citylights
Full Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:16 am
Location: Toronto

Spring fertilizing/pruning/removing ground cover

Need help getting started for spring:

When do I remove the ground cover off the roses?
When do I give them the first feed?
When do I start pruning?

Currently reside in Zone 5b. Snow has melted but there is still chances of frost and the temperature falls just below freezing over night only. Other than that roses are just barely starting to bud....

luis_pr
Greener Thumb
Posts: 824
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a

Hello, citylights. If by "ground cover" you mean winter protection, you can remove the winter protection at your average day of last frost (for your area) or you could wait an extra week or two since it is averages and therefore late frost will sometimes happen after this date.

When to fertilize and when to prune are inter-related and there many ways to proceed. Do whatever program you like and works for you. Pruning will trigger new growth in about 2-3 weeks & roses need to be fertilized when new growth starts so, I go back to the average date of last frost for my area.

Three weeks before the average date of last frost or earlier, you can start to prune the roses. On the average day of last frost, you can begin to fertilize the roses. You can tweak these times if you have only a few or hundreds of roses. Tweak it if you also notice it is always too early or late. Observe what plant flowers at the time that you need to prune for hints that pruning time is fast approaching. Some bushes that I use for reference are forsythia and quince. Pruning time in Toronto should be around April and May.

You do not need to heavily prune miniatures; hybrid teas, grandifloras and floribundas can be pruned by a third. Cut no more than 1/4 inch (0.64 cm) above an outside-facing eye or growth bud and do this at a 45 degree angle. If cutting a whole cane, do it as close to the stump as possible. For new or almost new roses, I wait a year before pruning them for the first time. Clean your pruners for a few minutes before starting in a solution of 10% bleach + 90% water. Do it again when you are done pruning. Some people also do it when they switch from one rose to the next; others do it only if the rose has a known problem. There are valid points for all suggestions so you choose what works for you.

You can fertilize roses with organic materials or chemical fertlizers. There are several rose feeding programs out there that one can choose from based on how much time you have and how much money you want to “investâ€

citylights
Full Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:16 am
Location: Toronto

Thanks Luis! that pretty much answers all my questions and more!



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