Good morning..... Need some advice since I'm not much of a rose gardener and haven't particularly had a lot of luck with them. This one is an old bush that my parents planted almost 60 years ago. It's very resilient, having survived lots of neglect in its long life. In the Fall I had a landscaper remove a lot of stuff from my yard and they trimmed this lady to about 6-8 inches from the ground. The main branch came up, and there are small sprouts around the base as well. I guess she's looking pretty healthy now. My question is -- what do I need to do to help restore this rose to a stronger healthier bush? So far, I have given some rose food and top dressed compost all around. She is about 2 1/2 feet tall now. Oh, she has been plagued with black spot in the past. I hope that removing all of the vegetation that was in that bed before also removed the black spot spores. I also had two other roses in other parts of the yard that were infected and they, sadly, have also been removed. Is there a preventive process for managing black spot? Thank you all. Happy Sunday. (PS Those white spots are actually raindrops. It's been raining here for 9 days straight now....
Daisy, that rose looks good to me! It will naturally branch out more. You can prevent black spot with a home-made spray: Mix one teaspoon of baking soda in one quart of tepid water, and add one teaspoon of liquid soap (not detergent). Spray the leaves with this mixture. It has to be reapplied after a rain.
Thank you Marlingardener. When you say soap, not detergent, are you referring to say, dish soap or hand soap or something like that?
Daisy, I keep a bar of Ivory soap in my garden basket, shave off a bit into water, shake well and use that as the soap additive. You can use anything--dish, hand, or horse shampoo as long as the label says "soap". It merely acts as a surfactant and doesn't have any effect on the black spot so I don't worry about the exact amount of the soap.
Gotcha.... thank you. Would that solution be good for other things in the flower or vegetable garden too?
Daisy, the solution also helps prevent powdery mildew, but that's about it. If you want to make an insecticidal soap to repel/kill bugs, mix one tablespoon of soap (again, not detergent) with a gallon of water, add two tablespoons of vegetable oil, and spray the plant. I use this on both vegetables and flowers. Somehow this insecticidal soap stops up the breathing mechanism of bugs. I love to hear the squash bugs gasping for air!
