Pruning in Winter is crucial to the care of your roses. Pruning at this time of the year not only benefits or promotes healthy growth but it also allows us to ensure that no pests or diseases are lurking. It also gives me the chance to check the roses for diseases such as mildew or pests such as scale insects.
Scaling appears as small white or brown bumps on the stems, and it can also appear on the leaves. Often clients may look at those bumps and think that they are part of the plant.
Scale are insects and are sap suckers. If there is a severe infestation of them, they can weaken or even kill your roses.
I will check for pests and diseases when I come to prune your roses in Winter. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t call me if you see something unusual on your roses at any time of the year.
The Winter months helps us get a lot of these infections and pests under control, because we do cut away a lot of the infected foliage, cane and the flowers. I think spray the roses to help combat these pests and diseases. It’s important to keep up the treatments if necessary to ensure the scale is removed completely.
If you see that your roses, their leaves or stems (cane) are looking strange and you are unsure what to do, please call me.
John Kelly
