Have patience. How tall were they after pruning? Under 12 inches?

If you keep cutting them, you will never get buds. Be patient.

Hello Irisgal,

They were about 18 inches after pruning. I cut three of them down, one has already bloomed five roses, the other two haven't gotten buds yet. I will be patient then, thank you!

Lisa

Hello Buford,

I only cut them down one time and won't do anything else other than water them for now. Thank you!

Lisa

Every variety wakes up at it's own pace just like people do. Most of mine wake up in April but I had a Snowfire that was always a later sleeper and didn't wake up until well into May. They all have their own personalities!

I agree that if you keep cutting them down they will never bloom. Just water now, as you said. They will eventually recuperate. They need the leaves to get energy, and the more you cut them down the more they will try to re-grow canes and leaves. Patience is a virtue.

Jackie

Hello,

I will keep watering them and wait for them to bloom.

Thank you all for your help!

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Adrian here in Miramar FL. What city do you live in?

Do you have pictures of your roses that you could share?

You should definitely have buds at this time of the year, so I'm wondering what is going on.

BTW - Might I suggest you join the Tropical Rose Society of Florida?

...Also, what varieties are they?

Hi Kublakan,

Here are a few pictures of the rose bushes, they are hybrid tea roses.

I agree, most of my other roses have buds but these are just leaves and not looking like they are doing much of anything else.

I will look at the Tropical Rose Society of Florida, I didn't know they had one, thank you!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Lisa

Hi Adrian,

Wow, you knew that was a Kordes Perfect from looking at the leaves! That is exactly what kind of rose it is and last year, it bloomed a few times but as you said, not as much as I would have wanted.

I just planted a Tropicana this year, it won't be blooming for a bit but I look forward to the beautiful orange blooms.

Do you think I should cut the rose back to 1/4 inch above the five leaves yet or stick with fertilizing instead?

I will get some alfalfa pellets, I just got some liquid fish emulsion, put that down and some critter had a field day doing a dance and digging in and around the roses. Not sure how I can stop them from wanting to do that, maybe the alfalfa will make it not as appealing?

You are correct, these are not Fortuniana root stock. I put pine bark down when I planted the new roses, a post I put up about a month ago, someone suggested doing that because the nematodes do not like pine bark acid.

Next year, I will get better roses with the Fortuniana root stock. But for this year and these, I will try your suggestions and hope they start getting buds soon!

Thank you so much for your help!!

Lisa

This is the first bloom last year for the Kordes, not many after that and the petals were pointed at the ends, is that how they are or does that mean something is needed?

Also, I forgot to say that the roses are in the shade in the morning but not the afternoon, they get six hours of sun starting early afternoon until sunset.

I have to get a few trees trimmed that are blocking some of the sun in the morning.

Thank you again!

Lisa

That's exactly what KP is supposed to look like.

I would wait until after you have fertilized to cut any more of the plant back.

When you mix it with the alfalfa tea it reduces the amount of animals attracted to the scent. Also, make sure to water thoroughly after applying the emulsion mix.

I've never heard about acidity and nematodes. Way back when I was doing my research the only thing that helped was to place pavers

Hi Adriana,

I will get the alfalfa this week and mix up the fertilizer like you suggested, then water them so hopefully, the animals don't think it is snack time in the garden.

If you are interested, this was the reply regarding the pine bark and nematodes.

Thank you so much for your help!

Lisa

I lived in FL (Hollywood, Winter Haven, Port St. Lucie) for 50 years and
grew roses for about 40 of those years. I'm no expert but I learned a
lot over those years about growing roses in FL. It looks like you have
some good looking roses planted a little (?) to deep. It will take a
little work but your roses can grow AND thrive where you live. Have on
hand, several bags of good potting soil, several bags of pine bark
mulch, not nuggets. One bush at a time. dig it up and gently shake off
the soil and put the bush in a bucket of water while you prepare the
planting hole. Dig your hole 28/30 in. wide and 24 in. deep. Get rid of
ALL that soil (spread across the lawn). Now line the bottom of the hole
with a layer of pine bark and build a wall of pine on the sides. Fill
your hole with potting soil and mix some more pine bark in with it.
Water it down good. Let it drain, then plant your rose with the graft
bud at or a little above the soil level. Cover your entire planting area
pine bark. If you have access to pine needles, put a layer of pine
needles down then cover the planting area with pine bark. Remember this.
Nematodes HATE pine bark acid. They won't come anywhere near it. I've
grown many roses on Dr Huey root stock this way. They lasted for years. I
just kept a steady fresh supply of pine needles and bark every year
about Jan/Feb. If you can, when buying roses, look to see if you can get
the rose you want on fortuniana root stock. If not, then go with Dr
Huey.

Also, I looked at joining the Tropical Rose Society, they are based out
of Miami, I am in PSL, I didn't see a branch for around here
but I will ask if they have one.

I would say from my experience morning sun gives 100 times the blooms . Morning sun is the most important thing.

PSL?

Hi Sam,

I would have to have trees cut down for them all to get full sun in the morning and I don't want to do that. They did well last year with the afternoon sun although I can see how the morning sun would be better.

Thank you for your suggestion!

Lisa

Hi Adriana,

Port St. Lucie. I don't know if I am going to stay in this house or move further south towards Jupiter area but for now, that's where I live.

I didn't see any Rose Society's for this area, Martin County had one but that is in Stuart just south of me.

I'm off to go get the alfalfa today :)

Lisa

I would question the validity of the Pine Bark theory. I have had limited success planting roses on Dr Huey, but the few times I've had success has been attributed to being planted by a house with pavers around the base. I have used Pine Bark nuggets and needles as mulch (for weeds), but I've never noted a difference in plant performance. With Dr. Huey, your best bet is to hope that the rose strikes out on its own roots (which it often does after a while).

Ohhh, lol. Even better. Check out the Palm Beach Rose Society. It's headed by the Coolidges which are some of the most knowledgeable rosarians in Florida.

-Adrian

I hope the pine bark works on the news ones I just planted but if I decide to stay in this house, next year, I will plant roses with the Fortuniana roots. I may even do that this year, I can take these back but some are blooming, I don't want to dig up the roses now.

I do know I will not bother with any roses other than Fortuniana root ones from here though.

In the meantime, I am going to mix up the fertilizer you suggested and hope it helps the other roses from last year bloom!

Thank you again!!

Lisa

I will call the Palm Beach Rose Society, if they allow people to join that don't live in Palm Beach County then I would love to!

I had a typo that was classic on my last post, it said, "if they allow people to join that don't LIKE Palm Beach County." Haha, I quickly changed that to "live" in PBC ;)