Proper spring rose care involves pruning, fertilizing, weed prevention, and starting a preventative spray program.

Pruning: Pruning should be done when the daytime temperatures are regularly above freezing. A good rule of thumb is to prune when you see the Forsythia blooming - around the last week of February.

Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, and Grandifloras - Prune away dead, diseased, old, brown or black canes. Prune canes to about 24 inches or back to the green area below the brown or black winter kill - whichever is less. This will encourage new canes to grow from the graft at the base of the plant.

Climbers - For Climbers, remove about a third of the main climbing canes at the base each year - pick the gray and browning older ones. Remove any winter kill from the end of the canes by pruning them back to the green area below the brown or black winter kill.



Shrubs - Leave them alone for the first few years unless you see any dead or diseased canes or unless canes are growing into adjacent bushes. Then, cut back one-third of the oldest canes to the graft to encourage new canes. Prune the rest of the canes on the shrub to improve its shape.

Once Blooming Old Garden Roses - Do not prune these until they have bloomed in the spring as they only bloom on wood that is at least a year old. Pruning before blooming will severely cut back on the number of flowers you get. After blooming, prune as you would a shrub rose.

 

Fertilizing: Here’s a subject that has filled chapters in rose books. Once again, it’s a topic that can be boiled down to four basic rules. 1. Feed the soil. While supplying nutrients to the bush is important, feeding the bacteria in the soil that breaks down fertilizer into a form that your roses can consume is equally important. Be sure to give your roses a dose of organics early in the season to spur bacterial life in the soil. Horse manure or an commercial organic formula like Mills Magic will do the trick. You should also include your favorite rose food at the same time. 2. Supply micronutrients. The N, P, and K in your favorite 10-10-10 fertilizer isn’t enough. Roses also need micronutrients, much like humans need vitamins. Ironite makes an inexpensive fertilizer that supplies iron and needed micronutrients. 3. Feed often. Roses are heavy feeders. It takes a lot of energy to make all those rose petals. Roses should be fed every 4-6 weeks with organic compost that will loosen the soil. Start fertilizing your roses when you have done your first pruning of the year..

Weed Prevention: Temperatures are warming and soon weed seeds will be sprouting. Now is a good time to apply a thick layer of mulch that will smother germinating weeds.

Preventive Spray Program: Black spot spores have been lying dormant in your rose garden all winter long and soon they will awaken. After you’ve pruned, it’s time to give them the one-two punch of contact and systemic fungicides on a weekly basis.

Use Rose Care products to prevent disease: Start your spray program with your first pruning of the year.

Use a contact fungicide: These are compounds that kill the black spot fungus as well as its spores on contact. Manzate and Mancozeb are two of the more popular contact fungicides.

Use a systemic fungicide: These are compounds that prevent the germinating black spot spore from taking hold on the leaf. While systemics do not kill the spores, they do stop the fungus dead in its tracks by interfering with its metabolism. The fungus can’t digest its food and soon dies. Popular systemic fungicides include Banner Max and Compass. Mixing a contact and systemic fungicide in the same sprayer works well. By killing off spores and preventing the growth of any existing fungus, black spot is quickly eradicated. Although using both a systemic and a contact fungicide is the key to controlling black spot, don’t make the mistake of using the same systemic and contact fungicide each time you spray. Just as bacteria have become increasingly immune to antibiotics, the black spot fungus is becoming resistant to some of the compounds used to control it. To ensure that an immunity does not develop in your garden, switch off the fungicides you use each week. Here is a list of some of the more common systemic and contact fungicides that control black spot.

Contact Fungicides

• Mancozeb/Fore
• Manzate/Maneb
• Daconil
• Captan
• Copper Sulfate

Systemic Fungicides

• Banner Max
• Compass
• Clearys 3336F
• Immunox
• Triforine/Funginex

Caution: All rose care products can be harmful if misused. Be sure to read the label and follow instructions carefully.