I was rather silly and bought a small pot of mini roses from my neighbourhood No Frills Store. They are in really sad shape. No spots, no insects that I can see, but the leaves are drying up and dropping every time I turn around. Both the dried up ones, and seemingly healthy ones are falling. What could be causing this? I've replanted into a larger pot as they were terribly root bound. Will this help? Or should I be giving up on these poor little things? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Plant them out in the garden. They do much better in the ground. They are much more cold hardy than you think. This time of the year they slow down anyway.
Unfortunately, that's not an option for me. I have only a postage stamp back yard and a frisky plant eating, hole digging, garden destroying rotti-sheppard. I won't even get into tales of thieving neighbours. My garden has to be strictly indoors..
Were they grown in peat? that stuff is good for growers, but can be death to plants. Wash it off, pot in real potting soil, assume that you are rerooting the plants, the old roots may well have died.
When the ancient war dogs did battle on Wed, 30 Jul 2003 16:02:14
-0400, "FireDragon" did speak the following bit of wisdom:
I've never tried it myself, but I've heard that miniature roses can be kept in hanging containers. That might be a solution to keeping them away from your dog and neighbors. ???
In any case, minis can certainly be kept in pots almost indefinitely. If I were you, I'd find a couple of nice, fairly roomy containers -- either hanging ones or to regular pots to stand on your porch or deck where you can enjoy them -- and repot these roses. Give them good quality potting mix to grow in and like the other poster suggested, try to get as much of that crappy peat stuff off the roots without unduly damaging them. Treat these plants like new cuttings and baby them a little. Gradually move them into full sun and keep them always well watered (but don't allow them to sit in water -- roses HATE that). A little bone meal worked into the potting soil could be helpful as might the application of some epsom salts. Also try posting your question to the folks at rec.gardens.roses
Hope this helps! Best wishes...
* ** * Karen C. Southern CT / USDA Zone 6 Spammers be damned! I can't be emailed from this account...
It won't necessarily die. If you have a sunny window you can keep it in during the winter, and keep it outside as much as possible in the summer, it should be fine. Of course, in the ground is better but you can make do with what you have.
I had one in an apartment for years - I still have it (though it's now in the ground.
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