How to grow roses

How to grow roses

In this small guide we will see how to grow roses by following the most important rules.
The first rule to be observed, if you buy the rose in the nursery is that it is suitable for your climatic conditions and soil characteristics or the type of soil if you intend to grow them in pots. In this case it is always necessary to repot, each time with slightly larger pots, at each spring.
In the meantime, let’s start from the planting; this can be done almost all year, excluding periods that are too hot and too cold. The optimal periods for the plant go from late January for southern Italy to late March for northern Italy. Before implanting the rose, take care to dig a hole of at least 40 x 40 x 40 at the bottom of which you must put very draining material (such as gravel and small stratified stones) of at least 10 cm.

Above this layer create a mixture of 50% soil and mature manure (or compost) for at least another 10 cm, place your rose in earthen bread and fill with soil enriched with organic substance, taking care to adhere well everything but without pressing too much. When the system is finished, you must immediately irrigate and then irrigate at the beginning only when the soil is going to dry. If, on the other hand, the rose is bare-rooted, take care to place the plant without bending the roots, which could create a rupture of the roots and rot.
The rose then needs fertilization in the vegetative periods (especially in spring); in this sense, to avoid fertilization with chemical fertilizers it is advisable to operate by placing mature manure or organic compost in water containers, leaving them for a few days; after which you can pour this mixture to the base of the plant whenever you need to fertilize.
As for the forms of pruning, however, these depend very much on the shape you want to give. In general, if you have to raise the rose to alberello you should always leave 3 to 5 branches that branch off from the main stock and make cuts (all the same height) on which to reject the plant from time to time. This will give you the possibility of homogeneous rose stems and the same development. If you want some well-formed roses, leave only one bud per jet.
As for the parasitic attacks among the greatest adversities, we mention oidium, scab and aphids. The good fertilization technique (without nitrates), the constant cleaning of the flower bed and the use of Marseilles soaps (for aphids or other insects) and extracts based on horsetail, will allow you to make a good cultivation without resorting to insecticides or fungicides very harmful to the environment (or to your home if grown in pots).