By Matt Hick
You've put a lot of hard work into your rose garden: preparing the soil, selecting your roses and planting them. Now, you will want to keep those roses safe and protected from pests and diseases. While rose gardening may seem daunting, you can follow just a few simple steps to keep your plants healthy and blooming all season long.
Fungal diseases, thrive on wet plants. Keep your flower beds tidy by keeping fallen leaves and debris away from the plants roots to avoid problems. This will keep fungus issues at bay. Avoid watering the leaves, stems and flowers to keep mold and rust, away. Both can be dangerous to your roses.
When pruning roses, care should be taken to cut back the center of the bushes so that air can circulate, and prevent fungal disease from attacking your plants. Another enemy of your roses is rust which is not fungal in nature, but behaves in a similar way. All three of these conditions can be remedied with fungicidal soap and the pruning of infected stems. It is also important to keep pruning shears clean so as not to spread the fungus to other areas. Using simple craft glue to seal any cuts made during pruning can also help protect your plants from invasive insects.
Insects such as aphids, beetles and caterpillars may also target your roses. For insects, prevention may be found with early season spraying of dormant season oil just before the growth of spring begins. If pests still make their way into your rose garden, there are several options for ridding your plants of them. For beetles and caterpillars, you can take the old fashioned route of picking them off by hand and throwing them into soapy water. This should be done every morning during the infestation and really is one of the best ways to keep your roses safe from these hungry pests.
If pulling bugs off by hand isn't quite your cup of tea, insecticidal soaps are readily available from your local garden center. Used according to their packaging directions, these can be very effective in ridding your garden of unwanted visitors. Vigilance is important if you would like to avoid using strong and often dangerous pesticides. Remember, too that there are many beneficial insects that would also be killed if pesticides were employed in your rose garden.
a lesson from organic gardening, keep in mind that bugs are part of nature and will be part of your rose garden. Choosing plants that are well suited to your particular climate and area will help them thrive and resist most diseases and pests. You can also practice companion planting of garlic or onions near your rose bushes to dissuade invaders.
With some vigilance, your roses will be protected from harmful diseases and pests and will thrive and flower all summer long.
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