22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
I have a big bone to pick with soil tests when they tell you the "soil type" of your soil in a residential setting. A few years back I lived on the eastern side of my state & now I live on the western side of my state. At both locations I tested my soils & received a report that said I had "loam" with very similar compositions. Yet when I dug fence post holes at each location I found 2 extremely different soils. My eastern garden had sticky red clay starting 12' down & that lawn had terrible poor drainage problems in low areas after a rainy spell, sometimes standing water for several days. Post holes in my western garden revealed pure sand at 12" & deeper. No matter how hard it rains here, I & the neighbors never have standing water 30 minutes after the rain stops. The reason for this is that most homes have truck loads of black loam hauled in so your house can have a nice lawn. This is frequently the soil that home owners are testing for their gardens. I strongly encourage you to dig some deeper holes to determine what's underneath the top 4-8" of your lawn. These deeper soils will have an impact on water, organic & nutrient holding capacities and your pH.
Hi wirosarian_z4b_WI,
I removed the top several inches of soil so the sample I sent to the lab was from 4-8 inches deep.
When I bought my condo new in 1972, the flower bed (in the common-area) was 25 feet long by 2 feet wide (50 square feet). Over the years, I've expanded the flower bed into the common-area lawn so the flower bed is now 25 feet long by 18 feet wide (almost 400 square feet).
The condo board said it's OK that the expanded garden is in the common-area but I'm responsible for maintaining the garden (i.e., prune and fertilize the shrubs, weed the garden, etc). The watering is still done by the common-area sprinklers.
I am in the Inland Empire (CA), very, very hot summers! I have a 9 foot patio pergola I would like to train it up. I found the rose available @ RRR and they state it will grow 8-10 feet. I think this might work! Thanks for the inspiration!
I agree with Diane. If the plant is growing already bare rooting it will send it into terrible shock it might not be able to recover from. When it's dormant it doesn't need all the roots to keep it fed and watered so you can go ahead and bare root it and it should be fine.
It's hard to get a good rootball unless you are transplanting from a pot. Therefore, if roses are leafed out, it's a good idea to remove foliage in proportion to the fine roots that are disturbed or lost--maybe half or two thirds. Since not much water is lost from canes, and canes have stored plant energy, I think it's better to prune moderately and then pick off leaves rather than prune the canes very severely. I pick them off from the top down because new growth will come from the upper rather than lower canes. If the rose wilts, shade it with a lawn chair for a while.
At times, I have lost the rootball entirely and transplanted bare root after removing all the foliage. It worked OK. However, it's preferable to transplant during dormancy.
With really large rose plants, bare-rooting is really the only option.
I used to grind up the pellets in my blender, but it got to be too much. Just soak them in water and then they will soften and you can mix in with the potting soil. Just don't add too much or get it too close to the canes. Eve with the meal, it can tend to clump together and you may have to break it up.
I tried this for years with inconclusive results. I used to mix in a cup of alfalfa pellets in every seven gallon pot. To answer Jim's question, as you water your potted roses, the pellets dissolve rather quickly. If you were to dig through the pot after a few weeks you would find pockets of dissolved alfalfa. The problem I found was that it tended to create pockets where things just rotted, and that didn't help the roots. I think that what ever beneficial chemical reaction occurs with the use of alfalfa, it must take place during the fermentation process. Unfortunately, the fermentation process is not good for plants.
For basal breaks I would also try diluting SolPoMag/Epson Salts.
Have you pruned off the dead canes above the green yet? Do that if you haven't. Sometimes pruning will stimulate them. After that you just have to wait. I know that's hard, lol, but it really hasn't been all that warm yet and some roses just need a really good extended period of time of warm weather to jump start them. Snowfire and Pope John Paul II were both always slow to start in the spring and wouldn't budge until it was well into the 70s for some time.
I planted TA here at our home in Central Pa last year but it did not do to well...
I'm going update my thread I started last year on how it does this year... I will spray greencure on its leaves this year if it starts showing signs of PM because it got bad last year. BUT it will NOT get sprayed with anything for BS besides when sprayed with greencure for the PM if needed...
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1652600/thomas-affleck?n=36
I had one and it did well. It was a deer casualty. The only roses that survived the deer were climbers and taller OG roses that were planted on a steep slope. I plan to go to the Celebration of Old roses in El Cerrito in May. They may not even have one, but I am sure I can find something that works.
One problem might be the shortness of the bloom period. Some very warm springs, mine had blooms that came and went in under five days. (Don't blink.)
Then we were in Maine, and someone brought in a Mme Hardy bloom that had had cool temperatures as it grew. It was huge. She said hers bloomed for a month.
I grew it once, but warm springs tempered my enthusiasm.
Disneyland
I do have several Buck roses and I love them. They have nice bushy growth habits and good repeat bloom. My favorite is Quietness and it's relatively healthy, very hardy and blooms all the time. I just think it needs to be pointed out that, as you said, they're not all created equal. Iobelle is a gorgeous rare Buck HT. It was a BS magnet and not very hardy to boot!
Others I have or had are Rural Rhythm, spotty and a wimpy grower, and Country Music, another spot magnet and poor grower. On the other hand Winter Sunset grows quite well and rarely spots for me. You just never know. Try Dakota Song out and see for yourself how it does. Then let us know because it's gorgeous!
ruthz, all of my roses are in pots because our terrible black clay ground.
I placed an order with Chamblees to be picked up at a later date. I had planned on waiting to choose roses while we were at the nursery. The spring flush is several weeks late this year so we will be visiting the gardens later than we planned. It usually is the second week in April but they are saying the end of April or maybe the first of May for a good flush so we won't be at Chamblees until May and I was afraid they'd be selling out of things.
Then of course I might just find something else while I am there!
I hope that westerners will be able to modify it (or use part of their solution such as the use of coir) for home use.
http://blogs.usda.gov/2015/04/10/in-the-west-preparing-for-uncertain-water-supply/
Spider mites were repelled and poisoned by alcohol extracts of spider plant, common stinging nettle, and chili pepper (each separately) when rose leaves were dipped in the solution. Cleome was most effective.
Note: it doesn't mean that growing the plants alongside roses will control spider mites on roses.
Hello, thank you. :)
I hope it does do better for you than it does for me, Seil.
Hmm, interesting Beth. Your blooms are much better looking than mine... That does give me some hope. The edge of the petals seem to curve out while mine stay cupped in, even in full sun. Maybe I just need to give it another year.
No, I was asking how to reproduce the concentration using measuring spoons from the kitchen.
From their data it appears that one has to be very careful not to add too much of the 2 chemicals. This link contains a Molar solution concentration calculator:
http://www.physiologyweb.com/calculators/molar_solution_concentration_calculator.html