Went to GardenWorld in Springvale during Sunday and couldn't resist myself and bought this rose. It was the only rose that looked healthy. I potted it and today, when i look at the rose again, i notice the very bottom leaves starting to turn yellow. What could be the cause for this? Is this normal? btw..I know there is a maple gallery, why isn't there a rose gallery considering that roses are still very popular. Having a gallery for roses would make choosing a rose easier.
Might be related to root disturbance. Not enough information. Another site this one links to (see Other Forums, in box at right) called Garden Web has a Roses Gallery forum.
Have you ever visited www.helpmefind.com ? There is a wealth of information on that site plus photos that might help you in your selection of a rose. There is also information sharing that I have found very useful. Natalie Bloxham
The yellowing of leaves, on it's own, is not specific enough to allow a diagnosis of a problem...........if there is a problem at all. It coul be normal, or it could be one of the signs of a multitude of problems - blackspot, excessive watering, insufficiency watering, heat stress, over fertilising, inadequate fertilisng, spidermites, etc., etc. In general, yellowing of older leaves is not necessarily a problem, if: 1. the yellowing progresses from the bottom up 2. the leaves on the rest of the plant remain healthy 3. the rose continues to produce new growth 4. there are no signs of disease, such as black spot 5. it is not excessive The older leaves yellow and drop off simply as a result of natural senescence. However, it the yellowing occurs all of a sudden, then there like is a problem. You need to inspect the leaves, both the affected yellow ones and the remaining healthy leaves, to look for other abnormalities. Round black spots signals the fungal infection called "black spot". Minute spider web like strains on the bottom surface of the yellowing leaves are suggestive of spider mite ingestation - these thrive in dry warm conditions, but hates the cold and the damp. How good is the soil's drainage? Check the soil - is it clayey? Is it sandy? Do a simple test - dig a hole near to the rose, the same depth as the rose but separate from the rose's planting hole. Fill to the top with water, set your stop watch and see how fast the water drains. A more objective test is to take a 46 ounce can and cut off the bottom, so that it is open on both ends. Next dig a hole about 4 inches deep, just wide enough to accommodate the can. Push one end of the can into this hole firmly. Firm the soil around the outside of the can. Fill the can to the top with water. Using a ruler, measure how much the water level has dropped in one hour. Good drainage is about an inch an hour, excessive drainage is 4 inches or more an hour, and poor drainage is less than an inch an hour. Given the fact that you have just bought and transplanted the rose, the most likely explanation is "transplant shock". This likely is a culmination of a number of factors. By removing the plant from it's nursery location into it's current position in your garden, you have changed the growing conditions - sun exposure, wind exposure, and temperature. All these changes may cause the rose to drop some of it's leaves. If the rose was in a pot and the root was pot bound, you would have disrupted the root system when you removed the rose from it's container - this will cause some leaf drop as well. If the leaf drop is a result of transplant, it should recover with some TLC - keep consistently watered (not over watered - i.e. soggy soil). What was the local environmental temperatures lately? Since you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you are enjoying summer right now, but high summer heat can also increase yellowing and leaf drop. This is particularly liable to happen if the rose has just been transplanted/planted. Did you apply fertiliser or incorporate fertiliser into the soil when you planted the rose? If so, what did you use and how much did you apply? Over fertilising using higly soluble fertilisers will increase the solute load of the water in the soil - i.e. increase it's concentration of the different "salts", therefore, increasing it's osmolarity. This will interfere with the root system's ability to absorb water. It may eventually damage the root system. If this is the case, then you do have a major problem. The only solution is to dig the rose up, prune it down, wash off all the soil down to bare root, then replant the rose either in a container or in another location. You did not mention anything about wilting of the leaves - this makes it less likely that overfertilising is an issue.
Thanks everyone for your replies, and thanks especially to weekend gardener for taking your time and effort for replying descriptively. You could be right about the root disturbance. The weather was hot when i transplanted my rose...but before i transplanted it, I had loosen up the roots to avoid them root bound in the new pot. I avoid fertilisers when I transplant, and I usually purchase the most expensive potting mix. So far it's looking healthy...and I am happy that I've been getting so many bloom from this plant...the only problem i found with this rose is that the flowers tend to blow easily, and only last for about 1-2 days (depending on the weather)... please check out my gallery if you are interest: http://myfavoriteplants.blogspot.com/ Is it REALLY necessary to PRUNE rose because I want my rose to be TALL.. In the past, I never had any success with growing Graham Thomas or Teasing Georgia and I certainly don't want to make the same mistakes again. What happened was some canes turn BLACK, and I read from other source that it is vital to prune roses during the winter...so I did pruned them deeply and when spring time came, there were more black canes and hardy any green canes ..1 or 2 but they turned out to be skinny and fragile and lacking flowers...so with my heritage rose, I decided not to prune it. I'm wondering whether it was the cold winter that made the canes turned black.
Regarding the use of fertilizer when planting - You are correct in not using a high nitrogen fertilizer. However, a transplanter fertilizer (high middle number), is extremely beneficial when planting. Personally, I use a seaweed emulsion. I have transplanted all sorts of things in the summer heat with no detrimental effect when I use this product. Pruning in the winter - I don't know how cold it gets where you are, but the general practice here is not to prune until the leaf buds start to break in the spring. The exception to this rule is, of course, to tidy up in the fall---broken canes, whippy bits, diseased canes. The reasoning behind the spring pruning is to prevent extra winter die back. I do not know if this has been scientifically proven, but I have pruned both ways and find that delaying the pruning until spring definitely prevents excessive die back. Then in the spring you can prune off any dead bits, weak canes, etc. Waiting until leaf out allows you to cut back to healthy leaf buds as well as allowing you to direct the growth of canes outward thus keeping the centre of the rose more open. Winter kill is blackish so I suspect this is what you have experienced. Good luck.
hi i would say that if the rose that you bought was the only one healthy there was a supply problem with that store. I therefore don t find it surprising that your rose shrub is not so healthy. mind you it s the middle of the winter...there is hope!
Use fertilizer based on soils lab recommendations. Fertilizer should be applied at planting if a deficiency is determined, no benefit to starving new plantings. http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda Chalker-Scott/Horticultural Myths_files/index.html
