Whats wrong with my roses?

Question

My roses bloomed beautifully last year, then these sucker like things grew out of the bottom, and i let them figuring they were just a branch. The suckers bloomed, but they were very small, and it never sprouted leaves. Now the healthy branches haven't sprouted any new growth. Is that plant foucusing on the growing the suckers?. BTW: I cut the suckers off.

Answer 1

If you had a hard winter your roses have died down below the graft and you have the graft trying to grow and your rose is a gonner.  Roses are grafted onto wild roots and if there is a hard freeze the roots live and the graft dies.  Just a thought from past experience.

Answer 2

Don't only cut suckers off,draw away the soil to the point of origin.Suckers come from the root stock on to which the named variety has been grafted.Use a sharp blade to detach them from the rootstock.Left unchecked suckers will produce pink"Dog roses" and kill the cultivated variety.

Answer 3

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seed_swap_...

Answer 4

You did absolutely right and I hope you cut the suckers from the very base of their adjoining the main rose stem (even bellow soil).

Some varieties of rose are prone to this problem and I tended to have it on standards more than any other type.

It almost certainly didn't help your bloom display but suckers alone shouldn't have caused too much of a long term problem.

They will definitely return and all you can do is keep a close watch and snip off the little beggers at the earliest opportunity.

Meanwhile and at the appropriate time in your area give your roses a feed to help restore their vigour.