Start with healthy roses to ensure growth

Q: I have always purchased rose plants with a least three well-formed stems from the bud union. Still, a number of them have one or two stems die at the bud union. What am I doing wrong? I must admit I am a Michigan transplant and never experienced this when growing roses.

A: Let's cover some basics on rose care for this climate and make sure the plants have the potential to stay in good health. Healthy roses can endure a lot of extremes, much more than roses that are in declining health.

There could be a number of things that might contribute to this dieback. First of all, make sure you are buying roses from a reliable grower. Frequently, the lowest cost roses are coming from growers that are cutting corners in their rose production programs. Stay away from these.

Also stay away from roses that do not look good at the nursery or retail outlet . Don't be lured with the idea you can nurse a sick plant back to health.

Next, find a location in your yard to put your roses that is not against or close to a very hot wall that is facing west or south. You are asking for trouble if you do this.

Make sure you prepare the soil with adequate amendments at the time of planting. This would mean a good quality compost mixed about 50/50 with your native soil. If the rose was bare root, stake it at the time of planting so it cannot move. But, only stake it for one year .

Do not use rock mulch around roses. Use wood mulch. I would avoid decorative bark as a mulch unless you are also topdressing the roses with compost each year. This bark mulch looks nice but it does not decompose easily. You need wood surface mulches to decompose and "dissolve" back into the soil to add nutrients and keep it enriched.

Make sure (and this is very important) that wood mulches are kept 6 inches away from the rose's trunk or main stem entering the soil. You will kill or severely damage a rose if you keep wet mulch against its trunk.

If your roses are in a hot location, do not prune them back too severely in the spring. Leave a little extra top growth on them . Disinfect all pruning tools before you begin pruning for the day. You can do this with alcohol.

Fertilize roses once in the spring and again after they have finished blooming in the spring and enter their nonproductive summer months. Use a fertilizer "balanced" for flower production plus a reliable iron fertilizer. If you prefer, you can fertilize them lightly every two months through the growing season. Prune in late December or very early January.

Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Direct gardening questions to the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 or contact Morris by e-mail at morrisr@unce.unr.edu.