21,400 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

I love these kind of accidents. I imagine you have more survival success in your climate.
Something similar happened to me. I was moving so I planted my roses in styrofoam coolers. When I was ready to move 2 years later I tried to lift the pot I fell back on my backside.
The determination of these roses were the coolers were on a cement patio but the roots had traveled out of the pot through the Fall leaves on the patio and found their way to the ground beside the patio. That soil area had a mini-pond so I guess the fertile soil in that area also made a perfect well feed environment.
Because of that incident and because I have survival issues due too my extreme climate I grow my roses in styrofoam coolers for the first 2 years before I plant them in the garden. The styrofoam seems to give them the insulation needed to get a good root system and they are a stronger plant when placed in the garden.

Soap takes 24 hours to kill--probably longer when the weather is cool and moist. It does work on rose slugs, but of course you have to reach them on the underside of leaves. That is about the same amount of trouble as flipping the leaves and smushing the worms.
Do an image search for rose slugs to see what kind of damage they cause. Young ones just scrape off the lower cuticle of the leaf, leaving translucent white windows, angular in shape. Larger ones eat all the way through and can skeletonize the leaf.

Thanks so much, Michael. I have mostly tiny ones. But there are definitely some bigger ones munching too. I tried my best to get to the underside of leaves with soap, smushing as I went too. I don't mind a little damage, it's part of the process after all. But on the other hand, I want to prevent bigger problems later on in the summer too -- and grow a healthy, good looking rose. I'm glad to know that it just takes a bit of time for the soap to do its thing. In the past, I've been pretty much hands off with any treatment of the roses - just developing their soil. Most do fine but look a little raggedy in late summer. And now that I'm trying to grow some of the older roses, I want to give them the best treatment I can :)


Is this a real window box, hanging below a window or is it on the ground? If it's hanging I think you'd have to stay with minis, and small ones at that. If it's on the ground a full size rose should be OK. But even then I think you'd have to keep it on the small side because of the size of the box. The problem is knowing how big something is going to get in your climate. You should probably check with a local rose society to see what they would suggest for your area.


It really does remind me of a sunrise as it opens. The pale apricot margins and the deeper, warmer center. It's gorgeous. Buck shrub. Waiting on other Buck's and Comtesse du Cayla to be near each other.
It's new so I don't know much about performance. but I'm a bit obsessed with it.
Susan


2,4-D is very dangerous stuff. It shouldn't be on the market at all. Here's a little of the info from Beyond Pesticides:
'Beyond Pesticides fully supports the cancellation of this dangerous pesticide which has been associated with a host of adverse human impacts, such as non-HodgkinâÂÂs lymphoma, endocrine disruption, reproductive and developmental effects, as well as water contamination and toxicity to aquatic organisms. The highly toxic chemical can be replaced by cost-competitive and effective management practices widely used in organic agriculture and lawn care. '
Here is a link that might be useful: Beyond Pesticides

This is good news!
The Houston Garden Center has a rose garden, and the gardener sprays every other week with insecticidal soap and the roses have no chili thrips. This was reported by someone in the Houston Rose Society, which sees systemic insecticides as the only treatment....

I find them glued in place by their mammas on the house window frames, tree branches, rose canes and even on the concrete retaining wall. You could use some Elmer's Glue and stick them to a tree branch where they'd be protected from being washed off by the hose or sprinklers as well as long periods of intense, direct, hot sun. You could try straight pins stuck through the bottom edge of the casing, being careful not to pierce any of the egg sacks, to pin it to a wooden stake in the garden or to a woody branch or limb.
The baby mantids do crawl all over, just like the adults do. They are excellent hunters, so I wouldn't worry about them "flying away". Kim

I've used Ornamec in my rose beds, and it worked well without affecting the roses. It only works on unwanted grass though, not broadleaf weeds. It is sold as Grass be Gone in stores. And it's the only thing that worked on the bermuda grass that grew under a 2 foot wide walkway into my rose bed.


Thank you for all the responses! I moved the seedlings. Unlike roses, sunflowers are almost effortless to grow and they're popping up in mulched areas all over the yard. We had record heat last summer and are in severe drought, so I plan to use sunflowers as shade plants wherever I can.





If you pinch them out when they are about the size of a chocolate chip or smaller, you can just use your finger tips, but acissors works just as well. You want them removed asap, before the plant has put a lot of energy into forming them.
Boy, you can certainly tell that you've been at this a long time....I thought about doing this, but it breaks my heart to think of denying myself the pleasure of seeing another beaut!!!
ak