interesting. maybe I'm nuts, but sometimes the only predator I can see near a nibbled upon bud, is an ant. Hmmm.

I guess my theory that debudding roses in the heat of the summer might be incorrect...my thought was less stress to the plant, but that might encourage growth...while I am really intending to help give the plant a break. Sounds like leaving the flowers to wither to confetti is the best way to encourage dormancy...dah derr!! :) Thanks for the article!

You're welcome. No, you're not nuts. The sap flowing from the wounded plant is the same sap aphids and other insects suck out. It is high in sugars and ants harvest it as they harvest the aphids' honeydew. Kim

Hi Kim: Sounds like going with nature is the best way, as ilovemyroses well-put-it. Thanks for the article, I always wonder if ants are good for plants.

Going with nature is also the best way in breaking up hardened clay. This morning I dug up clumps of perennial Calendula (pot marigold), to make new holes for transplanted peonies. The Calendula's roots are aggressive and broke up the clay in advance for me.

Lavender_Lassie once suggested planting cover-crop to break up clay. I don't have room for fields of oats, alfalfa, and hairy vetch, but Calendula sown from seeds did the job. Another deep-root perennial is sunflower. Planting cover crop is an easy way to provide "greens" for the soil, and break up hardened clay with their roots.

I learn my lesson of NOT going against nature by putting stuff in the planting hole. Last year I had many planting holes : some made fluffy by mixing clay with horse manure (has straw and wood chips), others made fluffy with peat moss and alfalfa meal, one with coarse sand mixed in, the last with decomposed leaves and grass clippings.

This year I dug up those holes: all the holes were hardened like rocks (calcified by my alkaline water and gluey clay), EXCEPT for the holes with coarse sand and organic matter (leaves & grass clippings). The hole with organic matter retains water the best. Deciduous leaves work best in moisture retention versus pine needles are very dry. I wonder if ants break up heavy clay when they dig holes in the soil?

Here's a link to use cover crop to break up hardened clay: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0105524529848.html

Hi Strawberryhill, you've been missed! I don't think ants are good for roses, except when they harvest termite eggs which might have infested an old, woody rose stump. Otherwise, they farm aphids, moving them from one place on the plant to another to protect them as well as protecting them from predatory insects. They loosen the soil around the roots of the plant, which, I guess COULD be good if your drainage is awful, but usually, it's too much in too small a space, resulting in water stress for the plant. I view them as a symptom of other problems.

If there are overhanging branches over the roses where sucking insects have colonized the undersides of the overhanging foliage, the ants will be all over the plants below, collecting the sugar water "honey dew". If you have aphids on your roses, they'll be there doing the same thing. If you were growing Peonies, you'd need the ants to collect the sugar water sap they secrete in the blooms so they'll open properly, but on your roses and most other garden plants, they are there because there is something to eat. That something is usually honey dew from some sucking insects you probably don't want there in the first place. Kim

ilovemyroses

I allow my roses to bloom during the summer heat ... mid-90s to low 100s. I do deadhead and let the rose decide if it wants to go into summer dormancy and not bloom or to continue blooming. I stop deadheading and feeding the roses about the first week of October to allow them to harden off for winter.

However, my roses have been disbudded for about 8 weeks to prevent rose curculios from breeding in my garden prior to the summer heat. A side benefit is that the plant has a lot of energy to bloom going into the summer.

The exception is when I am "pushing" a rose. For example, I had a one-cane-wonder that I did not allow to bloom all last season. This year, it's put up new basals .. finally.

Smiles,
Lyn

NOOOOO, Strawbs, not sunflowers! They will literally suck the life out of your soil. I kid you not, sunflowers are aggressive feeders with deep roots - after a crop of them, the soil is useless. They do have great utility in phyto-remediation as those same roots will also 'clean' the ground of heavy metals and various toxins - they are currently growing them around Fukushima and Chernobyl. After the plants have grown, they are harvested and destroyed. I, along with many others, have planted rows out on my allotment, only to wonder why the following years crops in the same beds were so abysmal. The calendulas are good though (which is just as well since if you sow them once, they are there forever).

Thank you, Suzy, for the info. Someone in the Soil Forum suggested that BLASTED sunflower to break up clay, luckily I didn't try it. I grew sunflower once, it's very aggressive and the root is very deep - so I dislike it every since.

Yes, Calendula did a good job breaking up clay when I dug them up. They are clustered roots, which according to Wikipedia, secrets acid in the soil. In another study, sulfuric acid plus limestones becomes gypsum, which conditions clay soil.

All my efforts in breaking up clay soil like rototilling peat moss, horse manure (with straw and woodchips) ... have been futile. Clay becomes harden and glue together AGAIN with time. Calenluda has done a much better job, cheaper and easier in breaking up clay for me. I sow their seeds in future rose beds in advance, let them grow, then kill them. Their decaying roots condition my clay soil well.