22,151 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
Joe, I'm glad that you're watching for spider mites and know to wash them off if they show up -- that's a real hazard of routine insecticide use. The cheap inorganic fertilizer that's included in the 3 in 1 does not improve your soil; I hope you added compost and an organic mulch this spring.
I understand the various Medics thrive in soil that's low in Nitrogen, so your soil report goes a long way towards explaining this chronic infestation. If left to grow and turned into the soil when they come into flower, well before the seeds set, these helpful 'weeds' will add nitrogen to the soil from those nitrogen-fixing nodules Sam mentioned. For more Nitrogen, you could also add ordinary (green) garden compost and/or alfalfa in some form, as I think (?) others have previously suggested (unless I'm getting your threads mixed up with someone else's - that's quite possible!...)
Looking at the soil report, alfalfa may be a good choice since it's relatively low in Phosphorous, which you apparently have too much of, as well as adding those fantastic natural growth-promoting hormones Jeri has described on another thread. Around here you can buy bales of alfalfa hay which makes an excellent mulch, since it gradually adds the nitrogen and other beneficials as it rots down, while at the same time discouraging further airborne weed seeds from taking root. Getting the nitrogen levels up as per your soil report, by whatever method/s you choose, should naturally discourage the Medic. There are plenty of high Nitrogen organic alternatives, including blood meal (NOT blood and bone though), cottonseed meal and coffee grounds - Google for more ideas and find out which are available locally and affordable or free.
Other Medic-friendly conditions you may need to address are insufficient soil aeration and moisture retention, which could arise through a lower than optimal level of organic matter in the soil. Amending with any solid organic materials will improve the soil's physical STRUCTURE - as distinct from its chemical make-up - making it less hospitable to the Medic as well as being beneficial for your roses in all sorts of ways! (An organic mulch that rots down over time, like the alfalfa hay, would do the same thing, only more slowly.)
I hope this helps. Look, there's rarely if ever just one 'correct' or 'final' solution to gardening problems, so don't expect to be presented with some single, simple magic formula - I may be quite mistaken, but I sort of get the impression that's what you MAY just be hoping for. Please do forgive me if I've misunderstood!
What I'd suggest is, if it makes sense to you, to try the above, see how that goes, then decide on your next step. For example, if you find more Medic seeds that are already buried in the soil start coming up through the mulch next year; you could simply do the same thing again; i.e. turn them into the soil when they come into flower along with any remaining decomposed hay (or whatever) mulch, before applying fresh mulch. However, as always, I'm sure others will have other excellent alternative suggestions, corrections, and additions to my thoughts.
Good luck!
Comtesse :¬)
It looks very nice now, but I really would encourage you to snip off any new buds that come along. There isn't much mass to the rose yet and it really needs to build up a framework of branches. Blooms on a small, struggling rose are going to slow it down since it will spend a lot of its energy on blooming instead of growing.
Walters recipe is about what we've done -- NO epsom salts in our case ... not with OUR water/soil! We have occasionally added kelp. But really, it's the hormones in the alfalfa that do the job. THAT is the power house that drives the growth.
In your situation, maybe try dry alfalfa, well-watered-in?
I did use alfalfa pellets this winter for the first time....a lot actually! People seem to rave about the tea, so I gave it a try! I've had such improvements in all my plants....my peach/orange trees are putting out more blooms than I ever had before...like 3x. I've also been trying to improve the soil...so it's been a multipronged attack!
Thanks for the feedback! I'm trying again with the tea and using much less alfalfa...so far so good!
In the Dallas area, we (Rose Societies, Master Gardeners, Extension agents and horticulturalists from all over) have launched a major campaign to educate people about Rose Rosette. Our main goal at first is to get people (including landscapers and municipalities) to remove the plants that are infecting whole neighborhoods. Scientists are working hard on it, but there is no cure at this time. Removing an infecting cane is very risky. The chances are high that it will return. The disease is caused by a virus spread by the eriophyid mite. The mite can be killed by certain miticides, but only on contact. Unfortunately, they do not stay on the surface of the rose. On a more positive note, the virus is not in the soil. If you remove the roots, you can replant - some say in a week, some say a little longer. Of course, you can re-plant with a non-rose at any time. But, if there are many infected roses in your neighborhood, there is no point in replanting until they are removed. Talk to your neighbors who have infected plants. But, we hope you will not give up. Can you imagine gardens without roses? We can't.
Those deformations are familiar from other roses, but not the one I am curious about, curious to hear what others think
This happens to my roses like 2x a year. I cannot explain what causes them to form this way, but it seems to affect many different varieties and usually around the same time. Some varieties (elegant fairy tale, sugar moon, mr Lincoln)are more prone to it than others. I live in south Fl so cold or frost damage is certainly not the culprit.
I read once that too much alfalfa can cause this to happen, and I think there is a coorolation because one year I used copious amounts of Rose Tone (which contains Alfalfa) and that was the year that I had it the worst. (I no longer use rose tone and I've seen a significant decline). Not to say that Rose Tone is bad, I believe it to be a good product, but I used it in pots and perhaps it was too concentrated.
Have any if you seen a cooralation between using alfalfa meal and phyllody (or near phyllody) like Hoov says?