Old rose bush care

15 years ago

I planted a red rose bush in 1983. It has bloomed awesomely at least twice a summer over the years. I am concerned about it this year, it looks sad and just not healthy. This rose has never suffered from diseases or insect damage. I guess it is not really a bush, it has long canes. I have only pruned off dead canes in the past. I welcome any advice. We have had very cold temps here this winter, down to 5 degrees one night. We are in the Sandhills of Moore county, NC. I feel terrible because I have not paid much attention to it the past few years. Thank you.

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Comments (5)

hemlady
15 years ago
Is it in lots of sun? Does it get fed regularly? Roses are greedy feeders and they like a lot of water in the spring and summer. Is it a hybrid tea? You say it has long canes - is it a climber? If it makes it through the winter I would feed it and water it and see what happens. Denise
rosebush
15 years ago
LOL, for a minute I thought this post was referring to my age! :)
I have a couple of old roses that belonged to my great-aunt and were neglected for many years. They still bloom every year and occasionally I throw some rose food their way. They have lasted this long without my help, so I don't want to overdo. They seem quite hardy.
The antique/heirloom roses I purchased several years ago have done quite well here, but I do mulch them and am careful to water well in summer. Have just had my first successful rooted cutting from one of them! Yay! I have been terrible at rooting roses until now. Would like to get rooted cuttings from the very old ones. . .stay tuned.
Amy, good luck with yours!
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I would do nothing to care for rose bushes in the winter except to very occasionally water them if the winter has been dry. No self-respecting rose even blinks if the temps go down to 36 degrees. Now if your temps were to go down to 16 degrees, that might concern me a bit--but our winter temps in Zone 6 have gone down to 0 degrees and I have never lost a rose to winter temps. (The only protection my roses get is randomly blowing leaves from my neighbors' oak trees--not much protection at all, in other words.) Kate
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If you can post a photo, or even describe it in more detail, we can probably give you a lot more help. Even if it doesn't have blooms, we can tell something by the size and shape and even the leaves and thorns. For now: Many old roses bloom only once, so that is nothing to worry about. Most of these old roses don't need much, if any, pruning. Just cut out the dead wood. Also, allowing it to grow out will help us identify it. If you haven't fertilized it, you could trowel in an organic fertilzer, or aged manure, or even some good compost. I wouldn't use a chemical fertilizer this late in the season until you know what it is. Finally, put an inch or two of mulch around the base, but leave a few inches bare around the base of the rose. If it has already been surviving, it will probably continue to do so.
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I would remove a lot of the old gray wood next March--cut the canes at the ground or at the graft if one is visible. Hopefully it will respond by making some strong shoots from the ground. It looks like this rose is best grown as a climber with all the strong shoots fastened to the fence. Tie them rather than weaving through the lattice. Create a fan pattern by leading the first canes low and almost horizontal, the next in a low arc above the first, etc. Having lots of cane nearly horizontal (or 45 degrees) will greatly increase the amount of bloom. Most roses have canes that are best trained after they have grown well out and become fibrous. Then they will bend without breaking. After it begins to get crowded again, remove a fraction of the oldest canes each year at the base, Do the main pruning in June after blooming to maximize the amount of bloom. You can also remove the stronger laterals (strong secondary shoots off the main canes) unless you need them to fill in. Cut the shorter laterals back to 2-3 leaves after blooming. The spots visible in pics 6 and 7 are blackspot disease, but the plant must be somewhat resistant or it would be defoliated by now. The foliage appears to be of modern type. The hooked thorns suggest the parentage includes climbing species. You can show us blooms and buds next May.
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It has been a while since you posted, but did you have any luck with the blueberry bushes? We have some way overgrown shrubs in our yard (moved in two months ago) and they are just starting to leaf out. I suspect they could be blueberry bushes, and it would be so nice to save them
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Laura
15 years ago
There's a climbing rose bush on the side of my porch that was here when we moved in. It sounds a lot like yours, Amy. In this case, it seems to live in spite of its conditions! Planted in shade, in poor soil, and it gives me beautiful blooms every year. It has long canes that work it's way into my porch, and way up toward the roof. I water it with that Sea Magic, and occasionally throw aged horse manure from the barn around it. I feel terrible about the hard soil it's growing in, and wonder if maybe a ground cover would help. The last couple of years the leaves have been more sparse. Any advice given to you will be eagerly awaited by me, lol.

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rootdiggernc
15 years ago
Minuet, that yellow rose is beautiful! I'm interested in this too. I have planted a couple of old roses in the hopes that they'd be lower maintenance. They are finally starting to grow and looking pretty good. Had some nice blooms on one of them this last fall. I planted them on the edge of some sparse woods. So far I'm doing good to keep weeds yanked up from around them and give them some manure each spring and some mulch for the hot summer months.
carla17
15 years ago
Long canes could also be bourbon variety.

Carla

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Old rose bush care

Comments (5)

hemlady

rosebush

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Laura

rootdiggernc

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