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dawnbc

Standard Rose bush

19 years ago

I inherited a standard rose when I moved here last summer. Poor thing was almost dead but I revived it and it looked great until we got hit with that late blast of winter this spring. All the branches on one side died. It's loaded with buds but they're too heavy so the poor thing is half naked and drooping. If I cut the remaining branches off close to the graft, what are the chances of it coming back healthy?

If that's too drastic, is there some way to make it produce buds on the naked side?

Comments (5)

  • 19 years ago

    If it were me I would tie it up to supports, remove dead canes, and wait until winter to do any pruning as it will need to rebuild strength and will need the leaves that are present to do that. I wouldn't be able to resist seeing it bloom, either. Some new growth should fill in the dead areas.

  • 19 years ago

    Like said above, support whatever is there now.You may remove flowers sorry ( will support by itself if you do so)No flowers this year would be preferable.Did you feed the rose with rose food? Leaves is what plant needs( photosynthesis.)I would not prune at all this fall only remove dead canes.Prune spring time.Good luck to you.

  • 19 years ago

    I just got my first standard. 'Angel Face' I've never had one before, do you dead-head just like a regular bush? It has a very nice shape. I've just been kind of winging it. Good luck with yours dawn8B.

  • 19 years ago

    I would expect any tree rose to need support. I've seen the occasional one without supports but you're taking a chance. All it takes is one good gust of wind and the trunk snaps. Mine are supported by short lengths of rebar, just enough to drive into the ground a couple feet and then run all the way up the trunk to the branches, one on either side, perpendicular to the prevailing wind. In my case the wind comes from the southwest so the rebar are on the northwest and southeast sides. (Except in Dec. windstorm we were being hit from the southeast but the supports still worked.) The rebar is at least 8" from the trunk, and the trunk tied loosely with green stretchy tape in three different places - base, middle and near the top graft.

    Like a bush rose, it may resprout from the bare side of the top graft but it needs to regather strength first so leave what's there on - those leaves are the food factories. Fertilize and water like any other rose bush.

    I've experimented in the past with bush roses to get new canes from the graft by peeling off any loose bark (don't dig) and applying a paste of rooting hormone powder. Can't say how much of a difference it made. Mainly you just need good cultural care - fertilizer, sun, water. Lots of people swear by epsom salt but a very little goes a very long ways, and it's no substitute for good culture. I'm talking a tablespoon or two a year, not the 1 or 2 cups some people do. More than enough is not better than enough.

    BTW, the only time I have ever seen anyone kill a rose by pruning too hard, was someone who pruned his tree rose back to the top graft. Poor thing never resprouted.

    I don't know where you are, but I always wrap my tree roses in winter. Pipe insulation sleeve on the trunk, and bubble wrap around the top graft.

    They're a bit more work in some ways than bush roses, but tree roses are so beautiful, and the flowers are at nose height, and they get a lot less blackspot than their bush counterparts so they're worth the little bit of extra care they need, in my opinion.

  • 19 years ago

    Rose standards are grafted in two or more spots on both sides of the trunk. If one of those grafts has died, you will get a lopsided tree, and the only way to really correct it is to regraft onto the 'dead' side.

    Prune everything dead. Get yourself a razor blade and make a T cut into the bare side of the trunk - inspect the cut to make sure the trunk is viable and healthy (it will be green and not brown). Then graft a bud from your top growth into the T and bind it up with rubber bands. You might want to google for some pics and more involved instructions for grafting, it sounds hard but it's really quite easy.