Nickjoseph, this is the first time I am trying rose collars and mulch. I did mine yesterday because in a day or two, the temps are going to be in the 20’s. I’m in zone 6 though. In my humble opinion, which is a newbie opinion just FYI, is that you should be fine. Wood Mulch drains pretty well so I personally am not worried about it - so that’s my humble 2 cents :)

NJ,

My experience has been that the less moisture retentive the mulch used, the better. A soggy mulch, like using just plain garden soil in your collar, can be setting the roses up for cane rot over winter.

I use pine bark about the size of domino pieces (the table game, dominos, not pieces of Domino's pizza!), with great success.

One year I mulched my minis with maple leaves. The mulch got soggy, packed down, and by spring most of my minis were black, dead as doornails. Ouch! I learned the hard way.

Moses

I wrap my roses with burlap. At first I used to fill it with cedar mulch, but sometimes the mulch would get moldy, so I stopped doing that.

Last winter I lost one rose, a tea rose that was being zone pushed (not a HT), out of over 200 roses.

This year I spent more time removing bad canes at the beginning of winter. I don't recommend this for beginners, as you can easily damage the good canes when taking out the bad. Or transferring canker via the pruners. But, in theory, getting rid of diseased canes as soon as possible should reduce the spread of disease.

According to an old ARS Annual, canker needs temperatures above 46 degrees. Which means it spreads in our climate during the thaws and is inactive during the freezes.

Zack,

I've been wanting to grow a tea rose or two, but nixed the plan because of winter hardiness issues.

I see from your response above, that you have grown a tea(s). Are there any well behaved, extra hardy ones you can recommend, ones I could give a try in my garden? Winter protection would be of provided, of course.

Thank you!

Moses

I will be putting my collars around today since we could get snow over night, and it will be in the teens next week.

NJ,

Sounds good!

Moses

No suggestions on teas--I was too busy taking care of a wife with ALS and working a full time job--it was a surprise to see that almost all the roses survived.

For those of you using the collar and mulch technique, how much mulch are you adding? I think mine is too high, so the rest of you only add a couple inches?

6 - 8 inches. 12 inch circle.

kali_c, I've used the collars for about 25 years now. I use all the existing mulch that is applied in the Spring/Summer & fill each collar. I typically fill each collar at least 1/2 full, maybe a little more than 1/2 full.

Thank you all!! My self-made collars are about 10-12 inches tall, and i have about 6-8 inches mulch.

How tall are your collars nickjoseph?

I'd have to go outside & measure, but guessing I'd say around 12" tall. Sounds like you have enough mulch in them. You don't want to cover the bush with mulch. I think the most important is insulating the base of the bush.

Thanks you :) just wanted to make sure I wasn’t putting too much