ijepsen
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 10:15 am

Help! Very Old Mini Rose Bush is Dying

Hello, I am just joining, desperate to get help with my mini rose bush. It was my grandmothers and is probably over 80 years old! It is very dear to me. It has always been in a pot on my patio in south Louisiana and has done well. Over the last year it has started to struggle. I have seen chewing on the leaves so I sprayed for insects. I have also trimmed back the dead pieces. I have fertilized on occasion. It bloomed earlier this spring but with only a few blooms. Now it has lost almost all of its' leaves and the branches are dark and dying. ( I will get a picture to show how pitiful the poor baby is). I was wondering if this is normal for an older mini rose bush to go through this? I appreciate any help you all can provide.

Sparsons
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 1:21 pm

Ijepson, I have 2 weeping mini roses, but are only about 15 years old. I had major issues this year with Thrips. Mine bloomed beautiful early in season, but leaves began turning yellow, and the branches just didn't look right either. After noticing tiny web material on underside of some of the leaves, I took action. I trimmed the diseased cuttings immediately to trash keeping it away from my other flowers.That was over 2 months ago, and I'm still treating them with Bayer spray for roses every 14 days. I even got tired of the Thrips destroying my roses so I pruned them back to 6" branches myself hoping to temporarily starve the insects. I know, ridiculous. I treated the soil also with Neem.They're recovering nicely now, new growth daily, and no signs of any pests. I check my roses daily for any signs of trouble. I hope maybe this helps. Keep us posted please.

ijepsen
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 10:15 am

Thank you for the info. I think I discovered part of the problem - where it is positioned on the patio, it is getting too much water when it rains. My patio cover has developed a drip right over the poor rose bush! I'm going to trim it back and move it. I might also fertilize but I'm not sure what to do first - trim or fertilize? Or does it matter....



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