Why aren't my roses blooming?

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bethanski Rochester, NY Jul 07, 2008

This is the second summer that I have been in my new house; two of the rosebushes are growing rapidly and appear to be flourishing leaf-wise, but have had next to no flowers. I pruned them late last fall and mulched them for the winter, and put rose fertilizer on them as soon as the snow melted for good this spring. Last year the flowers weren't particularly floriferous, but this year they're pathetic! Any ideas?

The picture below is of the larger of the two bushes - I'm not sure what variety they are, but at this point I have seen one bud turn into one flower. The other bush appears to be a grafted rose that is now about half the graft variety and half the root variety, if that could factor into the equation at all, and I've seen two buds bloom of each variety. There are no more buds on either bush.

Thumbnail by bethanski
Post #5217732
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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jul 07, 2008

For older roses renewal pruning needs to be done in early spring or during the growing season, should not prune past late summer, pruning in fall promotes new cane growth that lack hardiness to survive the winter.
Deadheading throughout the season promotes new growth, unless it's on a rose that only blooms once a year. Kinda hard to id what type you have, maybe you can ask for an id on the rose forum?

Post #5218807
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dp72 Woodway, TX(Zone 8a) Jul 07, 2008

Do they get 6 hours of direct sun? It looks like the plant is reaching for light. The internodal spaces are large.
Did you prune it at least 50% this spring, assuming it's a bush rose and not a climber?

Post #5219877
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bethanski Rochester, NY Jul 08, 2008

The bush in the picture is on a northwest facing side of the house, so I would think it gets enough sun. There's a Peace rose on the other side of that bed that is doing incredibly this year.

I will prune these roses back a bit and see if that helps them. Further suggestions are always welcome!

Post #5225453
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2zeus (Zone 7b) Jul 10, 2008

We are going to be digging out two roses this year, because as you so perfectly described it, they are "pathetic" when it comes to putting out blooms - lots of leaves, lots of stems, hardly any flowers.

In contrast, we have others in the same bed, down the side of the house, that put out 25-30 blooms on a stem - it all depends on the cultivar!

Post #5233913
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