How to store dug up roses in a cellar or basement

Repeat well and repeat again: we don’t have roses that don’t need shelter for the winter.

Helga Consultant FORUMHOUSE

These are flowers not of our climate; only various “rose hips” can afford to spend the winter uncovered.

Absolutely all roses need to be covered. In this article we will look at several important aspects of this process:

• Is it necessary to hill up the roots of roses?
• Is it necessary to tear off the leaves and process the cuts before wintering roses?
• How to scare mice away from roses during the winter.
• When to bend stems.
• Successful examples of winter shelters.

Roots – to spud up or not

Disputes on this topic on FORUMHOUSE have been going on for years.

Chigsa Administrator FORUMHOUSE

This method has both supporters and opponents. Therefore, this event is not at all mandatory.

Roses are hilled, making a mound about 30 centimeters high at the base of the bush. For hilling, you cannot rake the soil directly from the rose flower bed, so as not to expose the roots of the plant, but bring it from another place. The consolidated opinion of the participants of our portal regarding the composition of the spud: it must be breathable.

It is better to spud roses with a mixture of soil and sand (50/50).

Peat and sawdust get wet and cake, straw is an attractive environment for mice.

Actually, hilling is used to preserve a large number of plant buds during wintering, because under the hilling the temperature will remain higher than outside, even in a snowless winter. Here are the arguments of supporters and opponents of spud, we hope they will help you make the right decision:

Roses are usually planted in two steps: lightly planted in mid-autumn to protect the bush from autumn frosts, and finally, closer to winter.

A member of our portal with the nickname Nat is hilling roses: the site is located in a lowland, and the probability of freezing is quite high. But he hills the roses according to the spruce branches: that is, first he covers the roses with spruce branches, then he slightly hills them, then he pulls the covering material onto the arches.

Nat

We tried spruce hilling for the first time last year, because... We noticed that the roses were in direct contact with the hillock.

It is better not to use the hilling method if you have heavy loamy soils, so as not to increase the likelihood of damping off.

Marina659 Member of FORUMHOUSE

Don't worry about the spud! In the spring you will rake it out as it thaws, and nothing will support it.

Preparation

To save bushes from freezing, begin preparing for their storage at the end of September or after the first severe cold snap. Trim each shoot at a level of 0.3-0.7 m. The length that needs to be left depends on the age of the bush - the older it is, the more it should be trimmed. Make sure there are 8 to 10 buds left on each plant. After this, remove all the leaves from the bush and tie the branches with twine. It is also recommended to treat all plants with an insecticide and fungicide to prevent infections.

Now you can start digging up roses. It is known that it is better to store slightly frozen bushes. Therefore, it is best to dig them up in dry weather, when the temperature drops to +1-2°C at night. In wet weather, you will have a hard time clearing clumps of soil from the roots. If you can’t wait out the rains, dig up and dry the bushes in a warm place for 1-2 days. This will help remove any excess soil.

If you need to transport roses or your basement is far away, tie the bushes with rope (this will help prevent branches from breaking).

Seedling prepared for storage.

After digging up roses, you must immediately dig up the soil in which they grew. If necessary, you can immediately treat the area with a weed killer. These measures will simplify planting bushes in the spring.

Below we will present the three most popular ways to store roses in winter.

1. Using containers with soil. Place the roots in plastic buckets or special containers. You can place several bushes in each bucket so that they stand quite close to each other. Fill all free space with fertilized soil. While filling, shake the container periodically to completely cover the roots with soil. Finally, water the roses. This method is convenient for those who plan to transport dug roses.
2. Adding sand. Many gardeners are convinced that it is better to store plants in sand. The fact is that it retains moisture longer and prevents active growth even at elevated temperatures. Organization of storage is carried out in the same way as with soil.
3. Storage on racks. If your basement is equipped with dedicated plant shelving, you don't need to use containers. To prevent the development of infectious diseases and rotting, thoroughly wash and dry the racks before storing. Cover the shelves with wax paper and place the roses on them. Once every 2-3 weeks, inspect them and spray the roots with water if they become too dry.

Should I remove the leaves or process the cuts?

If the roses are healthy, then it is not at all necessary to remove the leaves; this will be a “giving yourself extra work” procedure; the leaves will wither and fall off on their own, following the natural cycle. Option: You can pick off only diseased leaves.

If there is any infection on the leaves, then with the slightest frost it will cease to be viable.

Helga

The whitefly does not cause any harm and will not survive the winter. Spraying with an insecticide will do no harm or good.

But if you are still worried about this, spray the plants with a 3% solution of iron sulfate before covering.

The rose-growing gurus of our portal are categorical when it comes to processing cuttings.

Helga

Don't create extra work for yourself. You should never treat rose cuts with anything.

When pruning roses for the winter, it is recommended to make the cut obliquely, then rainwater will not remain on the cut, but will immediately roll to the ground, and the cut will dry quickly. It is better to cut a branch above a bud that looks outside the bush, then the future shoot will grow outside the bush.

sw111FORUMHOUSE member

Then there is no need to process the slices with anything. They will dry out and heal on their own.

What varieties of roses require shelter for the winter?

Not all varieties of roses require shelter for the winter, for example, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer is of great interest for cultivation in gardens in central Russia due to its frost resistance

Whether roses require insulation largely depends on the course of winter in the planting region and the resistance of the variety to cold. The leaders in frost resistance are:

• park roses (Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Ritausma, Lawinia, Hansa, Pink Grootendorst);
• rose hips: wrinkled (rugosa), gray (glauca), shiny (nitida);
• varietal hybrids Rugosa, Alba, Spinosissima;
• special winter-hardy varieties (Snow Pavement, John Davis, Hansa, Jens Munk).

All other varieties require preparation for the winter season. Especially dense insulation is required for Bourbon roses, as well as varieties Fritz Nobis, Louise Odier, Hybrid Gallica, Rosa Mundi. In general, it is recommended to grow them only in greenhouses or pots, which are brought into the house with the onset of frost.

How to make mouse prophylaxis

For some rodent reason, mice love roses as much as apple trees and grapes, and thorns don't stop them. During the years of mouse pandemics, the rose garden can suffer very seriously.

GALAS

This year my weavers have been chewed up a lot.

The famous Russian scientist and breeder Ivan Puchkin gave the participants of our portal an excellent means of prevention: this is ordinary birch tar. Ivan Aleksandrovich soaks pieces of old felt boots with tar and places them next to the plants.

Members of our portal also successfully use tar to repel mice; the experience is always positive.

MiLeDi Member of FORUMHOUSE

Mice really don't like it! Of course, this is more time-consuming than scattering poison bait. I have been using the tar for 5 years now, it is not washed off by rain, the smell under the cover of roses remains until spring. There are fewer under bushes and trees, but mice also don’t like them.

Here is another way to use birch tar (the product is sold at the pharmacy).

1. We hang it on branches and wrap ribbons soaked in tar around the posts.
2. We place pieces of cotton wool soaked in tar in dangerous places where mouse migrations occur.

When and how to dig

It has long been noted that frost-bound roses withstand winter better. They dig up bushes in dry weather, during a period when the night temperature does not exceed 1-2 ºС.

Digging up rose bushes after rain is inconvenient, because dirt sticks to the roots and it will be impossible to clear them of lumps of earth without damaging them. If the rainy weather continues, you need to dig up the bushes and dry them in a warm place for several days.

After the bushes have been dug up, the area where the roses grew needs to be prepared for spring planting by removing weeds and digging up the soil with mineral fertilizers.

When to bend roses

Despite the fact that roses can easily tolerate light frosts, and it is recommended to cover them even in light frosts, it is better not to postpone bending down until then.

Pucha Member of FORUMHOUSE

At a stable -5, the stems will be fragile and may break during installation.

Climbing and standard roses, as well as floribundas, are bent in mid-autumn before the stems lose their flexibility.

Climbing roses are bent down long and gradually: the plant is tied with a string, the second end of the string is tied to a peg (shish kebab skewer) stuck in the ground. Once a week, the rose is slowly pulled to the ground by a rope until the distance above the ground is 50 cm. The plant is covered with a double layer of 60-grade lutrastil on top.

How to store a rose in the basement or cellar in winter

To store bushes in the basement, they need to be provided with suitable conditions. The temperature should be at +1-4 degrees. Humidity parameters must be at least 70%.

Cuttings should be kept in plastic bags or containers filled with wet sand.

When using sand for storage, it is recommended to treat the lower cut of plants with Kornevin. This activates callus formation and stimulates the emergence of roots in the spring. Regardless of the storage method, it is recommended to inspect roses at least once a month.

See also

How to properly plant and grow a rose from a cutting at homeRead

Nuances of excavation and preparation for storage

In the northern regions of Siberia, gardeners carry out a number of preparatory work already at the end of the first autumn month. Pruning should be done in September. The height of the shoot should not exceed 50 cm. For climbing roses, the maximum is 70 cm. At the next stage, remove the leaves, treat the bushes with a fungicide, and dig them up. To prevent the remaining branches from interfering with storage, tie them with rope without damaging them. Bushes are well stored in plastic buckets and other containers. You can plant 2-3 plants at once.

The container must be filled with soil and watered a little. The root system must be completely covered. In this form, the bushes can be sent to the basement or cellar for winter storage. They will last well until spring. Bushes need to be inspected periodically to prevent the appearance of rot and other diseases.

How to carry out preventive measures in the fall?

Autumn is a period of active reproduction of pathogenic bacteria and rot. Pests look for wintering sites, which often turn out to be the stems and leaves of roses. Flowers are especially vulnerable during this period, since all their strength has already been devoted to growth and flowering, so they need the following preventive measures:

1. Regularly clean the soil around the bushes.
   It is necessary to remove weeds, fallen leaves and other debris, since all this, when rotting, can infect the roots and trunk of plants;
2. Trimming lower leaves and shoots.
   The lower leaves and shoots are the first to be affected by diseases, so they must be completely removed from mid-September (at least 30 cm from the root);
3. Treatment.
   After cleaning and removing the leaves, the rose stems are treated with fungicides or a disinfecting solution of manganese and soda. You can buy a ready-made disinfectant composition for autumn treatment in a specialized store.

Wintering garden roses in containers

To save my roses from freezing, every autumn I have to dig them out of the garden and evacuate them to the city, to the garage basement for the winter. This work is not easy, especially if there are not 2-3 rose bushes in the garden, but much more. I have about 30 rose bushes.

At the end of September, I trim the shoots of my garden roses at a level of 0.3-0.7 m (depending on age). I remove leaves from the bushes and tie the cut branches with twine. I spray the plants with fungicide to protect the roses from infection.

Then I dig up the rose bushes from the garden, shaking off the soil from the roots. I place the root system of the plants in large plastic buckets (it is very convenient to use containers made from Terraco putty for storing roses). I place several rose bushes in each bucket - how many will fit depending on the size of their root system.

I fill the rose roots in buckets with loose soil mixed with rotted manure from the greenhouse. Shake the bucket as it fills with soil so that the soil fills the air space between the roots. I water the soil.

I tie the rose bushes that fit in one container all together to make it easier to transport.

At the beginning of October, I transport containers with roses placed in them in this way to the city. I put buckets of plants in the basement of the garage for wintering, where the temperature in winter stays at +2...+4 degrees.

Of course, the work of organizing the wintering of garden roses in containers is quite labor-intensive and troublesome. But this method is very reliable, which is confirmed by my many years of experience.

After digging up the bushes, I immediately dig up the area of ​​the garden where the roses grew. If necessary, you can pre-treat the vacated rose garden with a special weed killer.

Recommendations for caring for a transplanted flower

After transplantation, weakened plants need attention, careful care and timely implementation of all care procedures. Let's look at them in Table 1.

We also recommend watching the video with recommendations:

Beautiful and well-groomed roses are the dream of every gardener. To achieve the desired result, you must follow the rules for replanting the plant, carry out timely feeding, watering, pruning and other agrotechnical measures.

Features of storing rose bushes in winter

Gardeners living in cold regions are concerned about how to properly preserve planting material so that the roses will bloom again in the spring. In particular, this applies to climbing and garden plants. They are not able to overwinter in open ground even with additional insulation, because the temperature in some regions drops to -35 degrees. With the arrival of the first cold weather, gardeners dig up the bushes, inspect them, prepare them for storage, and then send them to the basement or cellar. This allows plants to be preserved in harsh climates.