Common mistake; having your roses too wet too long!

There’s a lot of bad things that can happen when you leave your roses wet for too long. One, it welcomes all the fungi related diseases such as black spot, anthracnose and rose canker. Two, too much watering can suffocate the tree if drainage is not good, whereas water on the flower can affect the flower quality.

But what to do with this rainy days we’re having lately?

Well for one, you can shade your roses or move them to dry place when rain comes but these are not that practical, aren't they? But let’s talk about what you should not do, so your trees are less wet!

TIP 1: Avoid watering your roses too frequently overhead and not letting your plants dry properly. During rainy season, avoid watering overhead at all. Make it a habit to water overhead only in the morning when sunshine presents.

TIP 2: One common mistake I see people make is placing their roses (the pots) right on the floor. It is a must to elevate the height of the pots by putting bricks or container legs underneath the pots. The higher, the better. This will ensure that your roses are well aerated, that is easily dried by the wind, well drained and somewhat free from water splashes.

TIP 3: It’s a no-no to put your roses too close to a wall. Again, you’re not giving the rose its best aeration. The wall will make the area damper than usual and under hot weather, the wall will reflect and become a source of heat to your roses. Your roses will get stress for no reason.

Those who are new to roses always make no.3 mistake by putting their roses on the floor and against a wall. Well, may be roses do look good laid nicely on the floor on the front porch like some English cottage picture, don’t they? If you see my first rose tree’s (that died) photo; you will see there’s a wall behind it. So, I've done that so don't tell me I never warn ya!

TIP 4: Because open wounds are the best place for canker fungi to start germinating and spreading, postpone that pruning until the rainy season is over.

TIP 5: A shade is good for roses at times, but a total no-no too when it cuts back the number of hours your roses need to be under direct sun. Don’t shade them if the area you want to place the roses looks too damp or with less wind blowing. Alternatively, you can shade only a few hours a day.