The fact that the rose is the queen of flowers has been known since time immemorial. It was not for nothing that Egyptian queens took baths with rose petals, and oils based on them were so expensive that their price was worth its weight in gold. Therefore, they grew up exclusively at the royal court. Nowadays roses grow in almost every garden. And every housewife can grow them both for beauty and for other purposes. Whatever the purpose of growing flowers, it is important to know what kind of care for roses in the fall is necessary so that in the summer they bloom magnificently and are pleasing to the eye.
What activities do roses need in autumn?
Despite the fact that with the onset of autumn the roses are still blooming profusely, it is too early to rest. Don't forget about your favorite colors. During this period, it is important to provide the plants with proper care. After all, quality work in the autumn garden is the key to beautifully blooming rose bushes. Considering that roses are a very delicate and fastidious flower, it is important to properly help them prepare for the coming cold weather. For experienced gardeners, preparing roses for winter is not such a difficult process, but beginners need to figure out how, when and what to do in order to preserve and enhance the extraordinary beauty of flower beds.
All work on caring for roses in the fall is carried out in several stages:
- Autumn flower feeding;
- Watering the rose garden as needed;
- Timely pruning;
- Hilling, mulching rose bushes;
- Sheltering bushes for the winter.
Roses are very critical of the slightest deviations and immediately react to work done poorly or on time. And this affects not only the flowering of rose bushes. They become more susceptible to diseases, slowly increase green mass in the spring and quickly lose varietal characteristics.
Features of rose growing season
The fact that the rose is the closest relative of the rose hips does not give a reason to forget about them until spring. Even frost-resistant plant varieties require timely care due to certain features of vegetative processes. Moreover, caring for roses with the onset of autumn is not at all difficult. It is important to follow the deadlines and recommendations of experienced gardeners.
Thanks to the complex work of breeders, we have the opportunity to enjoy bright flowers and a delicate aroma every year. But this work also has a downside: most varietal flowers are completely incapable of hibernating with the onset of frost. When the ambient temperature drops below 0˚C, sap flow in the stems stops. But as soon as the temperature rises above this mark, the roses immediately wake up. Sap flow is restored. When the temperature drops sharply, the juice freezes almost instantly. As you know from a physics course, when a liquid freezes, it increases in volume. The same thing happens in the stems and roots of rose bushes. The frozen juice, turning into ice with a sharp drop in temperature, breaks the stem from the inside.Pathogenic microorganisms easily penetrate into the resulting microcracks, which are most often the main cause of disease and rotting of rose bushes.
When to start autumn rose care work
Preparatory work for caring for roses should begin in the second half of August - early September.
In the Northern regions and in the Siberian region, they begin to prepare rose bushes for winter in the second or third decade of August. In the central regions, the favorable period for caring for roses begins in September, in the second decade. But in the south of Russia they begin to prepare them for winter no earlier than the second half of September.
In addition to regional affiliation, it is important to pay attention to the surrounding nature. After all, it is she who will tell you the optimal timing when you need to provide the roses with proper care. As soon as the trees are covered with gold and crimson, it’s time to get to work. It is during this period that active sap flow stops in most shrubs and trees. Roses also need to be prepared for winter at this point.
Termination of rose growing season in autumn
The important thing in preparing roses for winter is to slow down the vegetative processes occurring in the stems and leaves. To do this, experienced gardeners advise not to loosen the soil under the bushes and monitor the soil moisture, preventing the growth of new shoots and the formation of buds. At the same time, cutting flowers with long stems for bouquets stops.
A large number of buds on the bushes significantly weakens the roots and does not allow them to fully accumulate useful substances before the onset of cold weather.In order to help plants fully prepare for winter, experienced gardeners advise bending the stem at the base of the bud. An unopened flower stops developing and does not “pull out” excess nutrients.
You should not cut off the buds, as in this case you will provoke the active formation and growth of lateral shoots from the buds.
Feeding roses in autumn
Another way to slow down vegetative processes in the fall is to stop fertilizing rose bushes with nitrogen fertilizers in mid-August. After all, they stimulate the active growth of the above-ground parts of plants. And during this period, the bushes vitally need fertilizing that nourishes and strengthens the root system.
In the third ten days of August it is worth making a primary fertilizing based on superphosphate and potassium. To do this, prepare a solution as follows:
- 2.5 g boric acid;
- 25 grams of superphosphate;
- 10 grams of potassium sulfate.
Mix the fertilizer well in 10 liters of water at room temperature. The resulting solution should be enough to feed a rose garden with an area of 4-5 m².
Secondary feeding should be applied no earlier than 2-3 weeks after the first. It is also intended to nourish and strengthen the roots. In this case, gardeners recommend the following composition:
- 16 grams of potassium monophosphate;
- 15 grams of superphosphate.
dilute in 10 liters of water.
It is important to remember that both primary and secondary fertilizing must be done in the absence of precipitation. The soil under the rose bushes should be dry. Then the roots will absorb the maximum amount of nutrients.
In case of heavy rainfall, it is best to use granular fertilizer based on superphosphates and potassium.In this case, a handful of fertilizer is scattered around the bush at a distance of 15-20 cm from the base and the soil is carefully loosened so that the granules are evenly mixed with the ground. With the dry feeding method, the roots will receive all the necessary substances evenly and in doses.
An experienced rose gardener will tell you how, when and what to feed roses in the fall in the following video:
Watering roses in autumn
With the onset of the first autumn month, it is important to pay attention to the condition of the soil under the rose bushes. It is important to avoid overwatering during this period. Excessive watering of roses will cause active growth of new shoots, which will not have time to become lignified in such a short period and will inevitably die at the first frost.
Moreover, when the soil is excessively moistened, surface roots of rose bushes begin to actively develop. They are located too close to the surface of the earth. And in severe frosts, unfortunately, they suffer the most.
To prevent this from happening, monitor precipitation and soil moisture. If autumn is full of rain and there is a problem of rose bushes being oversaturated with moisture, flower beds should be protected. Metal arcs on which a transparent polyethylene film is stretched will help you with this.
If there is insufficient precipitation, the rose garden needs to be watered 1-2 times a week.
Hilling rose bushes
You need to hill up roses at the base of the bushes when the thermometer drops below -3˚C at night. Lower temperatures are detrimental to flowers.
- Before you begin this stage of caring for roses, you need to tear off the leaves at the base of the bushes. This way, you will prevent them from overheating and rotting.
- Protect your flowers from possible infection and microorganisms. To do this, the rose stems must be painted with special garden paint. The height of painting should be equal to the height of subsequent hilling of rose bushes. If you do not have a garden solution for coloring, you can replace it with a water-based emulsion with the addition of copper oxychloride. It also perfectly protects roses from diseases.
- Roses should be planted in dry, sunny weather. It is advisable that the soil under the bushes is also dry or slightly moist. It is enough to create a low protection for the bases of low-growing varieties of roses, no more than 10-15 cm in height. But rose bushes of tall varieties require higher protection. The earthen mound must be at least 35-40 cm in height.
Why such difference? Low-growing varieties of roses have thicker and woodier stems. But in tall varieties, on the contrary, they are more flexible and thin.
Trimming stems and shoots
The next step in the systematic care of roses in the fall is their timely pruning. Bushes are trimmed every fall. And it doesn’t matter at all how old your flowers are. Pruning is mandatory both for perennial plants and for young, recently planted seedlings.
- First of all, it is necessary to cut off all the leaves and immature, weak and diseased shoots from the stems. They will inevitably freeze when frost sets in. Buds, flowers and seed pods should also be pruned.
- Next, you should properly trim the excess stems. After carefully examining the bush, select 4 to 6 of the strongest and most powerful shoots.They should be left. But the rest need to be cut out. The stems should be cut at a height of 5-6 cm from the ground. Don't skimp on extra trunks. In the spring they will only interfere with each other.
- The remaining rose stems also need to be trimmed. At this stage, it is important to pay attention to which part of the stem contains the largest number of buds. If they are mostly located in the upper part of the stems, then long pruning of roses is appropriate. In this case, the shoots are almost not trimmed, only the top part is removed. Provided that the buds are located evenly over the entire surface of the shoots, either short or medium pruning is used, which depends on the variety and type of roses.
All trimmed leaves, branches and stems must be immediately removed from the flower garden. It is better to burn them to prevent the spread of fungal and putrefactive diseases of healthy rose bushes.
You will learn the basic rules for pruning roses in the fall from the video:
Winter shelter for rose bushes
From mid-October, the most important stage begins - shelter. The complexity and method of covering very much depends on the type of flower, as well as the region of growth.
For example, for park varieties with excellent frost resistance and in the Siberian regions, hilling with soil with further mulching is sufficient.
For delicate and finicky varieties, protection should be more significant. Before sheltering, the bushes are pre-mulched. A layer of spruce branches is laid on top of the mulch layer, which will protect the roses not only from the cold, but also from the destructive invasion of hungry rodents. Any material that has water-repellent or water-insulating properties must be laid on the spruce branches: lutrasil, roofing felt, film.During autumn rains and spring thaws, it will protect rose bushes from moisture.
Recently, another method for covering roses in the fall has become widespread - wrapping the bushes with netting and then filling the internal space with mulching material. A cover made of dense material is put on top of the resulting cylinder: burlap, film or lutrasil.
All of the above work on caring for roses in the fall should be carried out exclusively on a warm, sunny day. The bushes should be dry and the soil underneath them should be slightly moist. Therefore, keep an eye on the weather conditions and as soon as favorable days turn out, don’t delay, urgently take care of your favorite flowers.
The author of the video will tell you how to cover roses for the winter:
They are infused with wine, and rose petal jam has an excellent taste and delicate aroma.
Conclusion
The procedure for caring for roses in the autumn period resembles a special mysterious ceremony. Therefore, flower growers who have been breeding roses for a long time take their time and carry out all work with special care. But when the first buds with an intoxicating aroma begin to bloom on the bushes, even the smallest flower garden turns into a paradise where you can relax, enjoy the beauty of bright flowers and have a lot of fun.
