Rose care involves a lot of work & care during the year. Many gardeners shy away from growing roses because of this, but with a little know-how & practice anyone can grow perfect roses year after year. Having the right growing conditions is the first hurdle and if you don’t get this right before planting you will be fighting a loosing battles for years. Roses need to important things: Sun & fertile soil.
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- Roses aphids
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- Powdery Mildew
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- Black Spot
Choose a sunny spot for your roses and ensure the soil is of a good quality. The soil must be free draining – this means that it should never water log and after a spell of rain the soil should hold some water but not be soft under foot. The soil must be fertile – however, if the soil fertility is low you can and should add well rotted farm yard manure. Adding manure improves the soils fertility for one year & improves the soils drainage & increases soil activity. Each year you should mulch around the base of your roses with more well rotted farm yard manure
After planting there is a number of important thing to know about and one of them is spraying. You should spray your roses every summer and on a regular basis. Spraying roses control pests & diseases including:
- Aphids
- Mildew
- Mites
- Rusts
- Black spot
All the above are common pests & diseases of roses & if you don’t spray you are sure to encounter one or al of the above. Start spraying in April and continue to spray throughout the summer. Spray on 4 week intervals and spray early in the morning. When spraying ensure to get full coverage over the plant hitting all foliage both top & under side of leaves
The most common product on the market is Rose Clear & Rose Clear Ultra – both these products will kill & control all the pest & disease above. But we would recommend that you alternate between chemicals on a year by year basis and there are other chemical options available:
- Westland Rose Rescue
- Neudorff Pyrol Bug & Larvae Killer
- Bayer Garden ‘Top Rose’
- Bayer Garden Multi Rose Complete