Knockout roses aren't knocking me out

16 years ago

All spring the knockouts were outstanding. Couldn't stop looking at them. Now, they are puny. The bushes are fine, with vigorous new growth and lots of buds, but the flowers are small, look tired very soon, and are overall, not very pretty. Is it the heat, the drought? Last year I had the chilli and regular thrips. This year I see none of the regular, and very little of the chilli thrip damage (just a little stippling on new foliage). What gives? Anyone else experiencing this?

Anna

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Comments (8)

tony_k_orlando
16 years ago
Are these roses growing on their own roots?

You describe what sounds like nematode damage, but no way to that I know of to confirm this. Its probably the temps and weather.
annafl
Original Author
16 years ago
Tony, they are all on fortuniana stock. I suspect it could be the heat and dryness, but I don't know much about roses, and it's such a contrast to what they looked like even a month ago.

Anna
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Far different zone and growing conditions than yours and all of my roses are own root as root stock does not do well for me. I had close to 350 rose bushes here. When I decided to go no spray it took two years to eliminate all take were not healthy. I was left with mostly Kordes, Ping Lim (Easy Elegance), Flower Carpet and a few misc. The midwest has the highest humidity index after the gulf states in the US. So good disease pressure here. However we don't have rust or downy mildew issues here. That I know of. I've had my kordes roses for ten plus years and many have been renamed.Ex.my Petticoat Fairy Tale is a gorgeous apricot orange pink blend. Size is 4' by 4' here starting with no cane in spring. Petticoat is now sold as a white rose. I only ordered the Kordes roses that have won an ADR that said none have ever had any disease at all. As a whole they grow much larger than their stated average size at least here in my yard. Buy Kordes adr roses you won't regret it. Ping Lim roses are sold own root. Don't know if you can get them on fortuniana stock if thats what you need.The best of the best is sunrise sunset (shrub type). Size here is 4' by 8'. All that I've tried are disease free but some have lacked in vigor. Other disease free roses in my yard are- Gartendirektor Otto Linne Kateryna Betty Prior Easy Does It Roserie de l'Hay Cape Diamond- don't prune it or will throw wild growth from every dormant bud on cane- ask if you wish to know more Flower Girl Home run White Out- thou I have heard some have problems mine has been perfect-own root don't now that it matters Pretty In Pink Sunshine Daydream Quietness
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I admit my ignorance. Why would the popularization of KO's lead to RRD? I have had KO's for many years and love them. I like odd things in my garden too, but it's good to have a few bloomers that are as carefree and prolific as some annuals. To me the original hot pink single is the winner, although I also have blushing, rainbow and double. The flowers are bigger and brighter, contributing to the desired splash of color in the landscape. BB's here in Sanford have Weeks' Home Run. It is quite different from KO in form and has an American Beauty red color. It's completely BS free and blooms constantly. I've enjoyed mine. Lots of people at the garden center at Lowes think roses should look like roses, i.e. hybrid teas, but they have no idea what is involved in getting them to thrive. I've been buying Griffith Buck's from the lady at the Raleigh farmer's market. She'll tell you which ones are disease free. Earthsong and Prairie Harvest are, totally. I have a few Austins and they all have different issues, so it's great to have troopers like KO's and these others in the mix. Anyone know any others that are disease free? I might be off topic here. claire
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I have four pink knock outs that are doing well in full sun for their first year. They are huge. Over four feet would be my recommendation unless you are making a hedge. These, to me, are HEDGE roses. They are twiggy inside. The cherry reds are all over my town and most look pitiful.. On the other hand they grow HUGE if put in good soil. Six year olds that have had good soil but no special care are now full of bs, less than the other roses in the bed, but bugs too. Leaf rollers, etc. I think they are like any other roses , but best in a hedge or as a single focal rose. They are too dense for a rose garden and will carry just as much disease as anything else. I am actually sick of the Cherry red. There are better looking roses, like Carefree Delight, etc. My biggest issue is They have no perfume. Nice for a mall, not a rose garden.
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The advice you read in rose books to prune back roses to encourage growth is more relevant for hybrid teas to encourage show-type blooms and not at all necessary even for them. You can prune any rose to try to encourage it to grow into a pleasing symmetrical shape once it gets big enough, and certainly deadheading (cutting or pinching off dead blooms behind the flowers) or a periodic haircut of the outermost couple of inches of branches (if you're lazy like me) can jumpstart a rose into increasing or continuing the blooms, but it's totally not necessary. In our cold zones, some people don't realize that Knockouts can lose branches to winterkill as much as any other rose, so you have to prune out the dead wood or they look unsightly pretty quickly. I spring prune all 75 Knockouts at my church every year now after they posted a pitiful note a few years ago that their "no care" roses looked awful. All they needed was the dead wood taken out, but that is all they need yearly and they bloom more or less all season, though you can see the dead blooms after a while and they slow down as they have more dead than live blooms. I'm just not willing to commit to deadheading or edge trimming all season for that many roses not in my own yard, and they do fine. Bottom line is I'd let them grow and do their own thing, particularly in zone 7, unless you enjoy the puttering about with roses. Cynthia
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butterflygardener
16 years ago
Try a rotten banana smoothie and a side dressing of epsom salts! It is amazing what it will do!
Kat
manature
16 years ago
Several of my roses are exhibiting small flowers right now. I am chalking it up to stress from this drought. I don't have a drip irrigation system in place, yet, and I think they are really suffering from mere hand watering.

Marcia
dghays
16 years ago
My knockout has been my best performing rose yet. Mine were doing better earlier in spring before the high winds and rains (I've had 10" of rain in the last 1.5 weeks!). My wife just trimmed, fertilized and sprayed them again, hopefully they'll perk back up. Humidity seems like bad stuff for them!

Gary
guapogardener
16 years ago
In the 3 years that I had Knockout Roses growing in my garden (and my grandparents confirm they're still there!) I noticed a change in them when drought would come. Drought stresses plants out...are you giving them any supplemental water? I began to deeply water mine twice a week and that improved things. Watering for 10 minutes was very beneficial.

It is pretty normal for the blooms to look less lush than they did during the winter because the heat rushes them more--the buds don't have the time to really develop so well. Mine would always go through this every June, July and August...October would bring lusher, darker blooms by the armful.

At this time of the year it doesn't hurt to water at the base of the bush--not on the leaves especially at night. Go ahead and also give them a really well-balanced, granular fertilizer. I used a combination of dynamite (13-13-13) and milorganite.
manature
16 years ago
I think guapo has hit the nail on the head, in all regards. Sounds like perfect advice to me. My Knockouts still look better than any of my other roses right now, but not like they do in cooler, gentler weather.

Thanks for those tips, guapo! (I always think of Three Amigos when I see your user name...)

Marcia
annafl
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm sure you all are right. We can only irrigate once weekly here and I'm not good about dragging the hose around. We've also had less than our share of rain. Today was the first rain since Barry, and we didn't get a lot then. I will water them more at the base when I can. They are heavily mulched, so that should help. Thanks. I just wondered if anyone else was experiencing the same thing.

Anna

Knockout roses aren't knocking me out

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tony_k_orlando

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Knockout roses aren't knocking me out

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tony_k_orlando

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