It's on my Red Eden that I just pruned the first flush off of a couple weeks ago. It's got some top growth coming out but I was shocked when I noticed this. I hope it's not a mutant!

Not from what I can tell from your photos. It appears to be a plant which has received all it needs to push growth everywhere. I've seen similarly here in really good, mild spring where we've received that illusive phenomenon called "rain". Something we've really not had in quite a while. Kim

Well thank you, sir.
I thought it was the Alfalfa tea every 5 weeks, but I do give them a really deep watering every week, so you must be on to something....
I have all my potted roses in the same soil and keep them on the same routine. They all get a few shoots here and there, but this thing is full throttle.
I sure hope the majority aren't blind shoots and I can get some more of those awesome blooms. I was also concerned it might be suckering off the root stock, but the new red leaves are the same shade/shape/texture as the new top growth...so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm so new to this that I almost stay paranoid!

This post was edited by racin_rose on Mon, Jul 22, 13 at 21:55

Alfalfa has a growth hormone in it which is distilled for use in greenhouse culture. You've probably given a good shot of hormones. Even if it's all blind growth, the plant is going to grow what it needs. That's not necessarily what YOU think it needs, nor what you want from it. "Blind growth" is a term we created to describe canes full of foliage which don't flower. The plant probably calls it "extra food production capacity". EVERY green leaf adds nutrients to the entire plant, whether that leaf is on a flowering shoot or not. Red Eden is a climber. Climbers require a pile of foliage to put on the explosion of flowers you want from them. If, as was determined in floral research back in the 70s or 80s, the average florist rose required 35 perfect leaves to generate one perfect flower, imagine how many perfect leaves your Red Eden is going to require to generate all the blooms you want from it. Does that get you respecting "blind shoots" a bit more? Kim

Fair point well made!
I do leave as much foliage as I can on all my plants for that reason, but you definitely put it in perspective. I didn't know about that research.
The reason I pruned it into a shrub for now is because I bought it from a nursery that had just let it go, and it was all uneven with one huge, stiff cane that was taller than the others, and a bunch of oddly-angled, but too-stiff-to-train canes sticking out. I thought if I could encourage some new growth that would be easier to bend then I could grow it on an obelisk...or be happy with it as a shrub if that's what it would rather be.
Thank you for sharing what you know!

You're welcome! I hope it helps and your rose becomes what you want it to be. Good luck! Kim

You rose looks great. Mine love alfalfa, too! Along with other zillion things I do for them.
Lol

This just reiterates what I mentioned on the post about James Galway. Roses like lots of water. I'm not discounting the alfalfa tea but even that wouldn't have this sort of effect in my drought-stricken garden. All the watering I do doesn't seem to penetrate very far into the hard-baked soil underneath. It's almost enough to make me want to give up growing roses, with water becoming such a scarce and expensive commodity here.

Ingrid

Wow! That is one happy healthy rose! We've had above average rainfall this season and I've gotten more basal growth than I've had in years so I would have to agree about water being key.