I need help with a rose bush that has lost its leaves and isnt growing many new ones. I have looked after these roses for maybe 5 years now and slowly learning about them. This plant bloomed profusely early in the season. Then it suddenly lost most of its leaves! It hasn’t really done this before. Some canes are turning dark. I am concerned. Since it happened I added fertilizer specifically for roses and have watered at least every other day in the heat. I also applied Miracle Grow More Blooms feetilizer I think 2x this year. I have 4 other roses plants around the house, only one of them is also affected, the one right next to this one. Some circumstances that might have affected it include the following: I sprayed with Monterey Garden Insect killer when there were sawflies in the spring. I had to remove a large amount of a vine that grows along the fence that had grown significantly into the rose bush. I removed a large amount of weeds, mostly tall grasses, that were growing around the base. I left this one particular undergrowth ground covering type plant/weed that has greatly expanded in size, because it looked nice. There is a large group of bee balm flowers growing right next to it that are doing very well. Some of the other roses have a lot of undergrowth and have done well however. I cut the affected rose way back maybe 2-3 years ago, no one had maintained it, from about 8ft to about 4ft. It rapidly regrew many new canes and has recovered in size since. There werent many sawflies, but it was totally infested with Japanese beetles for the last few weeks. I sprayed once with Eight insecticide which really cut them back. They get infested every year, and I have used Eight the last few years. I am concerned because it used to be my best rose but is now apparently dying. I would really appreciate any suggestions to improve its health. Thanks! Well the forum won’t let me post more than one photo, oh well.
Welcome to the community. A few questions first.
- How much sun does your rose receive per day?
- How much do you water it? If you don’t say “a lot” – then you need to water more. Deep watering is best 2 times per week - even more on those hot summer days like we’re having now (I live in Chicago area)
- Did you do a thorough spring pruning?
It looks like you may have a number of canes that are dead or nearly dead. Go by the color. Good canes are usually a light green. I would prune out every cane that is dark or seems non-productive. It’s ok if you only have 6-8 good canes remaining.
Using a “more blooms” fertilizer is a waste of your time. The additional phosphorus in them gets locked up in the soil and doesn’t really get into the bush. For fertilizer, look for a 3-1-2 ratio of NPK. Regular Miracle Gro is perfect – 24-8-16 is the NPK. I use it together with fish emulsion – both at one-half of the label strength.
I would recommend using only fish emulsion the next time you fertilize. This feeds the soil which you may need if you have been using only chemical fertilizers. You may also look into liquid kelp which has some potassium and plenty of trace elements.
In summary - prune away all small, dead and nonproductive canes. Then water A LOT. Then use fish emulsion (1 TBS per gallon of water) and Kelp (also at 1 TBS per gallon).
Good luck.
I also use Eight for Japanese beetles I dilute into a handheld one quart spray bottle and then walk through the garden spraying every beetle I see. See my post at the end of the thread about “What are you doing for Japanese beetles this year?”
Thanks for the advice, I have 4 other roses that I’ve treated all the same and they are all doing great except for a small one next to this one. I fear I may have ripped off leaves when I pulled the vine out. I have been watering it every day for the past few weeks. I’ll try to attach a photo of it in bloom. There is spotted dead nettle underneath it, would that affect it? There is a duplicate rose about 10ft away from the affected one, and it is doing great, and it has tons of undergrowth beneath it including nightshade and creeping Charlie. The bushes have been there for prb 20yrs I am guessing. They were 8ft tall when I moved in but half dead canes so I pruned them back to ~4ft, and they recovered quickly with lots of new growth from the crown. I just applied more Eight today because they are all totally infested with hundreds of japanese beetles. A dozen or more on each flower! A truly awful situation. But again I had this every year, only this year has this bush become so ill. I did not prune them much in the spring because I wanted them to keep growing larger. Is that bad? Thanks for the help.
