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Shrub Rose 'Best Practices' Care - Keeping it basic

17 years ago

So I want to get into a "basic" routine for shrub rose care.

What does everyone do here? Maybe I am missing something.

Late Fall / Early Winter

- Mound mulch around crown and under canes after several freezes or as soon as the ground freezes

Late Winter / Early Spring

- Pull back excess mulch. Cut out dead canes (no buds). Prune canes back to about 1/3 to the ground.

Early Spring

- Fertilize with a balanced shrub fertilizer. I use a slow release granular Shultz product, 16-10-10.

Summer / Early Fall

- Deadhead and prune to side shoots as necessary

1st Question:

Do you automatically apply a systemic all-in-one insect, diesease and fertiler? If so how often and which product?

2nd Question:

If you don't apply a systemic all-in-one, how often do you fertilize and which product do you use?

3rd Question:

If you watch for insect activity and notice them on your plants what do you do? Mainly regarding mites and aphids.

Comments (5)

  • 17 years ago

    Step 1: buy plants that like where you live.

    Step 2: plant in ground.

    Step 3: walk away.

    You can get into various fertilizing and pruning routines, but then you are getting into technicalities. Anything past throwing some fertilizer on them in the spring, and cutting out dead wood is 'fussing'.

  • 17 years ago

    I have over 250 roses, including hybrid teas and shrubs. Some of own root, some are grafted. Since we're in the same zone, you should start your winter protection by planting grafted roses 4-6" deep to protect the graft from winter dieback. I plant ownroot roses about 2" deep.

    Fertilizing...I use an organic product called 'ROSETONE', and I apply monthly starting in April and end in August. It's granular and easy to apply. It builds up the soil plus feeds the plant. Great stuff and the roses love it.
    I don't use a systemic because it kills insects...it's non-selective, which means it also kills bees and all beneficials. If you apply a systemic, it kills the beneficials, which eat the bad bugs.

    Aphids can be washed away with a blast of water. I'm lucky that I don't have a problem here with them. Rose slugs are a big problem though...those can be squished and picked off or you can use insecticidal soap.

    Pruning...I just mainly deadhead spent blossoms and dead wood from the shrubs.

    I put down truckloads of hardwood mulch in all my beds to keep weeds down, soil moist, and help with winter protection.

    Lastly, I spray with 'Bayer Advanced' fungicide on a weekly basis, and use this time to inspect all my roses for any problems, diseases, or other problems arising such as RRD.

    Anyway, this is what works for me in my garden. Hope it helps you a little.
    -terry

  • 17 years ago

    Terry, you have a good plan. A little clarification though on planting.
    You said;
    "planting grafted roses 4-6" deep to protect the graft from winter dieback. I plant ownroot roses about 2" deep."

    The graft should be planted 4-6 inches below the soil surface. Own roots roses should be planted 2 inches deeper than they were in the pot.

    whaas;
    Like Terry I don't spray insecticides and haven't for the past 7 years. Because of that I've a great balance of nature. Predatory insects and birds will not come until they have something to eat. This means you'll have some insect damage. I live with any damage, including Japanese beetle. I turn a blind eye to it. Because I have so many birds and predatory insects, damaging insects soon disappear.
    Remember too, the young of butterflies are caterpillars, which eat foliage. If you kill the caterpillars you'll have few butterflies. Plant an area with butterfly bushes and other nectar rich plants to encourage their presence.
    Provide other shrubs and evergreens for nesting and hiding places for the birds. They eat a lot of insects and feed them to their young.
    Organic fungicides seldom work and any that do fail when disease pressures get too great.
    Purchase hardy disease resistant roses. There are many of them and they bloom as much or more than the hybrid teas.
    I have 400 bushes and none require anything more than leaves blown at their base for winter protection.
    Don't fret winter dieback. In our zone it'll happen no matter what you do. Just prune it off in spring and the bushes will recover and bloom in late May/early June like they always do.
    I follow mad_gallica's method but I water frequently and keep the weeds down. It works and I have flowers all season.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rosenut's zone 5 rose care website

  • 17 years ago

    The Bayer All-in-One soil-drench product is a really terrible idea. It contains cheap NPK fertilizer with the wrong balance (too little nitrogen proportionally). It is tedious to apply if you have more than a few roses. You are applying very large amounts of fungicide and insecticide to the soil in hopes of getting a small amount into the plant. Neither chemical is fully effective this way as opposed to a spray application. The Merit insecticide is proven to encourage spider mites, one of the worst rose pests.

    If your roses are susceptible to blackspot, either replace them with resistant kinds or spray every two weeks with Bayer Disease Control for Roses etc. or one of the products containing propiconazole.

    Aphids-- wipe or wash them off occasionally during the month or so they are present in force.

    Mites-- stop using Merit. If necessary, blast the underside of the lower leaves occasionally with a hard spray of water. However, in humid areas, mites are usually not a problem if you avoid using insecticides like Merit or Sevin.

  • 17 years ago

    Shrubs cover an enormous range, from things like Austins to Flower Carpet to species crosses or species hybrids that resent pruning, like Hybrid Spinosissimas. Pruning all shrub roses by 1/3 of what's left after a Zone 5 winter is unwise. Don't prune just cuz. Some shrubs will take your 1/3 pruning. Some shrubs want entire canes removed rather than shortened. Some shrubs want to feel the steel and be cut down to 4 inches. Some shrubs want only dead wood removed. Even if you follow the 1/3 pruning, please take care to remove the oldest wood before you do the 1/3 shortening. Otherwise, you end up with ever aging canes, as you treat old and older wood the same as newer canes.