What to do when the rose plant ages
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Yesterday, I shared an article about whether it is worth buying old stocks of rose seedlings, and then someone in the training camp group asked: "I have been raising roses for three or four years, and the branches have completely lignified. Should I discard them and buy new seedlings to raise again?"
Today, let's delve deeper into this topic and talk about the issue of rose aging.
Causes of rose plant aging
Roses have a relatively long lifespan, with many varieties living over 20 years, but in actual cultivation, we often find that roses over three years old tend to have aging problems, mainly manifested as few new branches, few flowers, and declining flower quality. So, what are the reasons for the premature aging of rose plants? It can be summarized into the following two reasons.
1. Variety relationship
In yesterday's article, I mentioned that rose varieties used for fresh cut flowers age relatively quickly. These varieties have a weaker ability to sprout suckers at the base, and after a long period of cultivation, the branches become completely lignified without new suckers to replace the old branches. The germination power of old branches weakens, and gradually, there will be fewer flowers and the quality of flowers will seriously decline.
This is why there is a large number of old stock rose seedlings available online. These seedlings no longer meet the quality requirements of fresh cut flower products, but they can still bloom and sell for some money, which is a way to recoup the investment.
You might say, the roses I raise are not varieties for fresh cut flowers, so why do they also have aging problems after three or four years? This brings us to the second reason: improper management.
2. Improper management
What to do when the rose plant ages
Improper management mainly manifests in three aspects: insufficient fertilization and watering, weak seedlings, and grafted seedlings.
① Insufficient fertilization and watering Insufficient fertilization and watering is one of the important reasons for the premature aging of rose plants. Why do I say this? Green plant enthusiasts use my own personal experience to illustrate this.
Green plant enthusiasts have been raising a variety of cut flower roses, which is an old stock variety that I bought online and then propagated into new seedlings, planted in the flower bed. (相当于半地栽)
The rose planted in the flower bed is growing well because I like this variety very much, so the next year, I propagated a new seedling through air layering and planted it in a pot.
The rose in the pot (pictured above) has been growing for about 2-3 years now. You can see that the main branches are obviously aging, and the new branches are also a bit yellow. Here I make a self-criticism; this is because it has not been fertilized for a long time and has been allowed to bloom, which boils down to a lack of fertilizer.