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Tips for May By now you should have all your roses pruned. They should be leafing out and some even starting to set buds. Zone 5a folks can expect blooms starting first with the minis towards the end of May. Floribundas start next followed by the big blooms of the Hybrid Teas and Grandifloras. Depending on the weather, My rose garden is a cornucopia of color from the first week of June through the first hard frost in the fall. Don't forget the Old Garden Roses. Some start blooming late in May. most are fragrant and will give a show for 2 or 3 weeks. Don't prune OGR until after they bloom. The initial pruning should be to remove only the winter dieback. Many OGR bloom only on second year wood. I'll give details next month on pruning OGR. You should be starting your spray schedule as soon as the leaves show on the bush. What ever you use, prevention is the word. Fungus diseases do not suddenly appear. The spores take time to germinate and multiply enough to show up as discolored leaves. I don't use an insecticide. Except for Japanese beetles, insects don't eat that much. Unless you're exhibiting roses in rose shows, the perfect blemish free rose is an ego thing. Even with a hole in the leaf or bloom a rose is beautiful. More on Japanese beetles in July. I use Triforine (the active ingredient in Funginex) for two applications and Daconil for the third. I repeat this all summer long through the first "hard" frost. There are other products on the market, including organics, that work. I have my best success with the above. I'm currently testing 4 products to replace Triforine. It's been taken off the market. Funginex has not but Triforine is 3 times as concentrated as Funginex and would be very cost prohibitive with all my roses. Will report next winter on the results of my test.
-Rosenut
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