Who doesn’t want a majestic Rose flower blooming in your home garden! In India, we often like to grow Roses in Pots outside. This blog will help you to understand how to look after roses in pots & rose plant care tips. Following are ten essentials of rose growing in India:
Sunlight requirement of Roses:
Roses love an open sunny space with no overhanging branches of trees. However, in the hot climate of summer, partial shade is helpful.
Pot size for Rose Plant
Rose, if grown in pots, would need containers 30-40 cm (12-16 inch) wide. It is helpful to re-pot them every year after removing old & dead roots. Plants may be changed after 3-4 years.
Potting mixture for Rose plants
Roses like to grow in good, fertile, well-drained soil with moisture retention capacity. A soil mixture should also contain 1 part farm yard manure & 1 part bio-compost.
Propagation of Roses
In India, different varieties of Roses are grown by grafting and budding method, rather than planting stem or seed sowing. Eye budding (T-shaped budding) is the most common nursery method for growing various rose hybrids that are grafted over wild rootstock plant.
Separate Rose Garden
Rose is formal plant & does not mix freely with other color or plants. Therefore roses are grown separately in a special patch away from other flowering plants.
Watering Roses
Potted roses may be watered on alternate days in the summer or even every day. They need frequent good watering.
Drainage
Roses are susceptible to waterlogging. The leaves of potted roses turn yellow if proper drainage in the pots is not ensured.
Pruning Roses
In India, pruning of rose plants is done twice a year in late June & early December. Apart from removing weak & dead wood, prune up to about half of the growth of each branch of old plants.
Fertilizers for rose plants
Give preference to organic fertilizers rather than chemical ones. Bio-compost, vermicompost or cow-dung manure is provided to plant twice a year after every pruning.
Rose diseases and pests:
Red Scales & dieback fungus are two primary diseases that affect the Roses in India along with Red Mites, Mealybugs, Powdery Mildew & Black Spots.
How to Take Care of Roses During Winter
If you love healthy, full buds on your rose plants every spring, it’s important to learn how to take care of them throughout the cold winter months.
There are several important steps you must take to prepare them for winter that start in Temperature down.
Fertilizer is important for your roses, but you want your rose bush to know that it is almost time to go dormant.
In the fall you want to stop fertilizing and add mulch. Your roses are going to need the extra protection on its roots from the cold and if you live in a very cold climate, you want to make a large mound.
The mulch will also help absorb water and keep the weeds down the upcoming spring.
Don’t forget to remove the extra mulch in the spring as it can cause rot and attract insects that will eat your plant.
Pruning and Water
In the early fall, you are going to want to stop pruning your roses. You don’t want any new growth that can be damaged by the cold, leave the remaining flowers so they can form into the hip.
Hips are seed pods and when your roses bush starts producing them, it is done for the season and starts going dormant.
After the first frost, you want to thoroughly water your roses. They are going to be on their own for the upcoming winter and giving them a good soak for their last watering will help them in the upcoming months.
Dead Leaves
Pink roses during winter
You want to remove all the dead leaves at the end of fall to prevent despises from infecting your rose bushes.
If you do have disease leaves, make sure you do not add them to your mulch pile as this can damage them and the disease will infect your plant in the spring when you put on the infected mulch.
You can tell if they are bad if you see black spots or an insect infestation.
Covering Your Roses
Roses winter
Some winters can get very cold with high-speed winds that can do a lot of damage to your roses. To protect your roses from harsh winter winds and freezing temperatures, you can cover them with a burlap sack.
In some cases, you can cover them with a large trash bag, but the burlap sack is the ideal solution.
Make sure it is weighted down on the bottom, you may need to tie a few of your stems together to ensure they all fit into your bags.
The rose has evolved from a simple flower to a multitude of varieties. There is no one guide to take care of every type of rose plant.
If you follow this general guideline while taking into consideration general care for the region you live in, your roses will be hardy and healthy in the spring to come.
