Grow Better and Healthy Roses

There are two very important factors when planting roses to make sure you give them the best chance to thrive – firstly, make sure your roses are in the right growing conditions and secondly, plant them properly. Once you’ve got that right you will have a very good chance to be rewarded with beautiful blooms and healthy plants.

With a bit of care and attention, you can encourage your roses to flower all summer long. Support them, feed and water them regularly, remove spent flowers and watch out for signs of pests and diseases.

Below are our top 10 tips to healthy roses, read on and find out how to make your rose bush the best in town…

1. Plant your roses in full morning sunlight – be sure that they never have less than four hours sunlight on them each day or you will notice reduced flowering.
2. Never grow roses in areas with a cold draught or in waterlogged ground.
3. Enrich your soil with organic matter, such as weed free compost, Banana peels or well-rotted manure and bone meal. This will give them the best chance to thrive.
4. Before planting a rose bush, prune back all the branches to about 15cm in length to concentrate the plant’s energies on producing a strong root system. Ensure to seal the open wounds with pruning seal or tree seal to prevent infections.
5. Most roses prefer well-drained, neutral soil, and flower best on fertile, clay soil.
6. Roses are greedy feeders, so for best results plant them in rich soil, mulch annually with compost, seaweed or manure, and feed in spring and summer with a feed containing potash and magnesium, for better blooms, or a good quality commercial rose fertiliser. Banana peels is another excellent food source as they provide many nutrients for roses. To start, they provide potassium, which can help the plant's overall immune system, thereby helping the rose fight off any damage that can come from severe weather conditions such as humidity or disease.
7. If you spot the first signs of black spot or rust, then make sure you treat it right away with Chronos and by removing diseased foliage and burning it. Prevent mildew by ensuring unrestricted air flow around the foliage and watering regularly, directing your hose or watering can at the base of the plants, especially right after planting and in dry spell. Keep in mind that though warm and humid summers, even disease-resistant varieties like Icebergs can be affected. Rake up and remove fallen leaves to reduce the risk of reinfection.
8. Common garden pest, such as spider mites, aphids and slugs to mention only a few, can make holes in rose leaves, distort foliage, destroy flower buds, and suck the life out of your rose bush. Keep an eye out for these critters and apply a rose protector pesticide as soon as possible as they can easily get out of control.
9. Deadhead your rose bushes regularly to encourage more flowers to grow, leaving late blooms to form hips.
10. Pruning is essential for flowering, but varies depending on type, so ensure that you check what your rose bush will require when you buy.