Here’s your easy spring rose care plan: APHID CONTROL
roses are coming
During early spring, roses are awakening from their winter slumber and preparing for a spectacular floral display. Whether you’ve just planted a new rose during winter or have had a favourite rose (or two) in your garden for years, spring is the time to set roses up for a fantastic season of healthy growth and masses of flowers.
Aphids are one of the main pests to look out for on young rose leaf growth and flower buds. Aphids can occur in their dozens (or hundreds!) and feast on the delicious sweet rose sap. Left unchecked, aphids deplete roses of valuable nutrients and plant sugars as well as causing new leaves to deform. Aphids can also transmit plant viruses. So, it’s important to control aphids in spring before they cause damage. Applying Yates® Rose Gun® over new rose foliage and flower buds every two weeks will help keep aphids under control and your roses protected.
SPRING FEEDING To promote healthy leaf and stem growth and encourage lots of blooms in garden and potted roses, sprinkle some Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Granular Plant Food around each rose. It’s rich in potassium to promote lots of flowers and contains slow release nitrogen to feed plants gradually for up to 12 weeks. To help retain soil moisture, apply a layer of mulch, such as bark chips, over the root zone, keeping the mulch a few centimetres away from the stem to allow for good air flow.
CATERPILLAR CONTROL The fabulous rose blooms that you’ve been waiting patiently for are also being eagerly anticipated by some very hungry caterpillars. Caterpillars can chew through and into rose buds as well as eating leaves. Control these destructive caterpillars by spraying roses thoroughly every two weeks, including the undersides of foliage where caterpillars often hide, with Yates Rose Gun®.
