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HERE. We also let you know when the rose gardens are looking their
best and give you dates when we hold all our demonstrations here on site.
Roses planted in the ground need to be fed three times a year for absolute maximum results. (September,December then February) 150gms of a good organic based feed. The best fertilizers are the 4 in 1 mixes which consist of chicken manure, seaweed extract, fish meal and blood&bone. There are lots of companies making these all in 1 mixes now. Which is great so no more adding liquid fertilsers and other so called wonder feeds. Feeding consistently with these quality organic based fertilizers will always ensure top healthy gardens. It creates stronger growth to all your roses - organically. Therefore they will get less fungal problems such as black-spot during the humid months of Spring. Even if they did get black-spot - if you have good growth from all the lovely organic feed, the roses will grow through it and repair it's self quicker. Cow manure will be okay as a feed but using it as a mulch with the 4 in 1 mix as the main feed works together beautifully. With this cocktail - you watch those worms go crazy even in the poorest of soil conditions. (We do not recommend fresh horse manure as it throws to much weed.) We highly recommend mulching but only with established roses as newly planted roses need at least 6 months of settlement before they get the works thrown on top. It can be to much for freshly planted bare rooted roses so go easy in the first year. Don't dig fertilizer in either. Just spread over the top and let nature work it in.
SUMMER PRUNING (de-heading)
Have a read of our simple method on summer pruning your roses. The longer the variety grows, the more stem you cut away once the rose buds have drop their petals after every flush. For example, Queen Elizabeth has very long stems and we recommend to take 70% of its stem away after flowering, yet Angel face is generally a much shorter stem variety so we recommend you only take 30% away. But regardless of what variety, each rose plant should be judged by how long the stems are in your garden. So simply, the longer the stems are, the more you prune away. Dont cut back your roses on hot days or, if a hot day is approaching, as you can actually cook the stems of your roses. We get peoples pics all the time through our e-mails during summer. Also - we have to get away from the term ``DE-HEADING`as we do not want people just taking of the heads once they finish flowering. By doing that, you will end up with a tall - leafless rose that hardly produces flowers. Thats why we have invented the new term - SUMMER PRUNING. Its makes more sense.
WINTER PRUNING (keeping it simple!)
Dont listen to myths saying that you must cut out crossing branches, cutting on an angle, cut to an outward facing bud and opening the centre. I don't know who started these silly rules. Its so much easier than that! Opening up the centre is for pruning fruit trees and somebody brought that into the rose pruning which is totally wrong. If you did that, you would be removing some of the best water shoots which you really need to keep. So long as you cut all of the dead and old wood out then some of the thinner spindly branches you will be fine. Keeping the youngest new water shoots are the key in keeping even the oldest roses looking young and fresh. And always cut them back to around 40-50 cms. Prune standards the same but take a bit more which is leaving around 30-35cms.
Remember that roses are the most forgiving plant in your garden You can make a lot of mistakes with roses and they will still look great. With a little bit of the right advise - they will even look better! Always remember to ask us for more information on these tips to. If you are experiencing problems - ring us (0359 624 500) or e-mail us. sales@magicgardenroses.com.au We are there to help and we can even give free pruning lessons here at the farm. Just book a time and learn once and for all. Hands on is always the way if you can make the trip.
SPRAYING AGAINST BLACKSPOT AND MILDEW FROM EARLY SPRING
After de-heading, watering and feeding properly, your roses are already going to be toughened up against black-spot and powdery-mildew but as we get into the humid wet spring weather you will need to spray. If you have had it with black-spot then get hold of the Kendon Triforine. It has the backing of Choice magazines best form of Triforine on the market and the feedback from customers is very positive since. Its very simple and it is very effective. Simply mix 15ml per litre of water into a container that has never had any weed killer in it. (That is very important!) Then start spraying around mid September when the shoots get around 10-15 cms long. Early spraying will ensure a healthy start to the season. Usually people only start spraying when they get blackspot and it is very hard to win the fight back once you have it. Remember - prevention is better than cure so get on the spray program early and after 3 to 4 months of regular spraying every 2 weeks you will have perfect roses all summer.
INSECTICIDE SPRAYING DURING SUMMER
We dont like using insecticide and we only use it when those aphids thrip start to really do damage. We dont pramote getting the insecticide sprays out if there are a few hanging around. In fact - some people actually comment on the odd aphids and thrip when buying flowering potted roses here during summer. We only get serious when they really start partying and then its time to break up their little get-together. Really - the only time we recommend you use insecticide sprays is when you have an major infestation of aphids or thrips. Aphids, (generally green in colour) occur in Spring and Autumn and congregate on the stems of roses. Thrips however - (brown in colour and tiny in size) always appear in the heat of Summer on those hot days and humid nights. They are the ones that are attracted to bright coloured roses such as your whites and yellows. If these appear and you want to get serious with them, then mix some Pyrethrum, Folimat or Confidor insect killer in your spray container - again - thats the one that has never had the weed killer in it - remember. Once you have sprayed it all - rinse the container and do not store any leftover insecticide as it is dangerous and will not work after 24 hrs anyway. Some people ask us how to get rid of caterpillars. We say - hunt them down your self and squash them! You would be amazed how easy they are to find and spraying them is useless as they are always hidden inside the rose buds. You can usually see their watery brown droppings on the nearest leaves - then look for the hole they have made. They are usually in there.
FINALLY
You are now that person down the road that really knows their roses and everybody will be asking for your advice!