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displacedclevelander_gw

Freddie Mercury: tired and sad

Got Freddie Mercury (left) and Fragrant Keepsake (on the right) from Heirloom this past April. Freddie is not doing so hot and I am not sure why.

Same potting soil as Fragrant Keepsake (manure, compost, a few handfuls of local clay-ish dirt). Also placed in the same sunny spot and watered the same amount. Not sure why Freddie is so sad and so tired.

Every other day I check for aphids-- today I found about 30 on his little itty bitty cane and (of course) squashed them on sight.

Not sure if this means anything but I noticed today when I watered him, he leaked this dark brown murky water.

Help!

Comments (9)

  • minflick
    10 years ago

    Re the murky brown leaking water - I get that in fresh pottings where I put manure in it, but possibly did not reduce all the large lumps to small bits that get well mixed in. It goes away after enough waterings. Only the animals appear to really care! The plants (mine...) have never suffered from that - and I've had that water leak out that way on 24+ pots. Roses, lilies, trees, etc. They're all fine.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    10 years ago

    It might be happier in the ground.

    Oh Mamma Mia Mamma Mia Mamma Mia let me grow! To paraphrase the original Freddie. :)

    This post was edited by hoovb on Tue, Jun 11, 13 at 10:50

  • SoFL Rose z10
    10 years ago

    Too much water! There's time to save it!
    Check the root ball and see if its mushy and wet. The soil may be too rich and not be providing enough drainage and aeration. Roses don't like wet feet and if its been raining a lot or you've been watering her a lot, this might be the problem. Get her some good crumbly sandy soil and mix it in with your compost manuer/clay dirt. Or some mulch type soil with lots of big clumps to help aerate the soil. I killed a few roses this way so I think this may be whats going on with your rose. The brown murky run off is a good indicator that the soil is too rich.

  • jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
    10 years ago

    I live in zone 5/6 and I just put my Heirloom bands into ground when they come...
    Unless you keeping them in pots then you will need
    to put the sickly guy into a different type of potting soil.

    Planted this guy into ground in mid May...

    {{gwi:298716}}

    This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Jun 11, 13 at 13:20

  • seil zone 6b MI
    10 years ago

    The Fragrant Keepsake doesn't look bad at all. Looks like some good new growth on the top. But Freddie does look sad. I think you either need to repot him in some other kind of potting soil or get him in the ground. Don't feed him anything now until he starts to grow too.

  • SoFL Rose z10
    10 years ago

    Oh yeah,
    Seil makes a very valid point. Don't fertilize or give him anything until he shapes up. A large dose of fertilizer can very well do him in at the moment.

  • DisplacedClevelander
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks so much for all of the help, my beloved rosie friends!

    @ seil: Yes, added Fragrant Keepsake to the photo so you all could compare the contrast to Freddie.

    No fertilizing... Hmm... So I broke that rule when I put them in the larger sized pots. Attached a picture of what I used.. And I used this only because it said it wouldn't burn the baby roots (photo attached).

    Hopefully I didn't make things worse.

    @ jim1961 & dsd2682: I will take dsd2682's lesson learned and remove some of the manure/compost out and replace it with a more mulch-y consistency to help aerate it. Then this weekend (when I have time) I will rehome him in the earth. And hopefully Freddie will soon resemble jim1961's little Heirloom baby.

    Glad to know that there is still hope for Freddie as I was (am) really liking the concept of paying homage to him via a lovely rose.

  • susan4952
    10 years ago

    Freddie Mercury has a rose??? Like your middle rose. A bicolor?

  • jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
    10 years ago

    Freddie Mercury... Of Queen??? Cool!
    If so maybe someday we will see a bi-color KISS rose from the KISS Army...lol

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