Water according to soil moisture, as with anything else.

The main thing is that you will have to fight off the spider mites continuously by washing the underside of the leaves once a week.

Yellow leaves are not normal but suggest a cultural problem, maybe too much or too little water.

Umm, why are they inside? Are you in some strange North Pole microclimate? Do you live next door to a frozen fish factory that keeps its refrigerator doors open all year?

Here, a mere two to three hundred miles north of you, I have yet to move a single rose anywhere this fall. It simply hasn't gotten cold enough yet. One of the tricks to overwinter things inside that don't really want to be inside is to keep them outside whenever possible. Around here, that means roses stay outside until it is consistently below about 25°F. Rosemary stays outside until it goes below 15°F. I've had years when the rosemary is outside all but about 5 weeks, and it does much better those years than years it has to come inside before Christmas.

So start by keeping them outside until winter starts.

Secondly, do you have any unheated/poorly heated spaces. They are much easier to deal with inside if they are cold. That's people cold, not rose cold. If you don't have any such space, then spider mites, aphids and other bugs are going to be a big problem. There will also be issues with weak growth resulting from a combination of too much heat and too little light. I cannot grow roses upstairs during the winter. They do fine in the unheated basement because it is much cooler down there.

When all else fails, boot them outside. Unless they are very tender varieties, that's probably the most likely to succeed place.

I second mad_gallica's question... why are they inside? You're only a little way from me, and we've only had two nights with freezing temps so far. Roses can stand WAY more than that. All my leftover nursery roses are still outside, and they will stay there till spring. My only roses that I've brought into the barely-heated greenhouse are my young minis, and the newly rooted stock for next year.

If the roses stay inside, like Michael said, you are guaranteed to be fighting spider mites ALL WINTER.

Which roses are these, how old are they, and how long have you had them in the house? All of this info is necessary for us to help you proceed.

Connie

Don't laugh. Okay, go ahead. There were such tremendous sales last fall that I went crazy. I bought twenty, and I had rooted 20. I've got a greenhouse that I figured to get some heat in. It started to snow early, has kept it up, and the heat never got in. It's 5 below now at night.
They are under grow lights now in the house except for the three big ones, Captain Kidd, Doubloons, and Souvenir de la Malmaison. The Souvenir has got what I guess are spider mites. It came here with them. Never saw them before. The Souvenir has been in a pot indoors for two years and looked pretty good for awhile. Not this winter.
I've tried everything I can try to get rid of them including soap and fly spray. Nothing works. I tried some Schultz plant food last week. I'm wondering if Bayers would get rid of the critters.
This is a serious babysitting process going on. Any advice would be appreciated.
Some roses are fairly happy. Captain Kidd is going for it.

Kaylah, I have had roses arrive with spidermites in full infestation. I guess you take a few fertile mites, put them into a hot,dry situation (a shipping box) and add some time. What I had to do with them was strip off all the leaves, cut back the plant a bit, and spray with hort oil. This was outside, mind you. I couldn't imagine doing this in the house over the winter ... but you have winter like I've never seen before where you live. 5 below is a record low for an entire decade here ... seems like just another pleasant Montana evening for you all.

I don't think it's possible to get roses to thrive in the winter, no matter where they are. Winter has much shorter days, with a lower angle and reduced intensity of the sun, and plants are programmed to slow down during this time. I think the best we can hope for (be it in the house or in the greenhouse) is to help the plants survive ... this is why commercial greenhouses use lights in the winter. I'm too cheap to do that.

(BTW, your Baltimore Belle is rooted and doing great ... I'll send it to you this spring)

Connie

I brought them in once earlier this year when we were under a frost advisory and took them out again, then brought them in again earlier this week when they were calling for frost (of course then it went up to the mid-60s) and today they are calling for 2-3 inches of snow. So they have not been inside all that long.

I was under the impression that a call for frost meant bring them in - so I should be waiting for 20 degrees before bringing them in?

Is the importance of being outside the air circulation, sun or both? I do have a "carport" where they will be somewhat protected from freezing rain and winds, but won't get much sun that way.

The roses are climbing American beauty, Peace, Le Vesuve, Quietness and Mrs. Dudley Cross. Things came up and didn't get them planted earlier...Le Vesuve is growing like a weed!

Also - should these be given food/compost etc and encouraged to grow, or encouraged to sleep for the winter?

Thank you - (a first rose winter)

Vettin,

The roses you have are naturally evergreen (not sure about Cl AB) and, in zone 9b-10 would grow and (except Cl AB) bloom all year. In zone 6b they would go dormant for winter outside. Peace and maybe the teas would suffer some winter damage to the canes but would come back and bloom next year after pruning.

But pots get colder than garden soil. If the center of the root ball cools to around 25 degrees (ballparking), the roots of less hardy kinds will be killed. Small pots cool faster than large pots. Pots can be sunk in the garden or mounded over with soil or leaves to keep the rootball at around 30 degrees. Snow, frost, freezing rain, wind, etc. have no effect on dormant roses. Damage is done by chilling the roots to 20 or the canes to say 10 degrees for Peace or -5 for Quietness. Cane damage is not a big deal.

Inside roses need a cool, humid, sunny place such as a sunspace. With good conditions they will grow and bloom if given adequate water, nutrition, and spider mite control. With poor conditions they are better off outside.

Connie, I never thought of hort oil. I'll try that next. Your copy of Hallie's rose is rooted. I sent you an e-mail but I think your website was down. I sent off for High Country Banshee and they are look-alikes. So my suspicion that Hallie's Rose was a setigera cross may be wrong. The leaves do not look like any of the hybrid setigeras I sent for.
HCB has similar flowers to Hallie's Rose and there were Nesbiths in that cemetery where they collected HCB. Another history mystery. And I still don't know from where HR gets its height and extreme cold hardiness.
How are you doing with the misting system? What is your success rate? I'm getting about 20 percent from the baggie method. I think i could improve that by starting in spring instead of July.
In pots, there seems to be a problem figuring out when to water. The dirt feels moist, but they begin to loose leaves.

You can't go wrong by moving them in and out throughout the winter. Take them in on the cold nights, setting them out to sunbathe on most days.

Different zones we are yes mine is slightly colder. I want to say is it may run you a few extra dollers should you decide to keep em inside. Concider what Connie suggested I am stuck with a "off idea" of same. Thank God there just store bought minis in bigger pots.. Sept to now loss 1 left 3 efforts to keep em alive many end results unknown and it isn't looking good........ Do you need to see some pics ?
Suggestions on indoor growing dont do it unless you are prepared from added lighting to humidity and heat the list isn't realy short
Ching Ching Watch out for them rose thieves :0
Wes

Vettin

All of the roses you name will benefit from a rest in the winter, even Mrs. Dudley Cross and Le Vesuve. I grew roses in Zone 8 before moving to a colder zone. I had Noisettes that survived a winter with a temperature of a week of -18C (0 F.) without winter kill.

But as Michael says, if they are in gallon pots, then the roots may freeze in cold temperatures. I second Michaels advice and also agree with Mad Gallica and Hartwood. The roses will do much better outside for the winter. They are tougher than you imagine. The roses want a winter rest. The spider mites will hate you for it.

Cheers,

Rideau Rose Lad