Ask the Master Gardener: Reinvigorating your roses
Don’t panic yet if you find black stems on rose bushes. Just cut them back and lightly fertilize as soon as the leaf buds start to open.
Written By:
Jennifer Knutson and Jackie Burkey | U of M Extension Master Gardeners |
6:00 am, Apr. 11, 2021
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To get rose bushes ready for spring growing, cut off the black parts of the plant. Photo by Jackie Burkey
Dear Master Gardener: My roses have a lot of black stems this spring. Will they survive?
Answer: It depends. We didn’t have deep snow cover this winter and snow is an excellent insulator, so if you didn’t mulch well last fall, there could be trouble. However, if you have shrub roses that are hardy to Zone 3, or maybe Zone 4, you can cut the stems all the way back to the ground and they should regrow from the roots, true to the variety you planted. If your roses are grafted, as most floribunda or tea roses are, cut off the black part and watch for new stems to grow above the graft. If new shoots appear below the graft, they are probably from the tougher root stock and won’t produce the rose cultivar you expect. Don’t panic yet — it’s still early — but go ahead and cut off everything that is black. Give all your roses a light dose of fertilizer as soon as the leaf buds start to open.