This month, you will need to make sure your roses continue to get sufficient water. Usually 2 to 3 inches of water per week will do nicely. When watering your roses, make sure they will have time to dry before nightfall, as damp cool weather provides a perfect environment for rose disease. 

If you are one of the many unfortunate rosarians to have blackspot in your garden, don’t toss in the towel. Get busy and attack it! If possible, remove all the infected leaves. Then spray twice a week with either Manzate or Maneb. After a couple of weeks you should begin to see a real difference and return to your normal spray program. Please be aware that blackspot spores can take up to 14 days to infect your plants, so you may see a few outbreaks for up to 3-4 weeks. Another good product for eradicating blackspot is Daconil. We recommend that you only use Daconil after the hot weather has subsided some, as this product tends to burn foliage when applied in hot weather.

Spider mites can continue to plague your roses until frost. Pale foliage is one sign to be on the lookout for, as mites suck chlorophyll from the foliage. If you suspect you have mites, inspect the undersides of your leaves, looking for small specs that resemble salt. If present, then you’ve got spider mites. You can easily eliminate spider mites by washing the undersides of your bushes twice a week with a sharp spray of water.

With winter on the horizon, it is important to remember that disease and insect free roses will have a much better chance of surviving in good shape.  Therefore, do your best to keep your roses disease and insect free by continuing your preventative spray program.

To give your roses a little extra energy, you can continue to apply your favorite liquid fertilizer. However, you should not apply any granular fertilizer in September, as most of your new growth will not have sufficient time to harden off before the first killing frost. 

Once fall arrives, many rosarians falsely assume that the growing season is over. What a shame, as fall can produce the biggest and best roses of the season if our plants are properly maintained and nourished. We usually have roses up until Thanksgiving. This being true, we’ve got three more months of beautiful roses to enjoy.

Remember to share some of the fruits of your labor with a friend or shut-in by taking them some fresh cut roses. It will surely brighten their day and make you feel extra good too!