Brown Thumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:50 pm
Location: South US

Roses bushes don't bloom

When we bought our home a couple of years ago there were two very puny rose bushes growing in the shade of some oak trees. I dug them up and moved to a more sunny area. This year we purchased a hybrid yellow rose and planted it on the SE corner of the house (gets plenty sun). The two I transplanted sprouted the following spring and grew a foot or more, but they only produced a couple roses during the early spring.. I pruned them a little during the winter and this spring they grew again, but still only had one bloom. Now it seems the new one we planted this year is doing the same thing.

So, our problem is the roses only bloom once in the early spring and then they never make another flower, but the plants appear fairly healthy. I've read they may need food, but I've fertilized our lawn with 13*13*13 over a month ago (including around the bushes) and I've added some miracle grow occassionally when watering. We're dry here, but we water them every few days. Anyone got a trick we should try? The area we live isn't known for having the best soil, but I added a little top soil in the hole when planting them to help. The plants are approximately 2-3 ft tall.

Brown Thumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:50 pm
Location: South US

No tips? We've still got green rose bushes that appear healthy, but no flowers or blooms to speak of. Any advice would be appreciated.

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

Maybe no one wants to break it to you that the lawn fertilizer is the likely culprit. High nitrogen content will encourage leaf growth--and you're seeing that on the roses. But for flowers you'll want high phosphorus (the "P" in NPK), as well as a host of micronutrients that aren't accounted for in the usual NPK fertilizers.

My roses bloom constantly. My feeding "program"? Uh...I don't really have one, but I don't have a lawn, either. The roses get compost every spring and compost or worm leachate "tea" every now and then. I make the worm leachate "tea" by diluting the leachate 1:9 with water, so I have a 10% solution of the leachate and I water the plants--roots only--with it.

I prune the roses during their (brief!) dormancy during those Januaries I can do so and deadhead the plants as regularly as I can. During the season, I'll also cut out the occasional crossing branch or wild branch--one that shoots out of the bush suddenly.

So...the first place I'd look is the fertilizer. It's interesting to me that you get *early* flowers--could these be forming before you start fertilizing the lawn?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Brown Thumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:50 pm
Location: South US

cynthia_h wrote:Maybe no one wants to break it to you that the lawn fertilizer is the likely culprit. High nitrogen content will encourage leaf growth--and you're seeing that on the roses. But for flowers you'll want high phosphorus (the "P" in NPK), as well as a host of micronutrients that aren't accounted for in the usual NPK fertilizers.

My roses bloom constantly. My feeding "program"? Uh...I don't really have one, but I don't have a lawn, either. The roses get compost every spring and compost or worm leachate "tea" every now and then. I make the worm leachate "tea" by diluting the leachate 1:9 with water, so I have a 10% solution of the leachate and I water the plants--roots only--with it.

I prune the roses during their (brief!) dormancy during those Januaries I can do so and deadhead the plants as regularly as I can. During the season, I'll also cut out the occasional crossing branch or wild branch--one that shoots out of the bush suddenly.

So...the first place I'd look is the fertilizer. It's interesting to me that you get *early* flowers--could these be forming before you start fertilizing the lawn?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Maybe you're right. I did have the few flowers before I fertilized, but the plants aren't growing like crazy either. They just appear healthy, but still staying around 3 ft tall. I did notice one of those wild branches you mentioned that shot up quickly and is now towering over the rest of the bush. Should I go ahead and cut that back? I just thought it was finally about to do something. I didn't go overboard with the fertilizer, but next year I won't add any near them.

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

Sure, cut back the outlier. Right now the rose bushes are happily generating leaves due to the nitrogen....you may need to divide into a "lawn" zone and a "rose" zone to get each one the nutrients it needs. Bear in mind that the root zone for roses is pretty large.

Cynthia

Brown Thumbs
Senior Member
Posts: 142
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:50 pm
Location: South US

cynthia_h wrote:Sure, cut back the outlier. Right now the rose bushes are happily generating leaves due to the nitrogen....you may need to divide into a "lawn" zone and a "rose" zone to get each one the nutrients it needs. Bear in mind that the root zone for roses is pretty large.

Cynthia
I may not fertilize the lawn again anyway, so maybe that'll help. We were doing that due to some bare areas underneath some oaks to see if it'd help grass to grow. Don't guess you have any tricks for that?

Is there anything you recommend we do now concerning the roses or just let the fertilizer run it's course? The plants really don't seem to be growing a lot, but do have healthy, dark green leaves. I do sometimes notice the leaves on the end of some stems will kind of role up; not sure what that means.



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