EasyBloom Forum

I moved into my house (in North Texas) two years ago, and inherited six different rose plant in the process. I've managed not to kill any of them, and acutally had six of them blooming this summer (which is kinda a big deal for me :))!! The one I'm having a problem with is a climbing rose (on a trellis). I haven't had a bloom yet! I think the problem may be that I prused it in Feb. along with all the other roses. Any suggestions that will hopefully help be get some blooms this year? Also, I cut the trellis down when we moved in and no longer have it trained on anything. Is this a bad idea??

Hey Elizabeth...I actually know a thing or two about roses :)...(My dissertation for my PhD was primarily based on roses) Granted there are thousands upon thousands of different cultivars of roses and for the most part they have different cultivation needs, but they all have similarities. Roses like sun and warmth! This is what they will thrive on. Of course roses can withstand cold (they will drop their leaves and go dormant if it gets too cold), but if given warm temperatures year round they will continue to produce leaves and some cultivars will also produce flowers. As for your climbing rose, some climbing roses will become a large mound of leaves, canes and flowers without any type of support to cling to. If you have enough room, I actually feel this is a good look, but the shrub can get HUGE! I like to compare this look to a shaggy hairdo, as opposed to the clean cut look of a climbing rose trained and pruned to some sort of support. Since I'm not sure which cultivar your climbing rose is, I can't really give you a sense of what it will end up looking like.

As for promoting flowering for your climbing rose, there could be several issues at play. Chances are the climbing rose is either not getting enough sunlight or nutrients (my bet is on the latter). I would be surprised to ever hear that a rose was getting too much sun. Roses love the sun and the more the merrier for the most part (of course there can always be issues with dry soil that will complicate the sun issue, but as long as there are no other limiting factors, give your rose as much sunlight as possible). Many roses are also heavy feeders. They like the nutrients, which means you could potentially be feeding your rose every other week during the growing season. When your roses are dormant, it does little good to feed since the roses will have no place to put those nutrients since they will have no new place to put them, aka new leaves and shoots.

If you were to ask several different horticulturalists which fertilizer is best to use with roses, chances are you will get a different answer every time. Generally speaking fertilizers that are high in phosphate and relatively low in nitrogen are good for promoting floral production. I say this with a warning though. Roses love their nitrogen as well. The trick here is to find that balance that promotes both luscious foliar growth (nitrogen helps with this) and abundant floral production. My suggestion would be to go to your local nursery and purchase some fertilizer. It could be a liquid fertilizer, organic or slow release or some combination of the three. My recommendation is to follow the fertilizer use instructions. A rose can recover much more easily from too little fertilizer than they would be able to with too much fertilizer.

I hope this is helpful. Definitely let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers...Robby

Thanks Robby, this is great info! One last thing...should I prune it in Feb., or just let it go?

Hey there...If I were you I would prune your roses in early spring right before bud break. If where you live you will likely not receive a frost until spring, you could probably go ahead and prune right now. Roses, for the most part, are tough plants. Granted, they can be rather fussy at times. Generally, roses can survive a pruning, even if it's at a bad time of year or it's not done completely right. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers...Robby

I pulled into my driveway, which is next to the rose I asked you about originally, and I noticed it is covered completley with little buds!!!!! I'm so excited to see them start to bloom for the first time since I've lived here! This will be my third spring/ summer. Part of it has trained itself up a trellis and part of the canes are jutting out towards the alley. I can hardly contain myself!! I think it is going to be really beautiful in a few weeks. It will be wonderful when my Star Jasmine starts to bloom too. I did not prune the plant in Feb., and I fed it with a banana peel, coffee ground and milk "smoothie" several times last year---I had plenty of all three and wanted something to help with black spot, aphids, and to aid in fertilizing it. This is what I found online and it has seemed to help all of my roses. I'm sure it is close to impossible to tell me what to do next, but I'm going to take a cutting to my local nursery and see if they can help me identify it. SO...there may be more questions laster. :) I Just thought you might like to know that I'm having success. Thanks for all your help Dr. Robby!!!

Hey Elizabeth...Nice use of nutrient recycling to fertilize your plants. Are you composting the food before applying them to the soil? Or are you applying the banana peels, coffee grounds and smoothie directly to the rootzone of the roses? The reason why I ask is because composting is a great way to provide nutrition to your plants. It's fairly easy to do and costs very little. I also would recommend putting that banana peel in the freezer for a day or two. When the banana peel defrosts in the compost bin, it will break down quicker. (Ice crystals form inside the plant cells and act like little microscopic knives that cut up the cells as it defrosts). I too am excited to hear that your rose is covered in little buds. Let me know what the rose looks like when it fully blooms. Very exciting! Cheers...Dr. Robby