Topic: Rose Problem

[Roy Bham UK]

We bought this plant July 2001 to train up the pergola and this year is the first time it hasn’t flowered, it’s a Rose called “Climbing White Penny”. Does this happen with rose trees occasionally or is it in big trouble?  ::)

Roy (total novice) ;D

[William O]

Hi Roy, it's a beautifull flower. The only thing I can think of is it being overfed with the wrong type of fertiliser (High in nitrogen), making it much to "happy" to worry about flowering.   William

[Roy Bham UK]

Cheers William, I have been feeding it Chicken plops or Miracle-Grow every two weeks in the growing season, is that the wrong stuff and too often do you think? ???
Here's another rose off the same plant (any excuse for a piccy now I can do it) 8)

Roy (still learning) ;D

[William O]

Hi Roy, Im still learning too (sometimes blundering along ;D )

For my roses I use a special rose fertiliser about twice a year.    I think it's a bit lower on nitrogen and has something extra potash. That's supposed to be good for flowering roses....  ??? ??? ???

Personally I find feeding every two weeks quite a lot, but then again my garden is relatively new (18 months or so) with loads of new garden compost. I feed my garden twice a year with kowdung pellets. (Giving it more than is recommended) And twice a year some dedicated fertiliser for my rhododendrons, conifer hedge, roses and grapes....

Thus far my roses seem to be quite happy and keep flowering.

[Roy Bham UK]

Thanx again William, ;) My Wife just said "I keep telling you, You are over-feeding the plants but do you listen"? ???

Obviously not. :o

Roy ;D

[sandersj89]

Roy

I think the over feeding is the answer. Too much Nitrogen encourages foliage growth at the expense of flower. There are proprietary rose feeds available in the UK, a dressing of these in the spring and again late summer is enough.

You can also give them a good thick mulch of well rotted manure in the spring once things have started growing and they will love you for it.

Jerry

A couple of mine this weekend:

[Roy Bham UK]

Hi Jerry, ;) thanks for that, I guess the reason I’m splashing this high Nitrogen  feed about is because I keep a lot of sub-tropical plants palms and bamboos etc and have not been selective enough when watering and feeding when I get to the flowery ones ::) (not that I have many) But I will reduce it from now on. :D

Thank you both for advice. ;)

Roy ;D

PS. Jerry I can’t see your images just square box and x’s

[sandersj89]

PS. Jerry I can’t see your images just square box and x’s

Hmmm, fine for me, they are still there on my home  web page too

[Roy Bham UK]

Strange  ::) They have appeared now :o Pink, Red and White and they are gorgeous.

Thanks.

Roy :)

[tim]

Another rose problem -

I wanted daughter to cut back her Carriere some time ago, but she was too busy producing another child. I gather that you can cut 'right back'? But is this too late to do it this year?? Need to do something before the snow drags it off the wall. = Tim

[sandersj89]

Tim,

I assume you mean Madame Alfred Carriere? White with a touch of pink climbing rose?

You can take a rose back hard, Climbers do benefit from remoaval of some of the old would each year, not a total hard prune though IMHO.

March/April is the best time, after frosts have passed. If you are worried about winter damage I would be inclined to remove some of the most exposed branches and run some extra wires along the wall to hold the rose back.

This site has a very good guide to pruning, simply written.

http://www.fryers-roses.co.uk/Roses/pruning.html

HTH

Jerry

[tim]

Thanks, Jerry - I note that MAC only flowers on old wood, so a hard cut would mean no flowers for a year. Nevertheless, I'm keen to take it back to about 6' this year & then further in the Spring.

You can see the problem - forgot to include the pic earlier. = Tim

PS Most of the lower foliage is Climbing Hydrangea!