On 28/04/2010 23:29, Ian B wrote:
The garden has half a dozen rose bushes in it, in various states. This one
is about the saddest looking. It had severe problems with black spot last
year, such that I now informally know it as Typhoid Mary.

http://img594.imageshack.us/i/iansrose.jpg/

So this year I read up about pruning for about thirty seconds on the
internet, then hacked savagely at all the bushes in the hope of creating
some improvement. They're all sprooting now, but the big problem with this
one is that it only has one, or if you're generous and squint your eyes a
bit, two canes coming out of the bud union (which also, as you can see, is
rather a long way above the ground for some reason). The rest is just a big
lump of gnarly old bark.

Is there anything I can do to improve its prospects and get some more, I
believe they're called "basal breaks", or is it the Gordon Brown of the rose
garden that is just clinging on until somebody does the kind thing and puts
it out of its misery? It produced one little red rose last year, which was
impressive considering all the leaves it lost (and it had not many to start
with) in my attempts to control the spread of the spot.


Ian



I've seen much sicker roses go on to thrive! By all means cut out all
the dead basal wood; leaving it will never help the rose, and may be
detrimental. Lightly fork in some of your chicken poo fertiliser, then
give it a generous watering. Then mulch thickly around it, but not too
close to the stem as this can cause rotting. Having said that, you
could afford to build up the soil/mulch level until the bud union is
buried. The mulch will help keep the root area cool and moist. and
suppress weeds. More importantly, it will help prevent spores of the
black spot fungus re-infecting the plant. Since you have a serious
black spot problem in your garden, you should invest in a proprietory
rose fungus treatment.

If the rose doesn't produce buds by the beginning of June, give it a
high potash feed, such as a proprietory rose or tomato fertiliser. This
will help to ripen the wood and induce flowering.

It may be a red rose, but I wouldn't give it the Gordon Brown treatment
just yet!

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay