I have planted some roses in my home garden, where I live, that is in UAE. It is very hot in the summer, it gets up to high 40ies c around noon time.
My roses do survive the summer and it is now (late Nov to Apr) is the blooming season.
What I have noticed is that my roses are not growing, they are not getting taller, they seem to be a stand still.
I am pruning, and new shoots do come out, but I do not see my roses growing.
I do fetilize with cow manure, and today I started preparing a homemade fish emulsion, which I plan to use by next weekend.
Question: anybody would suggest why my roses are not getting bigger or taller?
Thanks in advance
Al
-
luis_pr
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 824
- Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
- Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a
I am aware of two reasons that match your description, one caused by an insect and the other by an environmental problem:
Insect: Rose Scale is an insect that affects roses and there are many different types of scale so a proper description from the ones I see may not match any that you see in the UAE. However, these insects generally are obvious and affect the canes very clearly and I am sure you would have noticed that and mentioned this if you had a rose scale infestation. So I am going to suggest that your problem may be environmental...
Weather: Our weather in Texas sounds similar to yours, Al. As the height of the summer season approaches here, roses become semi-dormant and they stop growing until temperatures moderate. At the same time that growth becomes stunted, you will also notice that the roses will either reduce the number of blooms and may even shrink the size of the blooms themselves.
One thing that we do in hot climates is to either not fertilize during the hottest months of the year or use fertilizer with less nitrogen. Nitrogen is most useful during the early Spring growth so not much is needed during the hot stressful summer months. Phosphorus helps the roots and blooms develop while pottasium provides for general health of the plants by allowing them to hardiness to heat and drought. You can add those two at just about any time of the year; I stop all amendments during the coldest part of winter but not because the plants do not need it... rather, because it is too cold to be outside!!!
Once lower temperatures arrive in the Fall, the roses wake up and begin to give one (or two) more flushes of blooms before going dormant during winter. During this time of the year, I do not want to trigger tender new growth that can get killed by cold temperatures so I continue using low nitrogen fertilizers but an alternative would be to use liquid fertilizers whose effect is usually not long lasting.
Fish emulsion, compost tea and liquid seaweed are good fertilizers that also include micro-nutrients, minerals that roses need. Fish emulsion and liquid seaweed do not contain that much nitrogen so they can be used almost all year around (except in cold climates).
Pruning tends to force growth and, during the summer, I tend to minimize the amount of pruning done.
I also use drip irrigation and keep the soil well mulched at all times. You could also try to get a soil test done to make sure that your soil is not defficient in some minerals (adding compost yearly is a low cost way to improve the soil).
Luis
Insect: Rose Scale is an insect that affects roses and there are many different types of scale so a proper description from the ones I see may not match any that you see in the UAE. However, these insects generally are obvious and affect the canes very clearly and I am sure you would have noticed that and mentioned this if you had a rose scale infestation. So I am going to suggest that your problem may be environmental...
Weather: Our weather in Texas sounds similar to yours, Al. As the height of the summer season approaches here, roses become semi-dormant and they stop growing until temperatures moderate. At the same time that growth becomes stunted, you will also notice that the roses will either reduce the number of blooms and may even shrink the size of the blooms themselves.
One thing that we do in hot climates is to either not fertilize during the hottest months of the year or use fertilizer with less nitrogen. Nitrogen is most useful during the early Spring growth so not much is needed during the hot stressful summer months. Phosphorus helps the roots and blooms develop while pottasium provides for general health of the plants by allowing them to hardiness to heat and drought. You can add those two at just about any time of the year; I stop all amendments during the coldest part of winter but not because the plants do not need it... rather, because it is too cold to be outside!!!
Once lower temperatures arrive in the Fall, the roses wake up and begin to give one (or two) more flushes of blooms before going dormant during winter. During this time of the year, I do not want to trigger tender new growth that can get killed by cold temperatures so I continue using low nitrogen fertilizers but an alternative would be to use liquid fertilizers whose effect is usually not long lasting.
Fish emulsion, compost tea and liquid seaweed are good fertilizers that also include micro-nutrients, minerals that roses need. Fish emulsion and liquid seaweed do not contain that much nitrogen so they can be used almost all year around (except in cold climates).
Pruning tends to force growth and, during the summer, I tend to minimize the amount of pruning done.
I also use drip irrigation and keep the soil well mulched at all times. You could also try to get a soil test done to make sure that your soil is not defficient in some minerals (adding compost yearly is a low cost way to improve the soil).
Luis
Thanks luis for the reply, honestly much appreciated.
As for my roses are infected with Rose Scale, I still would not exclude that cause, and I will be able to check that only on Thursday, as I live in another town and different than where I have planted the roses. And on Thursday will visit my roses to examine.
I have done some quick googling on Rose Scale and I know what to look for on the stem (Thanks for the tip)
As for the weather and systematic rose maintenance, well I do try to maintain them, but maybe not very systematically.
I do mulch them, I do spray coffee ground that I get from Starbucks around the base, I do mix cow manure, coffee ground and peat moss and place it around the plant base.
Soil testing, well I do have a PH tester and my soil seems to be neutral (neither Acidic nor Alkaline).
For your information I have over 24 Rose plants, some of them recently planted a week or less ago, some of them have completed two years since planted, I will have to record the maintenance I do to them.
A piece of additional information: I have a millingtonia (Indian Cork) tree planted close to my roses, and that millingtonia have spread its roots almost all over the place,around the roses. Everytime I dig around the roses I see the roots of that mellingtonia. Its root is very shallowish. But I can not and will not get rid of that millingtonia either, as it is adorable tree.
What NPK composition I should use to give good growth especially foliage. I need the foliage more than the roses for the time being.
Appreciate the comments
Al
As for my roses are infected with Rose Scale, I still would not exclude that cause, and I will be able to check that only on Thursday, as I live in another town and different than where I have planted the roses. And on Thursday will visit my roses to examine.
I have done some quick googling on Rose Scale and I know what to look for on the stem (Thanks for the tip)
As for the weather and systematic rose maintenance, well I do try to maintain them, but maybe not very systematically.
I do mulch them, I do spray coffee ground that I get from Starbucks around the base, I do mix cow manure, coffee ground and peat moss and place it around the plant base.
Soil testing, well I do have a PH tester and my soil seems to be neutral (neither Acidic nor Alkaline).
For your information I have over 24 Rose plants, some of them recently planted a week or less ago, some of them have completed two years since planted, I will have to record the maintenance I do to them.
A piece of additional information: I have a millingtonia (Indian Cork) tree planted close to my roses, and that millingtonia have spread its roots almost all over the place,around the roses. Everytime I dig around the roses I see the roots of that mellingtonia. Its root is very shallowish. But I can not and will not get rid of that millingtonia either, as it is adorable tree.
What NPK composition I should use to give good growth especially foliage. I need the foliage more than the roses for the time being.
Appreciate the comments
Al