daily/weekly rose routine

rose gardeners, tell me your weekly routine in care for your roses. do you water daily w/ how much per plant? deadhead or cut how often? ?????

I deadhead when necessary to try to keep the roses coming. When they start to drop their petal, cut them off.
As for watering, I do give my 2 rose bushes lots of water. It depends upon on how hot it is. Use your finger in the soil for judge.

Anastasia, I have sort of a cottage garden style, not a formal rose garden, and treat my roses pretty much like everything else. I water once or twice a week, depending on the weather - not at all if we get an inch or so of rain in the week. I deadhead when I'm outside puttering around. I have had to spray for rose slug in May the last couple of years, but I try to use as few chemicals as possible, so sometimes they get a little spotty, but if you choose varieties carefully it's not much of a problem. If I need to do a major cutting back due to size, shape, or age, I try to do it around President's Day.

Oh yes - feeding. I have rabbits, and put bunny poo around many of my plants once or twice a year, and peels from bananas eaten outside go on the ground under the roses. That's it. They look pretty good most of the time.

Karla, zone 8

Karla, I saw the banana peel method on the Today Show a few years back and had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder. They must like the potassium (sp?). We prune a little later over here only because our frost date is a little later over here so I prune a little before St. Patty's Day. I went a little too easy on my pruning since we moved in but this spring I will hit a little harder. Last year was a little more pruning and they're gorgeous and full this year. I too deadhead when the bloom has faded in hopes of getting a lot more. It has been a little too hot this summer for them though. I think I'll have my son eat a banana....
-Stacey

I deep water once or twice a week the roses that are near the hose. These are also roses we're putting up along a split rail fence. The other roses in the landscape aren't really near a hose and some I never water. They do fine!

I go around and dump alfalfa on as many of them as I can, at least the ones that are accessible. Some are not that easy to get to, so much has grown up around them. I used to put banana peels around them but the dogs just go and eat them so I don't bother with that anymore.

I spray with messenger every three weeks - I spray the entire garden.

I deadhead the flowers I can reach. On the huge overgrown ones, I can't read most of the flowers as they're over my head.

So mostly I tend to the few roses we have put in and some day I'll get to the overgrown monstrosities that were here when we moved. A few of them never bloom they've been neglected for so long!

Gwen

Gwen,

I'm really interested in messenger. I've seen but never tried it. What do you think of it? Have you noticed significant differences in your plants when using it?
Thanks,
Herpst

Gwen, I am not familiar with messenger. What is it? Is it a bug repellent or flower food or....? I am always interested in what others gardeners use to make their gardens work for them.
-Stacey

I think I have. It's hard to say. I also use alfalfa tea on my plants and swear by that, so it's hard to say which is doing the most good. I've read and heard enough good things about messenger to not believe it's doing some good. I can tell you that my lilac that looks very poor all the time is looking a lot better. And that has only received messenger, not alfalfa.

I bought mine in the coop, so it wasn't overly expensive and I bought enough to spray the whole yard every three weeks for the summer. It can't hurt and it's an easy task to do, I sorta enjoy it. I wouldn't pay the high prices in the store, but the next time it comes around in a coop, you should give it a go.

Gwen

Stacey, there are a lot of threads on messenger in various sections of DG. The rose forum has a lot about it. Do a DG search. From what I know (and it isn't much), it's a harpin protein that enables the plant to gather more nutrients and to fight off diseases. It comes in a sort of powdery granule form and you mix it with water, spray it on the leaves of the plant. You only need a small amount per plant. I just walk around misting everything as I go. Oh, and it's also organic!

Gwen

Design,

If I remember right the banana peels aren't for the roses directly. The chemical given off as they decay helps inhibit blackspot. I tried it once with some success, but like Gwendalou I kept loosing the peels to my dogs. Strange animals.

MzWeazelle