| I have never had a rose bush that didn't go wild. What causes this and is there anything I can do about it - either to stop the problem or correct it after it happens? |
| Hybrid roses are grafted onto a vigorous root stock. If the plants are pruned severely, or if weather kills the tops back, you'll end up with canes from the root stock instead of from the graft. Sometimes the root stock will develop stems, just because it's so vigorous, and these stems can be mistaken for legitimate growth from the hybridized part of the plant. There's no way to correct the problem once it occurs but you can prevent it from happening by locating the graft or union on the main stem and making sure nothing is allowed to grow from beneath the graft. The union will be slightly swollen, and may have scar tissue where the graft was made. Now that you know what to look for, you should have better results with your Tea Roses. |
