Tips from Our Organic Rose Care Workshop

At our recent organic rose care workshop, led by Paul Wagner of Greener Pastures Organics, Paul offered these tips to attendees:

• Sanitation of diseased and yellowing leaves is important to contain problems in the rose garden. To prevent them from harboring spoors, remove trimmed leaves from the garden and dispose in your garbage rather than composting.

• Improve air flow in the plant by pruning inner leaves and selectively removing stems. This will help reduce disease susceptibility.

• If you are experiencing insect and disease problems in your rose garden, consider using organic products like Safer Soap and horticultural oils. These products suffocate the insects, and as a result, they don’t build up resistance to these organic products.

• If you find mildew on your plants, be sure to spray both the top and bottom of the leaves. Soap and oils work well on this problem.

• Fertilize before mid-summer. If applied too late, fertilizer will encourage the plant to push out lush growth at a time when it should be transitioning to dormancy.

• Add organic matter like mulch throughout the season to help support fertilization, especially if you are pruning and removing organic matter to keep the plants healthy.

Paul Wagner, owner of Greener Pastures Organics, is at Bridge Gardens every Tuesday from

3:00 - 4:30 p.m. through the beginning of October for Free Advice Tuesdays. Stop by and get tips on organic lawn and garden care. Can’t make it to the Gardens? Email him!