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Old 08-09-2003, 03:42 AM
Mark. Gooley
 
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Default desperation pruning


"Shiva" wrote:
Mark. Gooley wrote:

Well, I've hacked off most of the near-bare branches on my
flooded roses and cut the rest short; on the bushes I pretty much
ripped out of the mud and re-planted on mounds of purchased
compost/dirt mix I did the same, and...


Why are you hacking up your roses?


Okay. I planted them in what's now the wet, and on the survivors
much of the top growth has lost leaves or died outright. People
have reminded me that severe pruning is a good idea if the root
system of a rose has been damaged or is about to be. The wet
seems to have caused some of the roots to rot away, which is causing
the tops to die off (presumably the roots can't support them)...so I've
been pruning back the tops in the hope that the bushes will endure
until they can grow new roots.

I've also dug up a few bushes planted in the wet and re-planted them
in raised mounds. Removing some top growth to match the roots
lost to rot or to digging seems to be helping in some cases.

Mark., who knows