let it grow to a larger size faster. It looks like your rose just suffered a bit from a cold winter, so cut back to green wood just above a leaf bud. Don't worry a bit about how short you are making it, Knockouts are fast growers.
seil zone 6b MI
9 years ago
You need to take off all the dead cane from this horrible winter. Don't worry about it being only 10" tall. I have several that are shorter than that but have new growth coming from the bottom. It looks like your KO is coming back from the bottom quite well so it should be fine. It will probably put that two feet of cane back on pretty quickly if the weather stays warm here. You can feed it any balanced fertilizer or organics you wish.

As for the new rose, you can give any kind of organics. You just want to be careful with chemical fertilizers that you don't burn the new roots. Give it a chance to get well established before putting stronger fertilizers on it. It looks lovely. What rose is it?
stir_fryi SE Mich
Original Author
9 years ago
seil -- it is a doubel ko rose bought at Costco for $15. They had a ton of them and they were all good size.

I neglected to mention that we dug up and moved that sad little rose over a foot to better space the new one. I just hope I didn't kill it. That would be a whole waste of a year.

I am going to trim it, fertilize, and hope for the best!
User
9 years ago
You did not kill it. It is tough to kill a knockout. I initially hated mine, and subject them to various abuses (e.g., move in the middle of summer, worst garden real estate). They just hang tough and were barely bothered. Now, I have new appreciation for them and enjoy them a lot more. Other than a little winter kill, yours look fine.