the greastest polluters on the face of the earth.. are the homeowners who spew fertilizers and chemicals... during inappropriate use ... not according to labels.. or based on mass marketing .... these plants have done just peachy for 90 years .... she has a greater chance of harming them with improper fertilizers or chemicals.. than if she jsut left them alone .. all that said.. my comment was a bit overbroad... start with an ID .. AND A SOIL TEST .... if anything is lacking from the soil .. act accordingly ... once you ID the problem.. take action accordingly ... good luck ken ps: ... my first house was a 60 year old house.. i was all into saving the historical plants .. what a nightmare.. the happiest day of my life at that house.. was the day i got rid of the last nightmare ... please dont live with the prior owners nightmares.. trust me.. you have better things to do ... i woulndt be surprised if you find a couple million seedlings covering the yard ... there are probably better ROS that are sterile... or better plants consistent with the historical period of your new house ...

Wow, what a humming forum you folks have here. I mainly lurk in the 'Carolina' and 'pond' forums. I didn't think to check back on the same day or in just a few minutes. I appreciate knowing that it wasn't horrible to prune so hard. It is difficult for rose flowers here because they seem to be salted peanuts for the hoards of japanese beatles. Jim, thanks for the extra info, but I'm afraid it is gone. It had a little pale green on 2 old canes yesterday but that is all but gone today. It has been over 100 for a couple of days and in high 90's for a month but the other plants there appear to be well watered.

I'll be using some home-made organic fertilizer. Also will mix up a couple of trash cans of fish emulsion to pour on after watering well and will start some alfalfa tea 'brewing'. It takes two weeks so it would have been good to have right now as it really make plants grow fast. There was a discussion on one of the rose forums that the tea is far superior than using the dry alfalfa pellets. Buster, I'd go ahead and cut the roses back by about a third and give them some fertilizer. Any kind will do, even lawn fertilizer formulated for use in the spring is good, about a cup of dry fertilizer scratched in around the top of a mature rose. Be sure that is has slow release nitrogen. It will say that a certain percentage is'urea coated' nitrogen. Fall lawn fertilizer has fast release nitrogen that could burn the roots. Water the roses before application and water well afterwards. Keep up the watering and the roses will probably surprise you with their beautiful blooms. Let us know, okay? Incidentally, I use hedge shears for the main pruning and finish up taking out dead branches, etc. with hand pruners. It takes too long to do it all cane by cane. Carrie, you can't do much better than manure. You get the alfalfa second hand which is much better. I have to fake getting it that way by making tea ... oh well :-) Just found what's linked below. I hope it opens to 'Rose Care'. If not then you'll see 'Rose Care' on the left of the home page. Going outside now to finish what the wind started ... LOL -- taking those sheets down! Here is a link that might be useful: San Antonio Rose Society on Rose Care

Congratulations, and that's an intriguing way of coaching new volunteers not to prune the roses too low. The wooden stakes are probably reusable year after year, and they help avoid people's poor estimates of about "three feet" or whatever the pruning target might be. I suppose there's unlikely to be anything blooming by the end of January is there, even in San Jose? I'll be there for work at the end of January/first of February and I'd love to see the gardens, but I fear they'd still be in down times. Well done regardless on a truly daunting task. Cynthia