Alicemialola
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 4:17 pm

Leaves on Rose Fell Off & Stems Turned Brown

Hi there! My name is Alice and I'm an amateur home gardner. I'm here because I need help with my rose plant! I have been caring for a rose bush I revived as a gift for the past 4 years. It has been transplanted twice and thriving with new growth and multiple constient blooms in the last year. A few weeks ago the stems turned brown and the leaves fell off, many without turning yellow. I may have exposed it to cold air and I thought that's what caused it. It had one bloom during this that is still there. Right now there are new leaves sprouting anywhere the stems are not brown. I'm not sure what to do about it or if I need to do anything. I don't want to prune the stems because many tips are still green. See pictures. I'd like to know what caused this so suddenly. I don't think it's the Sun because this has been its' spot the whole 4 years. Please share any feedback. Thank you!!!
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Asica
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Location: California (Los Angeles)

Since the plant did well for four years and suddenly dropped leaves and got brown stems, it went through some kind of shock. The cold is a good reason for this to happend.
Any brown stem without any new leaves coming, cut it off. I see a lot of new leaves coming back, so that is a great sign. To give a plant a break, I would cut the stem with flower. The plant is wasting a lot of energy on it.
Maybe give some ferterizer, banana skin are great for roses. I would cut some into prices and put in the soil.

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applestar
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Is this a miniature rose? I haven't seriously grown roses in years (and never indoors) so I'm sure other members who have are better at diagnosing the problem for you, but it feels to me that this plant might have been overwatered.

Some of the shriveled main stems don't look very good, even if there are upper branches that still look green. The new growths at the base seems to mean the plant needed to re-new itsself, and sacrificing the upper growths and cutting the stems back to just above the new shoots will allow the plant to concentrate on growing new main stems.

In my garden where winter temperatures can plummet to negative single digits °F, it's normal to cut roses back nearly to the ground (well, knee high) every year. And certain period of dormancy is normal. Have you ever let it rest by cutting back and withholding water for a time in cooler temperature/situation?

Yours look a little overcrowded with excess interior branches, which is especially not be good for a plant kept indoors. Roses are typically pruned so they are cut just above branches/new shoots that grow outward, leaving the interior of the plant open for airflow and light penetration.

At this point, since it has lost a lot of leaves, be sure not to water it in same schedule/way as when it was lush with leaves -- it can't use all that water and the roots will get waterlogged. What is your normal routine for watering it?



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