How to Care for Miniature Roses Better?
For many cat owners, the knowledge of how to care for miniature roses and the techniques for planting miniature roses are related contents as follows:
Rose lovers always regard more flowering as the primary criterion when choosing, and due to the flowering nature of miniature roses, they are loved by all rose lovers. However, compared to shrub and climbing roses, the care methods for miniature roses are still somewhat different. Therefore, Mu Mu will discuss the specific care methods for miniature roses today.
Miniature Rose Selection is Specific
Although miniature roses are all diligent flowering varieties, except for a few flowers in winter, they bloom almost continuously in other seasons. However, this does not mean that we can choose completely randomly when purchasing micro roses. There are still some specifics.
1. Flower size
Miniature roses undoubtedly have large flowers, but there are also size differences among the flowers of miniature roses. Generally speaking, they are smaller compared to most shrubs and climbers, but there is still a certain difference in flower size within the category of miniature roses.
In miniature roses, most varieties have relatively small flower diameters, and these small-flowered varieties are mostly traditional miniature roses. Due to their large numbers, many rose lovers' first impression of micro roses is that the flowers are too small and not very appealing.
With rose lovers' increasing reliance on micro roses and their demand for flower size, modern breeders have developed many large-flowered micro rose varieties to cater to rose lovers' preferences.
When selecting, we must pay attention to checking information and pictures, distinguishing between large and small flowers. The Dutch Balcony series and the Constellation series in modern micro roses are large-flowered varieties.
There is an unwritten rule in miniature roses: the smaller the flowers, the more frequent and numerous the blooming. Conversely, the more flowers, the relatively fewer blooms. However, even if fewer, they are still more diligent than shrubs and climbers.
Just look at well-known micro rose varieties like Canaries and Neptune Kings to know that large flowers do not affect their flowering nature, overshadowing shrub and climber varieties.
2. Seedling size
This needs special mention. Many rose lovers particularly like to buy medium to large seedlings of micro roses because the temptation of medium to large seedlings of miniature roses is indeed great. Whether in spring or autumn, medium to large seedlings of miniature roses always give a particularly lush and blooming feeling, making it irresistible.
However, compared to shrubs and climbers, miniature roses have denser foliage and more roots. For medium to large seedlings, the more flower buds mean the greater the burden, because purchasing roses online requires long-distance transportation and transplantation, among other links, which can cause stress reactions.
These stress reactions include yellow leaves, wilting, and even black stems. Although these stress reactions also occur in medium to large seedlings of shrubs and climbers, the dense foliage and numerous flower buds of medium to large micro roses make the probability of stress reactions higher and the symptoms more severe.
Suggestions:
If you just want to buy micro roses to look at flowers, you can purchase either online medium to large seedlings or market pot-grown medium to large pot miniature roses, as the flowers will basically die after blooming.
If you want to plant the purchased seedlings alive, for long-term planting and viewing flowers, it is best to purchase strong small seedlings for planting.
3. Light Deficiency Must Choose
Finally, let me tell you that the advantages of micro roses are not limited to flowering more and plant矮小, but also the most important point is that if the light in your planting environment is not very sufficient, then miniature roses must be your first choice.
Roses are sun-loving plants. If you want roses to grow fast and bloom more flowers, you need more sufficient light. If the light is not sufficient, the number and frequency of flowering will definitely be affected.
Since the external environment cannot be improved, we should choose varieties that bloom more frequently, and micro roses have become the best choice.
In north-facing balconies or places with insufficient light, choosing diligent flowering micro roses can make up for the lack of sunlight.
Diseases and Pests Need Double Management
Roses have many leaves and look very lush. Although it feels beautiful, it also埋下了祸患 for the invasion and spread of diseases and pests.
Too many leaves and overly dense foliage can lead to poor ventilation in the plant, which in itself is prone to fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, and grey mold, and overly dense plants can quickly spread diseases after infection.
Miniature roses often have leaves pressing against leaves and branches piled on branches. Once infected with diseases, these overlapping leaves and branches act like bridges, allowing diseases to spread rapidly.
This is also why many rose lovers think that miniature roses are prone to spider mites, not because the variety itself is prone to spider mites, but because they spread very quickly.
Similarly, due to dense foliage and poor ventilation, a large number of yellow leaves can accumulate in the lower part of the plant. The closer to the root, the denser the leaves, and the plant may look green on the outside, but once you dig into it, a lot of yellow leaves may already be rotting inside.
Suggestions:
To solve this problem, in addition to regularly pruning branches and thinning overlapping leaves in daily care, we also need to plant micro roses in environments with good ventilation.
Finally, regular spraying of pesticides on rose plants cannot be relaxed. When spraying, special attention should be paid to喷到 all dead angles, including the leaf surface, leaf back, and internal branches.
Regular Pruning Should Not Be Relaxed
Miniature roses need to pay attention to their plant shape at any time, involving pruning overlapping leaves to prevent diseases, pruning weak plants to avoid wasting nutrients, and pruning after flowering at any time.
1. Thinning leaves at any time
As mentioned earlier, due to the dense foliage of miniature roses, overlapping leaves can lead to diseases, so we need to thin leaves for miniature roses at any time, cutting off some overly dense and overlapping leaves to help the plant ventilate.
2. Pruning weak branches
This point is essential for both climber and shrub roses. Some weak, toothpick-like branches will not grow larger, and if we don't cut them, they will consume nutrients.
The main branches of roses are the thickest, and the branches or sub-branches on the main branches become weaker and weaker. If we don't prune them in time, the terminal branches will become weaker, not only consuming nutrients but also not flowering.
Since miniature roses have more branches, these two situations will be more severe, so we need to pay attention to pruning the top and terminal weak branches and sub-branches at any time in daily care.
3. Pruning after flowering
Climber and shrub roses' pruning after flowering usually focuses on spring and autumn because their main flowering seasons are in spring and autumn. Pruning after flowering is mainly to allow roses to rebloom quickly and to make branches stronger, so it is a necessary task.
Since miniature roses bloom very frequently, spring, summer, and autumn are almost in the flowering period, so we also need to prune in time after the flowers fade.
Specific methods:
Large-flowered micro roses generally have thicker branches, so we can still cut off two-thirds or half of the flowering branches after flowering.
Some traditional small-flowered miniature roses have very thin branches and dense flowers. If we still prune them one by one according to traditional methods, the workload will be too great, and you will be overwhelmed.
So, when pruning some small-flowered miniature roses, we can prune them based on the height of the entire plant. When most of the flowers on a miniature rose are wilting, we can cut the entire plant in half or two-thirds.
The higher the temperature, the less pruning is needed, and the lower the temperature, the more pruning is needed.
Too Much Blooming is Not a Good Thing
Miniature roses blooming more is their significant advantage, but for young miniature roses, this is also a significant disadvantage.
Unlike traditional roses, modern roses emphasize more on diligent flowering during cultivation, and miniature roses are even more so. In the seedling stage, the main task of roses should be focused on growth. If there are too many flowers, it will consume too much nutrition, preventing the plant from growing rapidly and becoming stronger, which has a negative impact on later care and flowering.
Suggestions:
Micro rose seedlings need to pinch off the continuously emerging buds within a year. Even if you want to see flowers, leave only one bud each time. Roses can live for decades, so don't let the first year of poor rose care affect future growth or even cause seedling death.
Five: Miniature Roses are Not Suitable for Ground Planting
Although miniature roses are good, they are not very suitable for ground planting. According to Mu Mu's long-term observations, ground-planted micro roses easily become僵苗. Unlike the僵苗 of shrubs and climbers, the reason for the僵苗 of micro roses is that the dense foliage and strong photosynthesis lead to the growth of mainly roots when planted in the ground.
Ground-planted micro roses often have dense roots, but the growth of the plant is very slow. Therefore, I suggest that micro roses should be planted in pots using nutrient-rich soil to slightly limit the growth rate and size of the roots, avoiding too many roots dragging down the growth of the plant.
Suggestions:
Potting micro roses does not mean just planting them in a flower pot. We also need to use nutrient-rich soil for planting, which is more beneficial for root growth and development.
Also, if you must plant them in the ground, it is not impossible. After potting for more than half a year, you can move them to the ground in the winter of the same year, which will have a better effect and avoid僵苗.
More Blooms Require More Fertilizer
Miniature roses have many leaves and flowers, which means they require more fertilizer. Since miniature roses almost bloom all year round, we cannot selectively fertilize based on time but need to fertilize regularly throughout the year.
The method of fertilizing has been mentioned by Mu Mu many times before. For potting, use balanced water-soluble fertilizers once a week to supplement large amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and use foliar fertilizers with medium and trace elements once a week to spray on the leaves to supplement medium and trace elements.
For ground-planted roses, use compound fertilizer once a month, buried shallowly 20 centimeters away from the roots, and foliar fertilizers with medium and trace elements are also supplemented once a week.
The above sharing on how to care for miniature roses better and the comprehensive introduction of planting techniques and skills for miniature roses hope to bring some relevant knowledge to cat owners.