Autumn is a good time to start the clean-up session with the roses. Putting in work for your roses during Autumn ensures they will make it through the colder conditions and spring back, heartily and healthy next season. Tidying up is the key to good Autumn rose care; removing old blooms and foliage, and a good pruning session for size control – however some people prefer to leave the pruning until winter, but that's up to you and how your plants are looking.
Deadheading roses in early Autumn is a popular pruning pastime for many rose enthusiasts and doing this has proven to bring on a good flurry of flowers around or after Easter. The way to achieve this is to cut the flower back to a puffed bud – about 5 hand spans in length. This should produce blooms in around 7 to 8 weeks.
Colder Autumn and Winter conditions can bring fungal diseases that Roses are quite susceptible to and preventative spraying helps hugely. Fungal diseases are much more easily prevented than cured, and maintenance spraying is essential for a good preventative measure.
Use Physan 20 as a maintenance spray to prevent fungal diseases like Black Spot, Powdery Mildew, Rusts and Stern Gall.
You can also use Physan 20 to disinfect your pruning and cutting tools!
Spraying your Roses:
Mix 1 teaspoon of Physan 20 with 1.8 Litres of water and Spray when symptoms appear. Be sure to spray upper and lower surface of leaves and branches until thoroughly wet. Spray and repeat several times 7 to 10 days apart.
(Other Rose diseases may require different mix ratios and directions, so check the Physan 20 bottle booklet for more treatments and instructions!)
Tool Disinfectant Solution : Mix 1 teaspoon of Physan 20 for every 0.9 Litres of water for a killer tool steriliser.
Other Rose diseases may require different mix ratios and directions, so check the Physan 20 bottle booklet for more treatments and instructions!