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Poorly Rose

Lydia2Lydia2 Posts: 3
in Problem solving

Hello, I wonder if anyone could help me. I am quite a novice gardener. We've had a patio rose for nearly two years now. Last year it flowered continually throughout most of the summer. We gave it some manure earlier on in the spring, but now it isn't looking happy at all. The leaves are turning mottled and yellow and are starting to fall off. I can't see any flies or bugs. We have looked underneath the pot and can't see it's roots pushing through either. We did put it in a bigger pot last year. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Lydia

Posts

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    May be waterlogged,could be something in the compost-I would carefully tip out of the pot and have a look at the soil and see if any nasties are in there

    -is there sufficient drainage?

    -was the manure well rotted?

    -have you fed at any time?

  • Alina WAlina W Posts: 1,445

    Was the manure well-rotted? If not, it will damage the plant and needs removing.

    If the manure was all that you gave it, it may have exhausted the nutrients in the pot. Scrape off the top two inches of compost, add some rose food (available from garden centres) and top with fresh compost.

    Have you been watering it frequently? It will have dried out very quickly in the hot spell we've just had.

    Finally, have you checked the compost for vine weevil? Look for white, C-shaped maggots with a dark head, about a cm long.

  • Lydia2Lydia2 Posts: 3

    Thank you - I will try your suggestions x

  • Paul NPaul N Posts: 303

    I know some people have success growing roses in pots but I believe they are happier in the ground. Patio roses don't seem to mind terribly but all of my roses (74) bar one are in the soil.

    To repeat what has already been said, roses need watering (not too much, not too little), pruning (at the right time, and removing die back and swiggy stems), sunlight (at least six hours a day), compost (well rotted and NOT TOUCHING the actual rose) and feeding (a handful of rose feed in the spring and a watering of diluted tomato fertiliser when i;s look a bit under the weather. Look out for mildew and black spot. By and large roses are pretty tough plants which often can look after themselves.

     

  • Lydia2Lydia2 Posts: 3

    Thank you Paul. We removed the top layer of manure yesterday which was actually quite dry. The compost underneath looked better but was swarming with ants! There were some helpful tips on the Gardeners World website which we have tried so hopefully we will see some improvements soon.

  • Alina WAlina W Posts: 1,445

    If the pot is swarming with ants there may be a nest there, which will be routing water and nutrients away from the rose's roots. It would be an idea to get rid of them.

  • AuntiemandAuntiemand Posts: 51

    Might be blackspot.   Is the mottling dark?

    My patio rose suffers terribly from it but with a good feed, and always picking affected leaves off, survives and flowers well every year.

  • pavery026pavery026 Posts: 75
    All my roses are grown in pots as I was planning to move house and didn't want to leave them. They have been growing very well in them for a good 5 years. I give them good drainage and water them until it runs out of the bottom of the pot. Every year the top third of compost is taken off and replaced. I too had a pot which got too dry and ants found it. Happy to say that sorted the ants out and repotted the rose and it's doing great. They are time consuming in pots and now we have decided not to move, I'm creating a rose garden and getting them in the ground.
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