Infomedia Live:Caring For Roses in Spring

/ tags Feeding Roses, garden, Gardening Tips, Infomedia.live, Rose, Rose Care, Spring Care

Growing roses is not as difficult as we’ve been lead to believe. Roses will keep growing and blooming even if gardeners neglect them entirely. But they do benefit from some TLC, and the efforts you make in caring for your roses in the early spring will mean that many fewer problems to tend to during the growing season.

Remove Winter Rose Protection

The first thing you’ll want to do for your roses in the spring is to remove any winter rose protection you did last fall. Rake off any soil or mulch you used to protect the graft union and rake up and remove any debris or leaves you used to insulate the bushes for winter.

Read: How To Plant, Grow & Care For Tulips

Spring Pruning of Roses

Not all types of roses need to be pruned, other than for clean-up and size control, but if you are going to prune your roses, early spring is a perfect time. Pruning before the leaf buds open causes the rose bush to put its full energy into new growth.

Whatever type of rose you are pruning, early spring is the ideal time. Of course, early spring is different in different areas.

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Warm Climate Rose Care

Spring pruning in warm climates can start in January. Gardeners in areas that don’t necessarily freeze during the winter but still have a prolonged period of cold weather can prune according to the type of rose they are growing.
Roses grown in areas with warm winters, like Florida and Southern California, don’t necessarily need to be pruned at all. But doing some thinning is advisable and always remove any dead or diseased wood.
Another technique that gardeners in these areas can try is to remove all the leaves from their rose bushes when they do their spring pruning. This fools the rose into a brief period of dormancy and lets it start fresh for the season. It’s also a good way to ensure you get rid of lingering diseases and insect eggs. Be sure to rake and remove all debris from the rose bed.

Cold Climate Rose Care

Roses grown in areas that get freezing winter temperatures should not be pruned until about April, or the canes could suffer more winter damage. Once the leaf buds begin to swell on the bush, it is safe to prune. This usually happens about the time the Forsythia starts to bloom.

Feeding Roses in Spring

As with most plants, roses enjoy a good feeding in the spring, when they are actively growing and need the nutrition. You can give them their first feeding at pruning time. There are several good all-purpose rose foods that you can use, but a general all-purpose fertilizer will also suffice. Slow release fertilizers will need to be applied less frequently than water-soluble fertilizers.

Many rose gardeners also like to give their roses a handful (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.) of Epsom salts at feeding time. Whether the extra dose of magnesium really benefits the plants has never been proven, but many experienced gardeners swear by it.

If you prefer to mix your own rose food, members of the Rose Society share several of their own recipes.

For established rose bushes, balance ingredients such as:

1 cup Cottonseed Meal
1 cup Bone Meal or Superphosphate
1/2 cup Blood Meal
1/4 cup Epsom Salts

Spread the mixture around the perimeter of the rose bush, at the drip line, and gently scratch it into the soil. Water thoroughly.

Spraying to Prevent Rose Diseases

The one point where roses tend to live up to their troublesome reputations is their proclivity for fungus diseases. Hopefully, you’ve chosen roses that are disease resistant and suited to your area. But a preventative spraying in the spring is something to be considered, even for roses grown organically. Lime sulfur is a good choice for spring spraying. It will generally kill any fungus spores of black spot or whatever, that may have over-wintered. An additional spray of horticultural oil will help to smother any insect eggs and larva.

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These spring rose care efforts should get your roses off to a good, healthy start for the season. Other than the above steps, make sure your roses get plenty of water and monitor them regularly for signs of problems. They should reward you all season for the care you took in the spring.

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