In early spring, if you are growing roses and have not completed the following three important tasks, it is important that you take the time to do so to ensure healthy growth and beautiful blooms.
1. Pruning and Towing
Pruning outdoor roses
In areas with frost, outdoor-grown roses are usually dormant now. At this time, you can see the full red buds preparing to sprout. If your shrub roses have not been pruned, now is the perfect time to do so.
As temperatures warm up, nutrients begin to flow to the branches and buds will sprout. If you prune too late, you will waste a lot of the nutrients that your rose has stored. Therefore, it is recommended that roses be pruned heavily during the dormant period.
For shrub roses, winter pruning is usually done by trimming off 2/3 or 1/2 of the total height of the plant, depending on the height and growth of the plant. In the case of tall shrub roses planted in the ground, the plant can be dwarfed by pruning 20 cm from the ground.
Towing of Vine Roses
In the case of vine roses, pruning focuses on removing weak, wilted and diseased branches. The main task is then traction. If your vine roses have not yet been pulled, it is recommended that this be done in early February so that buds don’t touch off during the pulling process after they have sprouted.
For vine varieties with soft branches, it is advisable to keep the traction horizontal; while for large vine varieties with hard branches, the angle can be adjusted to about 30 degrees to avoid excessive pulling resulting in branch breakage.
2. Changing pots and soil
For potted roses, it is recommended to change the potting soil once a year. If you are using a large pot and it is inconvenient to change the pot, you can change the potting soil every 2-3 years. The best time to change pots for roses is after winter dormancy and before germination in early spring.
If your potted roses have not had their soil replaced, now is the time. Replacing the soil with new, fertile soil will allow the rose to grow more vigorously and produce more flowers in the spring.
When changing pots, it is recommended that you add fermented organic fertilizer and bone meal to the bottom of the pot as a base fertilizer. Unfermented raw fertilizer is not recommended for potted roses as it tends to cause root burning. You can place fermented organic fertilizer at the bottom of the pot and sprinkle long-lasting slow-release fertilizer on the top of the pot. When the new shoots grow to 3-5 cm, water-soluble fertilizer can be applied every 5 days to promote growth.
3. Apply long-lasting fertilizer
For in-ground roses or potted roses that do not need to change soil, they need to be supplemented with sufficient long-lasting fertilizers in winter. If you have not yet applied fertilizer, now is the best time to do so.
How to fertilize in-ground roses
For in-ground roses, organic fertilizers can be shallowly buried 10 cm away from the root system. Unfermented raw fertilizer can also be used, but it is recommended that insecticide be added at the same time and that it be covered tightly to prevent odors from emanating. In order to speed up the fermentation of fertilizer, fermentation bacteria can also be added.
Fertilizing method for potted roses
For roses in large pots or planting boxes, if you do not change the soil, you can dig out the top layer of soil, and then use new nutrient soil mixed with sufficient amount of fermented organic fertilizer and slow-release fertilizer, mix it well and fill it back into the pot. This will replenish the potting soil with sufficient nutrients to help roses thrive.