Hello,
I have for many years grown hybrid tea roses in my back yard. They have always done well. I couple of years ago we had the wrong kind of winter and many of my old roses died. Some of them eventually came back from the root but some did not.
I recently planted a new “Love and Peace” to replace one that I had to remove. I came out the next day to find that every single leaf had been eaten by our lovely local New England Cottontails. They have never bothered roses in my yard before but they ate the new growth of of quite a few of the tea roses. They didn’t touch the climbers. At any rate, I put wore cages around all of the roses to protect the growth near the ground.
A number of small leaves appeared on the new planted Love and Peace but then it got cold (low 50s) for a week and now it doesn’t seem to be growing anymore. It is warm again now so hopefully it will take off but I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help it along. I am also wondering if it isn’t going to make it. It must be hard on a plant to lose all of its leaves at once like that.
Anyway, advice would be very much appreciated.
LMHmedchem
Your rose should recover since your growing season has just started. What have you or plan to fertilize your rose with? Your rose will recover quicker if it has a fertilizer with a higher number (e.g., 40-0-0) of nitrogen and consistent watering. However, have you ever had your soil tested? Do you know the pH around your roses?
Thanks for the optimistic reply. I apply RoseTone around each plant in the spring and also work a couple of cups of humus and manure into the top of the soil around the plant. Since all of my roses need new growth I also water with 5-1-1 fish emulsion once a week. Later I switch to the 0-10-10 fish emulsion.
I have had the soil from my lawn and garden tested but not the rose bed. There is a large pine tree in the yard so all of the dropped needles tend to make the soil acidic. I have to put allot of lime on the lawn. I can do pH test on the rose bed.
I live in a coastal area that is zone 7a. The amount of rain we get varies wildly, as does the annual temperatures. It almost always gets below 0 in the winter and almost always gets above 100 in the summer. We have had allot of rain in May with 6" in one storm last week. What are your thoughts on watering?
I will try to post pictures later, I am still getting my garden in.
LMHmedchem
Rose tone only lasts six to seven weeks, you may want to use it every six weeks. The liquid feeds are good, but not long lasting. Blood meal is 12% nitrogen, you might consider using some for the N boost. Please let us know the pH of the rose beds once you know. Your roses usually need 1 inch of water per week, since you have sandy soil, you will probably need to water more often. Adding compost is the one of the best things you can do for your roses.