hi .. this is the second season i have looked after a garden with a few climbing roses .. last year they didn't do all that great, and on one (sorry, i have no names) the new growth last spring came up edged with dark, dried edges .. that 'growth' continued throughout the year, and i took any unhealthy leaves off during the summer months .. in the fall, i fed them, in the winter, i took off the leaves, in february i tip pruned, fed and mulched them .. new leaves are coming up again, a bit crinkled, and with dark, dry edges .. is there something i can do for these guys? .. could it be something moving through the plant from the root up? .. can you help ..
Fertilizer burn? Other salts in the soil or water? Things like this can be tricky, it might even be a biological agent (fungus or bacterium).
"sickly leaves" on roses thanks, ron .. it could be the fertilizer, although i use a slow release organic blend, sparingly, that i have mixed into the ground around them .. is it possible what's happening might infect other roses? .. i'm being fairly diligent in cleaning up .. so, i'm trusting that will help to some degree ..
You gotta find out exactly what it is before you can take effective action. Might even be something like a trace element deficiency (or toxicity).
Hi Gang sorry for the intusion Any chance of a pic of the roses and the affected leaves? Also you use organic fert/ do you Know what the base is ? Or anything else about it ie (npk content) A common unbalace in the soil after organic fert is maganese / iron / magnesium/ or an over obundance of nitrogen A high nitrogen content in the soil can cause the prob also. By the way I an interested in a slow release organic fert. as they are ussually treated with certain chem to slow the proccess down. Best Regards
"sickly" leaves i'd be happy to find out what this is, as i'm hoping these roses will shine this year .. i'll try and get a photo .. i'm a little hesitant to think it's the fertilizer simply because this was happening before i started looking after them .. it may even be happening a bit less this year .. i'm hopefull .. however, i won't say it's not the fertilizer .. the one i used has a seedmeal base .. cottonseed i believe .. seems to be working well in the other gardens .. geez, you'd like to think 'organic' is 'organic,' wouldn't you .. i'll get a rundown on the fertilizer balance .. thanks so much for you input, you two ..
You said that they were climbing roses, what are they climbing on? Cedar, a wall, treated wood posts? Is it possible that something is leaching into the roots? What have you got planted nearby? When you prune what does the middle wood look like healthy or a bit brown? Are they on a south facing dry area? I had some thing similar once, I hadn't been fertilizing them, turned out they didn't like the location they were in. They look fine now. Carol Ja
thanks for your input, carol .. actually they are climbing on a cedar branch fence, and are, in fact, doing much better this year .. those dry, curling edges have disappeared .. perhaps it was all the positive input!
Re: "sickly" leaves You have to remember the difference in the term organic between the horticulture world and the grocery store. In horticulture the word organic just means that it comes from a natural base. There is a movement to remove "organic" from fertilizers and replace it with "natural" or "bio-based". Human sewage sludge (renamed by many fertilizer manufacturers) is by definition an organic fertilizer. This may be okay if you have a composting toilet and make your own but I wouldn't want to put it on my vegetable garden. An instructor I once had (biased because he worked for a chemical fertilizer company) said that with the mad cow scare in Europe that the natural based fertilizers are only a small part of the market now. Having said all of that I still use natural based fertilizers whenever I can and feel that they enrich the soil in ways that chemical fertilizers can not. There is an old addage "feed the soil not the plant". Natural based fertilizers feed the soil.
