How to prepare roses for winter

You should think about wintering roses even when choosing varieties and arranging a rose garden. It is necessary to choose frost-resistant varieties that tolerate the cold much better, often without shelter. Such varieties include, for example, Flamementz, New Down, Robusta Cordes, Weisse Valke, Queen Elizabeth, Alba, Black Magic, William Shakespeare 2000 and many others..

In general, it should be noted that park roses tolerate frost better than modern garden roses. Usually at minus 10 without shelter, delicate hybrid tea roses, as well as Chinese and Bourbon roses die..

It is important to remember that healthy plants with ripe shoots overwinter well. So that the shoots do not remain at the growth stage in the winter, nitrogen fertilizers should be stopped for feeding plants in August. Switch to potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, because these fertilizers will stop the growth of new shoots and allow the stems to ripen and prepare for winter. It is easy to identify young shoots on roses – they are reddish, while ripe ones are completely green.

The debate among gardeners about whether to remove all leaves from the rose before the onset of cold weather continues. Some summer residents are sure that this is unnecessary work and the leaves from the plant will fall by themselves in the fall, after the first frost. Others believe that before pruning a rose for the winter, the leaves should be completely harvested by hand. According to experts, this procedure is not strictly mandatory. If the leaves are damaged, there are signs of a disease, then it is better, of course, to remove them, and spray the plant itself, for example, with a 3% solution of ferrous sulfate. The rest of the leaves can be left alone, if they do not interfere with your pruning of the rose..

Cutting roses too short is not recommended. First of all, small-growing shoots are removed, they are sprouts of a wild rose, the bush can degenerate. Further, old, dry, too often, closely growing shoots are removed, which can become a source of spread of rot and fungus.

Cut roses are much easier to wrap up, cover before frost, in addition, the bush will look neater.

To trim, you need a sharp pruner, the cut must be done at an angle, unevenly, so that water does not linger on it.

As for the shelter of a rose bush for the winter, the easiest way is to huddle with earth. However, many experts are against this option, because under a layer of earth a plant can weep out in spring, frost holes will appear.

Warming of roses with spruce branches, that is, with pine or spruce branches, has proven itself well. Such a shelter allows enough air to pass through, there will be no evaporation, but the heat will remain. For reliability, spruce branches can be sprinkled on top with sawdust, sand, earth, but loosely, covered with a special covering material.

Tall rose bushes can be overlaid with spruce branches and tied. In regions where severe frosts are not uncommon, the most reliable way is to build a small shelter over a row of rose bushes. You can put low wooden frames, metal arches, in fact, build a small, simple greenhouse.

Important! The covering material should not adhere too tightly to the plants, it is imperative to leave an air gap!

As a covering material, you can choose roofing material, a strong film, spunbond, lutrasil, agrotex.