Rose refers to plants that require care and attention not only during the flowering period, but also during the preparation for the winter. Rose - moderately cold-resistant plant that is afraid of lowering the temperature. It should be remembered that this culture may die not so much from frost as from improper preparation in the summer-autumn period.
When starting to prepare roses for the winter, questions often arise: when should we start to cover the rose for the winter? Is it worth cutting? What materials to use for shelter?
In the climatic conditions of Russia, roses can winter successfully, if they provided competent care in the spring-summer period. And in the autumn, when the first frosts occurred, simple measures were carried out in a timely manner.
Preparing a rose for wintering should begin in the summer.
In July, the nitrogen fertilization of the crop is completely stopped, due to the fact that an overabundance of it in the stalks of roses has a negative effect on the aging of the wood, and even with a slight frost leads to their death.
But at the same time, it is necessary to proceed to fertilize the plant with phosphate and potash fertilizers. Both potassium and phosphorus have a very beneficial effect on the quality aging of the shoots, increasing their winter hardiness.
Experienced growers resort to another simple but effective way of ripening the rose bush. When removing dried flowers at the end of summer, 1-2 ovaries should be left to form a fruit. It is very useful for ripening roses. Giving all the vitality for ripening the fruit, the plant itself prepares itself for winter sleep. The wood fully ripens, the amount of moisture in it is significantly reduced.
Only begin to shelter a rose when the onset of cold weather reaches 5 ° C.Begin with a light pruning of all the inflorescences and ovaries and the removal of all the leaves, thereby reducing the area for evaporation of moisture from the plant.
Conduct this simple operation also to ensure that under the winter shelter the inflorescences and leaves do not become the source of the spread of fungal diseases, which can lead to the death of the entire plant. As a preventive measure, the stalks of the plant and the soil under it will not interfere with the treatment of vitriol, usually with a 5% solution.
After trimming and processing the bush, proceed directly to the shelter. For this you need:
- compost;
- garden land;
- wooden or wire pins;
- coniferous spruce branches;
- dry foliage;
- boxes.
Carrying out activities for the shelter of roses for the winter is carried out in stages. When frosts come to -5 ° C, the bush is tucked up, or rather poured under the root a hill of rotted compost or earth up to 25 cm high.
Next, with the onset of resistant frosts down to -10 ° C, pour dry foliage on a hillock and cover it with a spruce or pine spruce.
You can not cover the roses with manure, hay, straw. They quickly get wet and hold moisture, which leads to the death of the bush.
And finally, the snow is the topmost and most reliable layer of cover. Moreover, the more of it, the better. If the winter has stood out with little snow, then you will have to pour the snow yourself. When the frost is -30 ° C and the snow cover thickness is up to 60 cm, the temperature near the ground will be -5 ° C, which is the optimum temperature for a rose in winter.
For other types of roses, for example climbing, the technology of shelter is slightly different from the previous one in that when they remove the stems from the supports, they are pinned to the ground, and then covered in the same order as above.
Ground-cover, miniature and polyanthus roses are covered with boxes that are lined with spruce branches, and then sprinkled with snow.
