Hello Dear Rose Friends,
Finally, a few hot days which our roses absolutely love – we know the gardens are well irrigated with more than enough rain these past weeks and we’ve trimmed the potted roses so they could enjoy the hot sun which burns-off any fungus issues and insects lay low as well!
Worthy to note, this past season we’ve had absolutely no issues with insects whereas in previous years, during summer, white-fly has been a pest, aphids to a lesser extent, some scale on older potted roses. Now, we’re seeing lots of white butterflies … perhaps they’re laying eggs for caterpillars?
We’ll stay vigilant as always!
Rather than print more email exchanges which are relative to rose management during this season, here are a few pointers as a result of recent advice I’ve given:
- When you trim a rose for relocation, always cut the roots to fit into the new planting hole – never twine roots around! If the wall of the planting hole is rough and there’s some lovely friable soil/compost, new roots will form very quickly to support the trimmed rose.
- If you haven’t summer pruned your roses by 1/3 yet, it’s not too late; continual dead-heading during these last weeks of summer will ensure you get a great show of roses through autumn, right up into winter when the roses are ready to go dormant.
- Hard to believe but some areas (like southern Tasmania) are very dry according to one customer so, if your garden is very dry, it’s important that you DON’T FERTILIZE unless you can irrigate the garden – adding a layer of compost/manure/mulch will be welcome!
- If you have access to an abundance of one particular type of mulch material such as pine needles, I recommend you add a very light layer over garden beds along with other mulch material like pea-straw. Otherwise, add the pine needles in layers on the compost heap and once rotted down, use broadly over the garden. Fresh pine needles, like raw eucy-mulch are suitable for use on paths through the garden.
Have a giggle ...
Don’t worry about your smartphone and TV spying on you because your vacuum cleaner has been gathering dirt on you for years!
SHOULD YOU STERILISE YOUR SECATEURS BETWEEN CUTS ON ROSE BUSHES?
Cassie presented this email:
I was reading about moving roses, I put some of your new bare root roses in the ground in July but I’m not happy with the spot, or, rather, the roses are not happy with the spot, so I want to move them.
Early on in my rose growing adventures I was using the same pair of pruners to prune each plant without realizing this is how you spread diseases from plant to plant, I didn’t know this was even possible. Alas, I have learned this lesson the hard way as almost all of my 25 roses have black spot, are they doomed?
I use dettol between uses now so they are properly sanitized. But man they are sick. Thank you so much. Cassie!
MY RESPONSE: Maintaining secateurs in a clean, sharp manner is very important and here’s what we do at least FORTNIGHTLY:
- Take all secateurs to the kitchen sink where they’re sprayed with our surface spray product – we use Tri-Nature Optimate.
- Let them soak up spray then place in a bath of warm water. After a soak, scrub all surfaces with steel wool and allow to air-dry.
- Once completely dry, spray lightly with vegetable oil – we use olive oil.
- Sharpen regularly with an easy-sharpening implement.
There’s absolutely no way you need to use a sterilizing solution between each cut as different chemicals may incur a negative impact on stems.
A ROSE PLANT WITH MOSAIC VIRUS IS AN EXCEPTION …
I would prefer to entirely remove a rose afflicted with Mosaic Virus if it continually reflected the virus but quite honestly, our job would never be done if we had to wipe secateurs between trimming cuts!
I don’t believe we spread fungus disease throughout our gardens or the nursery potted roses by using the same secateurs. Fungal disease is very often caused by environmental conditions such as inclement/humid weather or:.
- Stressed plants from shade/root competition with trees
- Lack of fertilizer
- Too little or too much water
By her own admission, Cassie has to lift her roses to another destination in her garden as they’re definitely NOT HAPPY where they’re currently planted.
Once in their new location, I’m sure Cassie will agree that she no longer needs to sterilize her secateurs – her roses were ‘doomed’ due to them being planted in the wrong spot in her garden!
EASY SHARPENING TOOL SPECIAL
This handy secateur sharpener will slip into your pocket or garden pouch to ensure your secateurs remain sharp throughout the pruning exercise.
Easy sharping tool for secateurs available ½ price this week when you purchase a pair of Lowe 5 secateurs
The BEST SECATEUR you’ll ever use - $86.75 plus pack and post.
Another giggle for you:
Q: What did the mummy spider say to her baby spider?
A: You spend too much time on the web!
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Between this RR and the next RR, we’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day so for a very practical and enduring gift to the love in your life, order the Lowe secateurs and ½ price sharpener … it’s sure to be a winner and reminder of Valentine’s Day in February, 2024! Have a great week in your garden … |