http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=14857&context=rtd

Download this PDF for an excellent explanation. Pruning will not stimulate buds. Go to page 55 especially paying attention to page 57 and soil nitrate. Now the question is how to increase the carbohydrate stores.

Normally that is done through sunlight. However you could just try a well-rounded fertilizer or one low in nitrogen. I'm sure straw will have some suggestions there! Also instead of pruning which has not really been proven to help you might just try nipping out the terminal bud and see what that does is it may encourage growth further down. When I look at yours it's almost as if they are becoming indeterminate.

Vaporvac: thank you so much for sharing this info. Hmmm... “indeterminate”... I need to Google to find out exactly what this means... 🤣
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I will try nipping out the terminal bud and see how the plant responds. I’ll report back and let you know if it’s successful.

LOL! If you've ever grown tomatoes you would know what that means! LOL!OR a true rambler. They just keep growing and growing. Yes that is exactly What might help thing about the terminal bud. Let's see it happens then. You are in California so I'm assuming It's getting enough sunlight to build it carbohydrate stores.

There are 2 low-nitrogen SOLUBLE formula on Amazon. The first one is Flower Fuel NPK 1-34-32 at $20 for 1/2 lb. Perfect formula with 2% acidic sulfur, except it doesn't list copper. The 2nd one is MasterBlend 4-18-38 with much higher trace elements (including copper), at $25 for 5 lb. I would choose Masterblend 4-18-38 and use it with SOLUBLE gypsum. Sweet M has zillions of firm petals and it needs ungodly amount of SOLUBLE calcium as in gypsum (calcium sulfate). I used soluble gypsum to fix my alkaline tap water at pH 9. When I planted Sweet M, I used at least 10 cups of acidic gypsum for the planting hole to break up my rock-hard clay.

Master Blend 4-18-38 soluble fertilizer with trace elements

Below is a pic. of copper deficiency in rose leaves (crinkled leaves), which would result in no blooms. Boron deficiency also result in no blooms, but that's more twisted & swirly leaves like witches' broom.

COPPER DEFICIENCY IN ROSE:

Have you fertilized or added amendments?

StrawChicago: thank you SO MUCH for your insightful and detailed response. My sweet mademoiselle is grafted. I’m guiding Dr. Huey? How would I be able to find out what it’s grafted on? I bought it at a local nursery in Southern California. It’s still in its 5 gallon pot and sitting on top of soil, in my test garden area... where I observe the roses and how they behave before deciding on a permanent spot in the ground for them. All the other roses in the test garden are thriving... and blooming... all except Sweet Mademoiselle. It gets late afternoon shade... and plenty of morning and early afternoon sun. Your Sweet mademoiselle is amazing with all those buds. I’m hoping mine will live up to its full potential.

Grafted-on-Dr.Huey has fat trunk and 2 to 3 times taller than own-root. My Sweet M. was less than 1 foot with tiny trunk as 1st-year own-root. It shot up to 4 feet tall in 2nd year.

Grafted-on-Dr.Huey can grow its own-root above if planted deep 4 to 6 inch. below ground. High-rain climate with excellent drainage can have own-roots growing above Dr.Huey for better blooming.

I had 6 Knock-outs: 3 planted at least 8 inch. below ground (I piled tons of soil on top). These 3 lost Dr.Huey completely and grew their own-roots after 15 years. 2nd best blooming power.

One Knock-out was planted next to a tree, dry spot and it never grow its own-root. It declined in blooms as the rootstock aged.

Another Knock-out was planted next to a patio and it grew its own-root above Dr.Huey ..this one was vigorous & bloomed lots for 15 years. It took me 1 1/2 hour to kill its roots, but the own-root was just a few short roots, 1/50 the size of existing Dr.Huey. I never water the bush so it could be better. Planting deep helps with the vigor of Dr.Huey-rootstock, and watering & fluffy soil helps with developing own-root above. I hang out in Facebook Fragrant Garden/rose group, and Pakistan rosarians in hot & dry climate plant their roses deep like our cold-zoners, that's to develop own-root above Dr.Huey-rootstock.

I think I see powdery mildew on the foliage in your photos? The crinkling foliage that is associated with powdery mildew is commonly seen with an outbreak of PM.

Cool nights accompanied by hot days with rainless, dry weather encourages PM outbreaks.

Moses

StrawChicago: based on what you’re telling me I’m almost certain that sweet mademoiselle is grafted on Dr. Huey. The base is thick, and when I purchased it, it was very full, green and bushy and already 2 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide in a 5 gallon pot.
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After bringing it home, it grew another one and a half feet of blind shoots before I resorted to googling for the solution to blind shoots. That’s where I got the idea to lightly prune off the blind shoots. Thank goodness there’s this forum with people like you to help guide me towards a real solution. I’ll definitely try to repot it and plant it deeper.
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Question 1: should pinch off the tip of the tip of blind shoots?
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Question 2: Will you please share the link to the Facebook group you’re a part of? I tried searching for it... but couldn’t find it.
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I started an Organic Rose Gardening Group on Facebook, and would love you have you join us in there if you’re interested. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/833891250531041/?ref=share

StrawChicago: I will definitely start planting my roses deeper. I may try to repot this one in a larger pot and see how it does.
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Moses: Thank you for spotting the powdery mildew. I’ll take a closer look at it today.

@strawchicago z5 Ann-SoCal seems to have sort of read my mind-I was recently wondering if you had a blog or something. As I think I've mentioned before, being rather disorganized and impulsive and non-scientific by nature, I have trouble following the stuff you post here on the forums, plus the fact that a subject mutates in the natural course of a forum thread makes it even more confusing, but maybe it would be easier for a person like me if I could just read about your experiments in some more "condensed" context? I DO find them interesting and thought -provoking...

Bart: google StrawChicago and HMF, then click on Member Profile to see my profile in HMF where I list the topics and the links in Organic Rose forum. I can't give you the link here since HMF-set-up prevents me from giving my own profile link.

My HMF profile condenses the info., such as:

Over-fertilization: wilting, leaves curl down.
Too acidic: leaves curl up & thinner, and blackspots, crisp burn on tips.
Too alkaline: Pale, leaves twisted (boron def) or crinkled (copper def).
Potassium def: zero blooms, balling, thin & weak stems, and blackspots.
Calcium def: less petals, stunt growth & tip die-back & pale and small upper leaves
Nitrogen def: small leaves & pale LOWEST leaves
Sulfur def: entire plant is pale & stunt growth
Iron def: pale UPPER leaves with greener veins

Ann: I checked out your link to Organic Rose gardening in Facebook. Yours is a great link for folks with questions about diseases & pests.

I have known Khalid in Pakistan since 2012 when we first posted in English rose forum. That group closed, so he posted in Houzz Organic Rose forum with me, then he started his own group in Facebook in 2014 and his group Fragrant Gardens now have 2.0K members. His name in Facebook is HQ-Gilani. Lots of hot climate posters there, and roses that thrive above 100 F are also cold-hardy in my zone 5a.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1412992132360557

As to pruning off blind-shoots, I went out to check on my Sweet M., and the shortest branch which bears a bud is 6 inch. So it's OK to prune off 6 inch blind-shoots, since that will be replaced by bud-shoot once the stem gets enough phosphorus & trace elements like zinc & copper & boron (most lacking in too alkaline condition).

StrawChicago... thank so much for alway being so AMAZING with your through and insightful responses. I’ve learned so much from reading what you share.

Ditto what Ann says!

Ann - wondering how your SM turned out? Mine is own root in its 2nd year. Hardly any blooms, but huge, won’t open. Rose Story farm near me was getting rid of theirs b/c blooms wouldn’t open. Our may gray hasn’t even started yet, and already battling PM. I think she has to go. Maybe to someone more inland w dry heat.

Hi Deborah, I was getting worried about you. Hope you're fine as is your garden (except for SM who isn't sweet, apparently). Diane

Thanks, Diane. Now I'm wondering where YOU are and hoping you're fine.

Update on SM: Sent it to my sister who is zone 8 or 9 in dry inland area. I had started a cutting of SM, and now wonder if I should just hold on to it and see if I grow it in a different spot I get a different result...