How to revitalize old roses

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  Geranium wrote:

  First, you need to find out if they are antique roses – the sort that flower only once a year in the springtime. If they are antique roses then you don’t want to cut them back until they have finished flowering.
  If they are the sort of rose that flower through the year then you can cut them back hard (I am assuming that they are not climbing roses). Give them a handful of potassium sulphate per plant (about 150gm), this helps to strengthen the cell walls of the leaves so that they do not suffer from black spot etc. And give them plenty of nutrients in the form of blood and bone or any manure cow, sheep or horse. That is a start.

  Posted on 02 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)

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  Planting Oaks wrote:

  You can definetly prune them back hard, but since many roses are grafted, you don’t want to go too far, lest you cut off all the ornamental bit, and get left with the rootstock.

  6" of cane sticking up from the soil is a good standard. If there are a lot of canes, cut some of them out all the way so they aren’t rubbing against one another.

  In my opinion, the best time to prune is while they’re at the height of their bloom, since then you get all those flowers to bring into the house, and are completely sure they haven’t set next years blooms yet.

  If you don’t mind missing a year’s bloom, you can cut them back any time from now until they leaf out in spring and it won’t hurt them, but since many old roses set their flower buds mid-summer and bloom on the old wood, you’ll be cutting the buds off if you prune much after they finish flowering.

  If your roses bloom all summer, you can prune whenever your darn please and they’ll still flower for you the next year.

  Posted on 02 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)

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  Geranium wrote:

  Hi Sabine
  I forget to say when you prune those roses you will need to burn all the parts you have removed and also clean up all the fallen leaves under the plant. Please donot put anything on the compost. It is important to remove all the leaves with rust spores so that there are no spores left to reinfect the plant. The best way to strengthen the plant is to work with the soil to improve the nutrients available. I use seaweed foliar sprays as well as the manures. I garden organically and this seems to work OK. The plant is definitely stressed if there is a rust infection. Does it get enough sunlight? Enough water?

  Posted on 03 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)

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  7thswan wrote: Well if they are tall and only flower on the ends they could be climbers. If they, are bend them over,they will get shoots from leaf axis. Feed and prune yor Roses and they will be Healthy enough to fend off disease.So if need be in the fall if all is done prune them to about 6". Mulch them and in the Spring feed them and add compost-they love it.

  Posted on 07 Oct 08 (about 1 months ago)

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