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No one will argue with the statement that the queen of flowers in the garden is precisely the rose. Each of her flowers is a miracle created by nature, but with the help of the caring hands of a florist. Roses require careful maintenance and, with the exception of a few species, cannot withstand frosty winters without reliable shelter. What are garden roses waiting for from a florist in the fall? The main task is to properly prepare them for wintering and provide protection from frost.
Preparing a rose for wintering
A feature of roses is that they are unable to stop growing on their own by autumn. Therefore, the florist will have to encourage the rose to do this. And the process should begin long before the onset of cold weather. What do I need to do?
- Already in August, stop feeding the bushes with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, and it is better not to do this from mid-July. But feeding rose bushes with superphosphate and potassium salt is an obligatory part of the care. In mid-August, add a teaspoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate under each bush and slightly embed them in the ground. Potassium chloride is not suitable for these purposes - chlorine strongly inhibits the root system of roses.
- From the beginning of September, do not loosen or dig the ground under the bushes.
- Prevent new shoots from growing and inhibit the growth of old branches so that they mature. To do this, stop pruning faded shoots of roses. Let the seeds form. And if the shoots suddenly decided to bloom, do not cut them out so as not to stimulate growth, but simply bend the bud at the base and then the shoot growth will stop, and there will be no flowering. It will be useful to pinch actively growing shoots of roses.
- Reduce watering rates. It is possible only when the weather is dry for a long time. If autumn is rich in rains, stretch a film over the bushes and thus stop the access of moisture. You can also dig drainage grooves near the bushes.
- Free rose bushes from accumulated parasites - aphids, sawflies and other pests by applying an insecticide. You need to spray the bushes in dry and calm weather.
- Caring for roses at this time also consists in removing diseased leaves and shoots. Healthy leaves from the bushes are removed immediately in front of the shelter, so as not to provoke the growth of new leaves from dormant buds.
- If under the rose bushes appeared weeds or there are flowers that were specially planted, they need to be removed.
- It will also be useful to spray the shoots to the entire height of the future hilling with copper-containing preparations. Grab some of the shoots slightly above this level.
From the beginning of October, the first frosts usually come. If the temperature does not drop below minus 6 degrees, there is nothing to worry about. Such frost will not harm garden beauties, but will even be useful. The rose must undergo a certain hardening before sheltering. But the approach of a serious cold snap is a signal that the time has come to create a shelter for the roses for the winter. We will tell you how to do this step by step.
Stages of the winter shelter of roses
Different types of this delightful flower relate to frost in different ways. The most persistent are Canadian and park roses. Manufacturers recommend only sprinkling the base of the rose bush for insurance, claiming frost resistance up to -40 degrees. But in fact, it will not be superfluous to organize a minimum shelter for these varieties. The rest of the types require thorough insulation.
Traditionally, roses are covered with spruce branches. But practice has shown the unreliability of this shelter in the event of severe frosts with a small amount of snow. And now there are so many roses planted that you can simply lime the coniferous forests, cutting off the thorny legs.The abundance of modern covering materials makes it possible to do without the barbaric extermination of pines.
Where to start sheltering roses for the winter?
- We remove all leaves and unripe shoots, they can be recognized by their bright green color and soft texture. It is better to do this in several stages, starting from the bottom of the bush, so as not to weaken the plant.
- Whether it is necessary to cut healthy shoots from a rose - each grower decides for himself. There are many supporters and opponents of this operation. Each has its own reasons. One can only say about the pros and cons of pruning rose shoots. Pros: Cut bushes are easier to cover, the remainder builds up more nutrition and improves protection against infection. Cons: pruning stimulates dormant buds and, with a strong thaw, they can bloom, and with further cooling, they can die.
- If you nevertheless decide to prune, then you need to know that hybrid tea and polyanthus roses, floribunda are cut to half the height of the bush. In climbing and semi-climbing roses, the branches are only slightly shortened, since the main flowering for next year will be on last year's shoots. The hardest part is with scrubs. If you do not want to cut them down to 40 cm, you will have to carry out a phased bending of the shoots to the ground. Heavy pruning of scrubs will push back their flowering dates into the next year. Polyant and miniature roses they do not need pruning at all, you just need to clear the bushes of leaves and wilted flowers.
Pruning scheme for different types of roses
- Timing of pruning rose bushes depend on the temperature outside. It is undesirable to do this in frost - the shoots become fragile. The weather should be dry, preferably sunny.
- Cutting technique: the cutting tool must be sharp, disinfected with alcohol, the cut is made at an angle of 45 degrees.
- The cut sites are covered with pitch, and the plant itself is sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate.
- We fall asleep rose bushes to a height of 30 cm with any of the following materials: earth, peat, humus, sand so that a slide forms at the stems. Low pruned rose bushes fall asleep completely. The backfill substrate should only be dry and loose. Make sure that he remains so and remains until the very shelter.
- Gradually, in a few days, we bend thick shoots to the ground. You cannot do this in frost - the branches become fragile and may break.
- Rose shoots shouldn't just lie on the ground. Under them you need to put material that does not allow moisture to pass through so that the bushes do not come out. Planks, plywood, plastic, or foam sheets are good options.
- When the rose bushes are fully prepared and stable frosty weather with slight negative temperatures is established, a dry air shelter is built. First, the bushes are covered with any non-woven covering material, then they put arcs or wooden frames and put a film on them. In areas with a harsh climate, you can additionally insulate the structure with cardboard. There should be a gap of about 10-15 cm between the film and the covering material for air circulation. Be sure to leave holes at the bottom so that the structure can be ventilated in light frosts and thaws.
Autumn pruning can be combined with the propagation of roses.
Don't be surprised, roses can be propagated in the fall. Of course, the best results are obtained if done in the middle of summer. But at this time it is necessary to cut off the flowering stem, which affects the decorativeness of the plant. In the fall, after pruning, many unnecessary shoots remain, from which it is easy to cut excellent cuttings for propagation. From such cuttings, you can grow beautiful self-rooted rose seedlings. True, care and attention to these bushes in the first three years of development require increased, but the plant itself will be more resistant and durable.
What roses can be propagated by cuttings
The least attacks will be if you take cuttings from miniature, polyanthus and ground cover roses for propagation. Climbing roses are also suitable for this, but only with small flowers.The situation is worse with floribundas - only half of the planted cuttings will take root. And it is very bad with the survival rate of cuttings of hybrid tea, park and large-flowered climbing roses. But you still need to try. Perhaps you will be lucky and in the end you will be able to reproduce beautiful and rare varieties of roses.
How to cut the cuttings correctly
Choose only healthy shoots as thin as a pencil and thinner. The length of the cuttings should be about 20 cm. The presence of 3-4 buds in the upper part on each cutting is mandatory. Slices are made with a sharp knife, which should be disinfected. The top cut is always straight and the bottom cut at a 45 degree angle.
Autumn breeding of roses
For him, cuttings are planted immediately or they are kept until spring. This can be done in several ways.
- The simplest thing is to leave the cut shoots under the bushes, and in the spring, cut the cuttings from them. They survive well under winter shelter. But the risk of losing cuttings is quite high, besides in the spring, all planting procedures will have to be done very quickly.
- A more reliable way is to build a special greenhouse for the cuttings - a cuttings. We make a hole in the ground about 30 cm deep. We put in it a layer of fresh grass, 20 cm thick, which will provide heating of the cuticle from below. Rotting grass gives warmth. We fill it with a layer of rotted compost mixed with peat. The top layer, about 1 cm thick, is river sand. We stick cuttings 2/3 of the length into a well-moistened soil at an angle of 45 degrees. We build a small frame from scrap materials and cover it tightly with a film. There should be no gaps between the film and the ground. For insurance, we cover the greenhouse with spruce branches.
- If there is no time for such a structure, you can act differently and keep the cuttings just in the ground until spring. To do this, we make a recess in it of the required size. Its depth should be about 15 cm. We put the covering material in the recess, even the old one will do. It should be of such a size that the cuttings can be covered from above. We lay out the cuttings so that they do not touch each other and cover the top with the ends of the covering material, sprinkle with earth. Be sure to mark the storage location of the cuttings with a peg.
Spring planting of cuttings
If a fall cuttings were not planted in a cuticle, in the spring this must be done immediately, as soon as they were taken out of the shelter. As a rule, during this time, callus has formed in the cuttings, so there will be no problems with rooting.
If well-preserved cuttings have not formed it, they need help and speed up the process. rooting with the help of a root formation stimulant. To do this, the stalk is dipped with its lower end in a rooting stimulator or kept in its solution for several hours. They are planted in good soil, choosing partial shade. The cuttings should be 2/3 submerged in the soil and planted at a 45-degree angle with a northward slope.
Further care for the planted cuttings consists in daily ventilation and keeping the soil moist. After rooting, the shelter is removed. Transplant for a permanent place, young roses are better next spring. Such seedlings require attention and careful care aimed at the early formation of a strong root system.
A rose is a flower worthy of being in every garden. If you take care of it properly: feed, water, prune and cover for the winter, it will thank you with amazing flowering. There are no ugly roses, each is good in its own way.
