Help! Roses not blooming...

John · Post by **John** » May 31, 2006 10:07 am

I have a bed of five 'Mr. Lincoln' roses, from which exactly one flower has bloomed this spring.

They are established plants, growing in full sun.

The problem seems to be they are putting out new growth, but "blind shoots" (without flower buds).

Often this may be caused by a plant that is not firmly planted (loose) in the ground, but this is no the case here.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

John

caliloo · Post by **caliloo** » May 31, 2006 11:47 am

Hey John!

I am not *too* far from you I bet (geographically speaking) and I have the same situation on several roses this year. Queen Elizabeth has 1 bloom and easily 8 or 10 blind shoots. I noticed the same on a Chryysler Imperial. I think it was our warm winter that messed up the roses.

Even my Austins and Floribundas have not produced nearly as many blooms as in the past.

I am chalking it up to bad winter conditions.

Alexa

John · Post by **John** » May 31, 2006 7:15 pm

Thanks for your reply!

I do feel a bit better, if the conditions are out of my control!

How do you handle this? I prune each branch back to the first five-leafed leaf where possible.

Oh, my 'Angle Face' did the same thing.

But the Griffith Buck roses are all blooming just fine! 'Dorcas', 'Prairie Harvest' and the lavender 'Blue' -something.

caliloo · Post by **caliloo** » May 31, 2006 7:26 pm

Yes - I am pruning back to the first outward facing 5 leaf spot where I can. I think a couple of them I am just going to hack back by a third since they are really leggy and yucky looking....

Good luck and let's keep comparing notes on this!

Alexa

John · Post by **John** » May 31, 2006 9:06 pm

Okay, will do! Tomorrow is June 1, so I'll finish pruning them and we'll see if we get flowers about the same time. I think a little fertilizer is in order too. I like Miracle-Grow for Roses.

John

caliloo · Post by **caliloo** » May 31, 2006 9:14 pm

I usually use Rosetone and alfalfa. Nothing too fancy or expensive. Oh... and I mix a bit of Neptune's Harvest into my Liquid Fence mix so they get a bif of foliar fertilization too...

I probably will only be pruning the deadbeats. I have lots of buds coming on some of the others....

Alexa

Aud · Post by **Aud** » Jun 02, 2006 12:48 pm

Have anyone tried the epsom salt. I have had great results using the epsom salt.

I had an old rose that was on the property when I purchased. It was covered in vining weeds. I cut it but two years it still had not bloomed. I started giving it 2 tbls spoons of epsom salt in gallon of water once a month April, May, June. It is a blooming machine. I tried it on other slow bloomers with the same results.

Give it a try. It cannot hurt.